Trial to open for self-professed druid who confessed to killing ex-girlfriend
Updated June 20, 2007, 12:31 p.m. ET
By Mallory Simon
Court TV
When Natasha Miller accepted a marriage proposal from a high school sweetheart serving in the Army in South Korea, she couldn't wait to move to his base. The couple had rekindled their romance when Pvt. Jeff Leja returned home for the holidays.
But Miller's plan to start a new life was cut short, prosecutors say, by a jealous ex-boyfriend who killed her in an act of what he described as "druid cleansing."
John Anderson, 24, is accused of strangling Miller in a fit of jealous rage over the marriage proposal in April 2006. His trial on open murder charges begins Thursday.
"He felt she should be in love with him and, as a result, took the attitude, 'If I can't have you, nobody can,'" Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton told CourtTVnews.com.
Miller's naked body was discovered floating in a river on Powers Beach in Milford Township, Mich., on April 27 by two women hiking in the area. The murder marked the first in the township in more than a decade.
Anderson, described by Miller's close friends as "creepy," according to court documents, had dated the 19-year-old known as "Tasha" until they broke up around Thanksgiving 2005. He had professed his love to her and burned her initials into his upper arm, but Miller and Anderson remained friends after the breakup. He continued to see her and even drove her to visit other boyfriends.
Throughout the investigation, Anderson gave police conflicting statements. Initially, he denied involvement in the murder and gave police a full timeline of his whereabouts, most of which did not check out, Walton said.
During an 11-hour police questioning, Anderson slipped in and out of an English accent, discussed druid beliefs, and talked of his love of fantasy and science fiction novels. After 10 hours, he finally admitted strangling Miller with a ribbon he used to tie his hair back, according to court documents. The ribbon was later found at Miller's home with both his and Miller's DNA on it.
During his admission, Anderson told police he had recently embarked on a religious comparative study and decided to become a druid, based on druidism's focus on the earth's natural elements. Anderson told police Miller was a Wiccan, or white witch, and said that, because of his beliefs and hers, he had to dispose of the body by earth, water or fire after he killed her to return her to the natural elements, Walton said.
Defense attorney Jerome Sabbota claims the confession his client gave to police was coerced, meaningless and a result of improper interrogation techniques.
"Twice during the interrogation, he said he didn't want to talk," Sabbota told CourtTVnews.com, "But they continued to question him. Finally he gave in and gave statements saying he killed her. I think anyone, if you put them in a room for long enough, will confess."
After the confession, Anderson was charged with open murder, which in Michigan means the jury, not prosecutors, will decide the degree of murder if they find him guilty.
Despite Anderson's lengthy confession, a jury won't hear some of the statements he made to police regarding his druid beliefs. On March 15, Sabbota filed a motion to suppress Anderson's entire confession based on his client's comments to police that he didn't want to talk anymore.
Oakland Circuit Court Judge Nanci Grant ruled April 17 that police denied Anderson's right to remain silent. Most of the statements regarding his religion and anything said after the second time he told police he didn't want to talk were suppressed. His statements acknowledging that he strangled Miller with a hair ribbon, however, were admitted.
Shortly after the ruling, Anderson was put on suicide watch at the Oakland County Jail for unspecified reasons and a judge ordered a psychological evaluation. He was deemed fit to stand trial.
Prosecutors plan to introduce DNA evidence found on boxers recovered at the beach and on Anderson's clothes, which Walton said will connect the defendant to the murder.
The defense, however, believes the DNA evidence only proves Miller and Anderson were in a relationship, not that he killed her.
"They were boyfriend and girlfriend, so it's not surprising that her DNA is going to be found at his house and it's not surprising that her DNA would be mixed with his semen," Sabbota said. "That doesn't mean he killed her. She also had many other boyfriends who could have done this. I don't know who killed her, but I know it wasn't him."
The ribbon used to kill Miller also contained traces of both his and Miller's DNA, Walton said.
Prosecutors say the build-up to the murder began in early April 2006, when Anderson contacted his ex-girlfriend's new love through a Web site. After a couple of conversations, Leja told Anderson that he and Miller were dating again and making plans to wed.
Anderson kept a blog on the site with postings titled "Miss Murder," "Angry Again" and "Blood Poetry," which prosecutors plan to show the jury.
On April 26, Anderson visited the home of one of Miller's friends, saying the couple had broken up. He sported a bloody patch on his arm where her initials had been. He was later seen with Miller at 9:30 p.m. at the entrance of the trailer park where she lived.
Despite the breakup, he had agreed to take Miller and her friend to a supermarket so they could cash in bottle deposits. He dropped off Miller's friend, and was last seen that night on a BP gas station surveillance video with Miller in Wixom City, Mich. He was not seen again until 6 a.m. the next morning. Prosecutors say Miller was killed during that time.
When questioned about his whereabouts, Anderson said he had been driving a friend around. The friend denied it, saying Anderson only told him that "something bad happened" and he would talk to him about it later.
Anderson later claimed he was referring to a serious car accident he was in. There were no police records of such an accident.
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