Missing may be found
The son of a Wendell farmer who disappeared 39 years ago hopes recent evidence will finally put his father to rest
By Cassidy Friedman
Times-News writer
WENDELL - A Wendell farmer walked out of a Hagerman bar 39 years ago and was never seen again.
Now the mystery of his disappearance may be solved. Police say a body discovered in 1972 in the woods of Coos County, Ore., could be Fred Miller.
His son, Dick, and his five siblings have never lost hope.
"I've been so excited so many times when old bodies were found," Miller said. "I've been through a thousand of these. But it didn't pan out."
This lead may not pan out, either. But he is determined to see it through, as is Gooding County Sheriff Shaun Gough, who has re-opened the investigation.
He said the similarities are uncanny:
The reconstructed skull of the body found in Oregon closely resembles a photo taken of Miller before he disappeared. Also matching are the age, weight, height, hat with hatband, leather belt buckled at 42 inches, a key ring with the letter "R", gray wool socks and tan leather work boots. Also, the year of death matches when Miller went missing.
What does not match, however, are dentures found on the body. Miller had some false teeth, but not a full set of dentures.
A DNA test will make the final determination, but could take several months.
The remains were found in 1972 off Highway 101 inside the city limits of Bandon, Ore. The skull contained two .22-caliber bullets.
In 2004, after the International Center for Unidentified and Missing Persons had listed a possible match, Coos County investigators called Miller at his home. Miller called Gough. And Gough reopened the investigation.
Miller, 57, is the youngest son of the family. He lives outside Wendell with his wife, Cyndi. One of his sister's lives two houses down the road. Another four siblings live in Boise or out-of-state. Beneath a pair of headstones in the Wendell cemetery lies their mother, Bernice, who died nine years after her 66-year-old husband disappeared. Miller recalls the nightmares Bernice suffered. She died without answers. Her husband's name is inscribed on the second gravestone with no date for his death.
"It's something we've never been able to put to rest," Miller said. "Even though it's been 40 years, there are few days I'm not reminded of it."
To complete a DNA comparison, Gough needed DNA from a female relative of Fred Miller, specifically his niece.
A lab will cross that with a mitochondrial sample extracted from the skeleton.
"I've gone through so many different feelings," Dick Miller said. "Maybe he's alive. But by now he would be 105 so that's not realistic. I went through the anger stage at one point. I just want to put it to rest and have a funeral. But knowing what happens would probably be helpful."
Miller is used to disappointment.
In the 1980s, Gooding County Sheriff Robert Aja dredged the Snake River hoping to find Miller's 1960 white, four-door AMC Rambler. Then in the 1990s, Sheriff Jim Jax dug out a Gooding County backyard.
The man who may have poured Fred Miller his last drink is still alive, and still remembers that Saturday afternoon in 1968.
"I was one of the last people to see him," said Bill Wilson, owner of Wilson's Club in Hagerman. "His wife had poured his bottle of whiskey down the drain, so he came to get a drink that afternoon. As far as I know, he left alone."
Miller was last seen with two Idaho men - both are suspects Gough declined to identify.
Not all of the suspects are still alive, Gough added. A person of interest may also be held in an out-of-state prison.
"There's been a list of suspects since the year after I was born," said Gough, 39. "Some are dead. Some aren't."
Now he is waiting for the DNA results, hoping to put to rest a case that has haunted this rural county for almost 40 years.
"Everybody knew Fred," Gough said. "He wouldn't just disappear."
Cassidy Friedman covers crime and courts for the Times-News. He can be reached at (208)735-3241 or by e-mail at
cfriedman@magicvalley.com.
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2007/03/18/news/top_story/108389.txt