The Truro Murders (Part 7): James Miller

The Truro Murders (Part 7): James Miller

 James William Miller was born in 1940 into a family of 6 children. He was known as a friendless loner and ran away from home at a very early age, only to end up in the Magill Reform School at age 11.
With no education, Miller learnt to survive as best he could, and turned to petty crime when he couldn’t find work as an itinerant labourer.

Over the years Miller was convicted of car theft, larceny, and breaking and entering. He had over 30 convictions to his name. In his lengthy career as a criminal, he was never once charged with for violence or sex crime.

Miller found himself inside Adelaide Gaol for a three-month custodial sentence after he had broken into a gun shop. It was here in the Adelaide Gaol he met Christopher Worrell, who was awaiting trial on a rape charge, Worrell was also on a suspended sentence for armed robbery

Miller, a homosexual, fell in love with Worrell and became totally infatuated with the young good looking man. The two men shared a cell at Adelaide Gaol, but that was soon to change.
Worrell was found guilty and sentenced to a 4-year term at Yatala Labour Prison. Miller was also sentenced to serve time at Yatala, where he served three months.
Within months, the two friends would see each other again in Yatala, with Miller getting arrested for trying to sell stolen sunglasses in hotels around Adelaide. He had stolen 400 pairs and was caught. Miller was sentenced to 18 months in Yatala.


Miller was released, and then nine months later Worrell was granted early parole. The two men met on the outside, rekindled their friendship and planned to get a unit together in the city.
What was a friendship quickly began to be a sexual relationship, with Miller performing oral sex on Worrell, whilst Worrell read bondage magazines. Over time the sexual relationship dwindled, due to Worrell’s preference for young women, and the two men became like brothers.
Worrell and Miller became inseparable, even working together with the Unley Council as labourers.

Miller was submissive, but he had a calming effect on Worrell. The pair often cruised the city in Miller's blue and white Valiant, looking for girls. Worrell would tie them up and have sex with them in the back of the car, while Miller would go for a walk. This kink for violent bondage sex of Worrell’s would soon turn to raping and killing the young women.
At the time of the first murder, Miller was 38 years old.

Between the time of Worrell’s death, and the exposing of the crimes, Miller had become very depressed over the loss of his best friend. He found himself living as a vagrant on the streets, sometimes sleeping in abandoned cars, and every so often sleeping at the Central Mission Day Centre, St Vincent De Paul, or helping out at the Salvation Army.


Miller would be apprehended due to a tip-off from Worrell’s former girlfriend Angela. All through his trial he claimed he didn’t murder anyone, all he did was drive the car and was just the “chauffeur and mug”, therefore, he should not be charged with the act of murder.
The Judge of the case didn’t see things the same way as Miller and told the jury it must find him guilty.
Miller was interred for life in 1980 for the murders of six of the seven women, he was acquitted of the murder of Veronica Knight.
Not long after the trial, one of the jurors hired a lawyer to petition the Attorney-General for a retrial of Miller’s case, due to the instruction of Judge Matheson for the jury to find Miller guilty. The Attorney-General, Chris Sumner flatly refused to grant Miller a retrial.
In 1999, Miller applied to the law courts to have a non-parole period set. In 2000, Chief Justice John Doyle granted Miller’s request, and his non-parole period was backdated for a period of 35 years – meaning Miller could apply for parole in 2014.


James Miller spent 28 years in prison. His body succumb to the ravages of cancer, and on October 22, 2008, at the age of 68, he died.

Next Week: The Truro Murders (Part 8): How they captured a murderer

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2015

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The Truro Murders (Part 3): The Victims: Juliet and Sylvia

The Truro Murders (Part 3): The Victims: Juliet and Sylvia

With two victims, the men to become known as “The Truro Murderers” did not relent in their killing spree. The two men had their chosen “pick-up” points, including Rundle Mall, The Buckingham Arms Hotel and the Adelaide Railway Station.

Juliet Mykyta – Aged 16

In 1977, 16 year Juliet Mykyta, a Marsden High School student, worked in the city at a small sidewalk booth selling jewellery. It was the school holidays, and she planned on being home late. She stopped at a telecom phone booth to phone her parents and tell them not to worry if she was later than usual.

She waited for the bus that was scheduled to arrive outside the Ambassador’s Hotel at 9pm on King William Street. A good looking young man and his friend pulled over and offered her a lift, which she gratefully took.

The men drove out to Port Wakefield Road and parked. The good looking young man forced Juliet into the backseat, where he tied her up as she screamed and kicked at him. The driver went for a walk, looking back at the car, he saw Juliet and heard her shouting, and watched her fall to the ground as if kicked in the stomach. The good looking guy was suddenly on top of her and strangled her with a length of rope.

An argument broke out between the two men, with the driver leaving for a while. When he returned the young girl was not visible, most likely she was in the boot of the car.

The two men drove in relative silence to Truro. Instead of going towards Swamp Road where they had buried the previous bodies, they detoured out on another road to an old farmhouse and disposed of Juliet’s body there. They dumped her on the ground and covered her in branches and leaves. They then returned home.

Sylvia Pitmann – Aged 16

On February 6th 1977, 16-year-old Sylvia Pitmann was waiting for a train at the Adelaide Railway Station. A good looking young man approached her and convinced her he could give her a lift home, thus saving her from having to wait for the train.

The two men drove the young girl out to a secluded spot near Wingfield. The driver took a walk. Upon returning, the driver noticed the young girl in the backseat covered with a rug. She had been strangled to death with a pair of her own pantyhose.
The two men drove out to Truro and unloaded Sylvia's body – fully clothed, and not tied up like the other girls. They laid her on the ground and covered her with sticks and branches, then made their way back to Adelaide.





Next Week: The Truro Murders (Part 4): The Victims: Vicki and Connie

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2015

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The Truro Murders (Part 2): The Victims: Veronica and Tania

The Truro Murders (Part 2): The Victims: Veronica and Tania

The Truro Murders broke as a national story and put the tiny town on the map as a notorious serial killing hotspot. Much like the Snowtown “Bodies in the barrels” case many years later, the murders themselves didn’t happen in Truro, and not all the girl's remains were found there.

Veronica Knight – Aged 18:

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On Thursday the 23rd of December 1976, two men were driving the streets of Adelaide watching the hordes of last-minute Christmas shoppers rush about to buy their loved one's presents.
There were many young women about. One of the men left the car and told his friend to drive around the block, and he would meet him back here. The driver drove around the block twice, and on the second loop, found his friend with a young girl at the front of the Majestic Hotel.
The young girl had become separated from her friend, and while standing in the City-Cross Arcade, was approached by a good looking young man who offered her a lift home to Angas Street where she was staying at the Salvation Army Hostel.
Now in the car with two men she didn’t know, she was convinced to go for a drive into the Adelaide Hills.

The driver of the car pulled into a side-track and excused himself, taking a walk in the darkness. The other, “friendly” guy, pulled Veronica into the backseat and had his way.
When the driver returned half an hour later, the young girl was lying motionless on the backseat.

The men then drove through Gawler, to Truro. They drove down Swamp Road, pulled over, and removed the body from the car, burying it in loose sand and covering her body in branches and leaves in the swamp.

Tania Kenny – Aged 15

1977, January 2nd. A driver dropped off a good looking young man at one end of Rundle Mall, agreeing to pick him up at the other end. The driver waited, and soon the good looking young man appeared with a 15-year-old girl named Tania Kenny.

Tania had recently run away from home and hitchhiked her way to Adelaide from Victor Harbour, two hours south.

The two men and Tania drove to the sister's house of one of the men, on the pretext of picking up clothes. No-one was home, but the good looking young man and Tania entered the house anyway.
It wasn’t long before the good looking man returned. The driver knew something was wrong and went into the house. There he found, in the children’s playroom, Tania. She had been bound with rope, had been gagged and strangled. The two men argued and threats were made. They hid the girl’s body in a closet.

The two men returned that night and put the body in the car, and drove towards Wingfield to the Dean Rifle Range. Here they buried the girl in a shallow grave that they had dug earlier in the day.


Next Week: The Truro Murders (Part 3): The Victims: Juliet and Sylvia

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2015

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