“Miller was tried and convicted for the attempted murder of Janelle Kirby. During the punishment phase of the trial, Miller, who was out on bond, walked from the courtoom and fled.” Miller was sentenced in absentia to seventy-five years in prison. Terrell had an opportunity to talk to Miller shortly after his initial arrest. Miller had this to say to Terrell, "Terrell, I've done a lot of things, but I didn't shoot that girl." Terrell says that he believed him.
Terrell had a chance to talk to Janelle Kirby’s boyfriend during her recovery. “He said that Janelle told him that the person who shot her did not match Miller's description. Janelle told him that the detectives repeatedly showed her Miller's photo.” |
Fast forward to 1975. “One day as I sat in my office reviewing burglary case I had been assigned, one of the pawnshop detectives entered the room. He asked if anyone knew a William Ted Wilhoit. Wilhoit's photo was in my hand at the time. It seemed that Wilhoit had pawned a number of stolen guns. The reason that Wilhoit's photo was so handy was because my supervisor had just received a phone call from a local bank. Someone had tried to cash two five hundred dollar savings bonds. The bank had obtained a description of that person, and it matched Wilhoit. The date was March 18, 1975.”
Terrell and his partner Britt, jumped in the car to go arrest Wilhoit. When the two officers pulled up to Wilhoit’s house, they found him standing outside in the front yard. They asked Wilhoit to take a seat in the back. When Wilhoit got into the car, his initial statement was “Well, I was wondering when you were going to come after me for Carla Walker," he said.” If you ask me, that’s damn near as good as a confession.
To say the two detectives were stunned would be an understatement. Once in the interrogation room, Terrell says this, “In a police interrogation room, Terrell first began to question the young man about the burglaries. Eventually the detective moved the conversation toward religion. Wilhoit talked openly about his religious beliefs and even expressed disapproval of Terrell's frequent and casual use of curse words. Terrell told him that Carla Walker was also a Church of Christ member. The burglar began to cry. Terrell pushed gently onward. Wilhoit was "too good a Christian" to live with Carla's murder on his mind, he said, and he should talk about what had happened. Wilhoit sighed, Terrell remembered, and the young man said in a quiet voice, "I guess I might as well."
Terrell goes on to say that Wilhoit broke down completely and was ready to talk. Before he could get another word out there was a pounding on the door. An FBI agent wanted to question Wilhoit about the stolen bonds (the bonds made it a federal case). The moment was lost forever, detectives would never get Wilhoit in that state of mind again.
Terrell filed burglary charges against Wilhoit. Wilhoit’s probation was revoked and he was sent to prison. |
