Ann Miller Kontz

Parties and identities

• Ann Miller Kontz was the widow of Eric Miller and the defendant in the arsenic poisoning case.
• Eric Miller was Ann Miller Kontz’s then-husband. He was a 30-year-old pediatric AIDS researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later died after ingesting poisoned food and drink.
• Derril Willard worked with Kontz at GlaxoSmithKline and committed suicide about a month after Eric Miller’s death.
• Paul Martin Kontz was Ann Miller Kontz’s second husband, and he was a Christian rock guitarist she met in Wilmington.
• Joseph B. Cheshire V was one of Kontz’s lawyers.
• Wade Smith was another of Kontz’s lawyers.
• Richard Gammon was Derril Willard’s lawyer.
• Rebecca Holt was an assistant district attorney who read a statement during a bond hearing.
• Colon Willoughby was the Wake District Attorney.
• Donald Stephens was a Superior Court judge who presided over proceedings described in the case record.
• Chris Morgan led the police investigation and testified at the proceedings described.
• Verus Miller was Eric Miller’s father.
• Doris Miller was Eric Miller’s mother.
• Pamela Baltzell was Eric Miller’s oldest sister.
• Leeann Magee was Eric Miller’s sister.
• Clare was Eric Miller’s and Ann Miller Kontz’s daughter, and she was being cared for by one of Kontz’s sisters at the time described.
• Leeann Magee was described in connection with Clare.
• Dan Brier was described as Kontz’s father in the bond hearing testimony.
• Phoebe Jordan wrote an email about the indictment.
• Bernie Brown was a graduate student who met the Millers at N.C. State.
• Lynette Mayo was a neighbor described as taking care of things at a west Raleigh home.
• Yvette was the addressee of a suicide note written by Derril Willard.
• Rick Gammon was named in connection with legal advice sought by Willard before his suicide.
• Richard T. Gammon was named in connection with the legal advice Willard sought.

Timeline

• 1993 — Ann Miller and Eric Miller married after meeting at Purdue University.
• 1997 — Kontz flirted with a research scientist in California with whom she had an affair.
• 1998 — The case record described a picture of Eric, Ann, and infant Clare hanging on a bulletin board at Chris Morgan’s home.
• 2000 (Dec. 2) — Eric Miller died after ingesting poisoned food and drink served up by his wife and her lover.
• 2000 (Nov. 10) — Kontz and Derril Willard traveled to Chicago and registered at the Ritz-Carlton as “Mr. and Mrs. Derril Willard,” ordering room service several times over the next two days.
• 2000 (Nov. 15) — Ann Miller married Paul Martin Kontz.
• 2000 (Nov. 15) — Eric Miller’s final hospital visit occurred after his parents left him with his wife to have dinner.
• 2000 (Nov. 15) — Miller fell ill after drinking a beer Willard bought and poured during a bowling outing in Raleigh; later he was hospitalized and after release used a cane.
• 2000 (Nov. 30) — Eric Miller became violently ill again after eating a meal prepared by his wife; doctors detected high levels of arsenic in his system.
• 2001 — Derril Willard committed suicide about a month after Eric Miller’s death.
• 2001 — Chris Morgan started leading the department’s homicide unit.
• 2001 (Dec. 2) — A Raleigh church group held a vigil for Eric Miller, a year to the day after his death.
• 2001 (Jan. 31) — A report said Ann Miller was not a suspect at the time, but police had not ruled her out.
• 2003 (May 27) — Richard Gammon turned over information to prosecutors after being ordered to disclose what Willard told him about Miller’s death.
• 2004 (Sep) — Kontz was indicted on first-degree murder in the Miller poisoning case.
• 2004 (Dec. 10) — A bond hearing included statements read by prosecutors describing that Kontz allegedly injected Miller’s IV with a substance.
• 2004 (late, late 2004) — Chris Morgan remained involved after leaving the force in late 2004.
• 2005 (Nov. 7) — A court appearance occurred where Morgan testified after Kontz pleaded guilty.
• 2005 (Nov. 8) — Kontz pleaded guilty and was sentenced between 25 years and 31 1/2 years in prison.
• 2005 (January trial date described) — Prosecutors had prepared for a January trial that Kontz’s plea avoided.

Background

Ann Miller Kontz was identified as a former chemist and researcher at GlaxoSmithKline and as the widow of Eric Miller. The case involved an arsenic poisoning death that occurred in December 2000 after Eric Miller became ill over a period described as two weeks.

The case was investigated over nearly four years. It involved police work that included interviews, study of e-mail messages and phone records, and forensic evidence.

Ann Miller Kontz eventually moved to Wilmington and remarried to Paul Martin Kontz. The narrative also described Clare as living with one of Kontz’s sisters.

The offence

Eric Miller died after ingesting poisoned food and drink served up by his wife and her lover, Derril Willard. Prosecutors alleged that Kontz and Willard conspired to poison Miller with arsenic.

At the plea hearing, it was stated that Kontz acknowledged that for two weeks in November 2000 she conspired with co-worker Derril Willard to poison Miller.

During a bond hearing and in later courtroom testimony context, prosecutors presented information that Willard told his lawyer he believed Kontz had injected the contents of a syringe into Miller’s intravenous line during a hospital visit.

Investigation

Chris Morgan led the investigation and delayed retirement for more than a year to keep working on the case. Morgan was described as remaining involved after leaving the force in late 2004.

Investigators learned Kontz and Willard had access to arsenic at work and that their actions included travel to Chicago and activities around the time Miller became ill.

Morgan also testified about interviews and the study of e-mail messages and phone records, along with forensic evidence. Morgan described that police learned how Kontz, along with Derril Willard, conspired to poison Miller with arsenic.

The case included legal proceedings about information that Willard told his lawyer, and Gammon was compelled to reveal statements to prosecutors after appeals that went twice to the N.C. Supreme Court.

Arrest and indictment

Kontz was placed in handcuffs in the lobby of the Wake County jail after being charged with first-degree murder in the long-unsolved arsenic poisoning death of her first husband, Eric Miller.

A Wake County grand jury returned an indictment. Kontz was held without bail until a hearing could be held to determine whether prosecutors had enough evidence to seek the death penalty.

Chris Morgan testified before the grand jury and later watched the arrest of Kontz.

A Wake County Assistant District Attorney and other officials were described as not disclosing new evidence beyond describing that the grand jury action occurred.

Trial and court proceedings

Plea hearing and admissions

On November 8, 2005, Ann Miller Kontz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

She was before Wake Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens during the plea process.

When asked by Judge Stephens:

“Ms. Kontz, did you with malice unlawfully and intentionally participate in causing the death of Eric Miller?”

Kontz responded:

“Yes,” she said.

Remorse statement

Kontz expressed remorse in a statement read by defense attorney Joseph B. Cheshire V when she pleaded guilty.

The statement included:

“For reasons I do not now understand, I permitted myself to knowingly participate with Derril Willard in events which cost my husband his life,”
“I will struggle for the rest of my life with how this could have happened. ... I have asked God to forgive me, and I hope that God will also help those others whom I have hurt to find it in their hearts one day to forgive me as well.”

Statements by attorneys and family

Attorney Wade Smith said:

“I think Ann has always felt that she could never really be free if she did not accept responsibility and face the truth,”

and:

“And I think she wanted to do that.”

Eric Miller’s father, Verus Miller, called Kontz’s statement:

“empty words”

because it offered no reason why she committed the crime.

Doris Miller said:

“Ann! You murdered my son,”

and:

“I have a hole in my heart and a pain in my chest every day.”

Verus Miller said:

“Wonder what Ann's favorite picture is of Eric? I've got an image in my mind .... Eric lying in a hospital bed dead.”

Pamela Baltzell said:

“Ann! Why don't you look at me? Why can't you look at me?”

Baltzell continued:

“Why, Ann? Why did you cruelly murder my brother Eric?”

She also stated:

“The only explanation I can find is the fact that there is pure evil in this world. The only thing Ann Brier Miller Kontz is sorry about is that she was caught.”

Leeann Magee told Kontz:

“I don't believe that you, Ann, truly love your daughter. How could you? You have taken away one of the most precious gifts that she will ever have: her father,”

and:

“I will never understand, Ann, why you just didn't divorce him. ... You will get your just punishment in death with eternity in hell.”

Defense attorneys remained quiet during parts described after the plea.

Bond hearing and disputed admissibility claims

During the bond hearing context described on December 10, 2004, a judge set bond at $3 million after key statements were released.

Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens ruled that Ann Miller Kontz must reside in Wake or New Hanover County while awaiting trial for the murder of her husband, Eric Miller.

Colon Willoughby said:

“Frankly today has brought some unexpected information,”

and:

“I need to contemplate it. I will take a few minutes and do that.”

In the bond-hearing discussion, Becky Holt read paragraph 12 stating:

“Mrs. Miller was crying and that she told (Willard) she had been to the hospital where Mr. Miller had been admitted. She stated to Mr. Willard that she was by herself in the room with Mr. Miller for a period of time. She then told Mr. Willard that she took a syringe and a needle from her purse and injected the contents of the syringe into Mr. Miller's IV. He then stated that he asked Mrs. Miller why she had done this and she replied, 'I don't know.'”

When Willard was asked why he thought Miller Kontz injected the substance in the IV, it was stated that he thought she wanted to end her husband’s suffering.

Colon Willoughby said about evidence admissibility:

“I think the evidence is admissible,”

and:

“I think it's compelling, I think it's the best indication of an acknowledgement of her admission of guilt.”

Joe Cheshire said:

“If it's not truthful, which we believe we can show that it's not on it's face, and he had every reason not to be truthful, then it's quite obvious Ann Miller is not guilty of this offense,”

in the context of the defense claim that the statement was false.

Dan Brier said:

“I think her love for God and Paul and Clare, that she would never hurt them,”

and:

“She would not be a threat to herself or anyone in any way whatsoever.”

Sentencing

On November 8, 2005, after pleading guilty, Ann Miller Kontz was sentenced to between 25 years and 31 1/2 years in prison, described as the maximum allowed for a person with no prior convictions.

She also received credit for the year she spent behind bars awaiting a first-degree murder trial.

Appeals and legal battles

The case involved legal battles regarding whether statements Willard made to his attorney would be disclosed, including that the statements were revealed after a legal battle that went twice to the N.C. Supreme Court.

It was stated that the N.C. Supreme Court ordered the lawyer to reveal what Willard had told him.

Outcome

• Kontz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
• Kontz was sentenced to between 25 years and 31 1/2 years in prison on November 8, 2005.

Aftermath and related people

• Derril Willard committed suicide about a month after Eric Miller’s death.
• The case described a relationship between Kontz and Willard and the involvement of arsenic at work.
• Chris Morgan remained involved in the case after retirement and described a bond with the Miller family.
• Verus Miller and other family members remained involved after the hearing, spending time with reporters.
• Kontz’s daughter, Clare, was described as being cared for by one of Kontz’s sisters in Wilmington.
• It was stated that Kontz eventually moved and remarried.
• The narrative also described that Willard had left a note addressed to his wife, Yvette, denying involvement.

Other details

• The first husband was identified as Eric Miller and was described as dying after being hospitalized following a poisoning.
• The narrative described that Eric Miller’s illness initially produced flulike symptoms and that doctors failed to diagnose poisoning until high levels of arsenic were detected later.
• Phone records showed Ann Miller and Derril Willard called each other almost 110 times in the fall of 2000, with calls increasing before and after times when investigators suspected Miller received doses of arsenic.
• A call described as 24 minutes occurred less than two hours before Miller died.
• A suicide note from Willard denied involvement; it was addressed to his wife, Yvette.
• Willard sought legal advice from Raleigh lawyer Richard T. Gammon before shooting himself with a .357-caliber Magnum revolver, according to the case narrative provided.
• In November 2003, Ann Miller married Paul Martin Kontz was described in the bond-and-arrest reporting context with an additional date marker of November 15, 2000 for that marriage.
• Kontz was described as being held at N.C. Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh for a period described as “for the past year” at the time of a report.
• Kontz was described as entering Wake County courtroom in a cream turtleneck, cropped black blazer and gray skirt, with her hair described as a thick, shoulder-length blond bob at the plea hearing.
• The plea was described as a compromise in a complicated case, aimed at avoiding appeals that could free Kontz.
• It was stated that Morgan and others conducted interviews and studied communications including e-mail messages and phone records, and they used forensic evidence.
• The case included mention of a second lover described as a research scientist in California with whom Kontz had flirted since 1997.
• A surveillance-style lodging detail described Kontz and Derril Willard registered at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago as “Mr. and Mrs. Derril Willard” and ordered room service multiple times.
• The case narrative included mentions of bowling at an AMF Pleasant Valley Lanes off Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh, and a beer Willard bought and poured was described as preceding Miller’s illness.
• The bond-to-pay detail described that to make bond at $3 million, Kontz would need to either come up with $3 million worth of property or pay a bail bonds company at least $450,000.
• A family friend, Phoebe Jordan, wrote an email describing the indictment as progress toward solving “this horrendous injustice.”
• The case record included mention of a vigil held by a Raleigh church group for murdered UNC researcher Eric Miller, where Pam Baltzell participated and said:

“Our parents now carry a heavy burden, a deeply saddened heart. And the reality that they will never see their son again is often too much to bear,”