After two hours of closing arguments, Miller murder trial goes to the jury

PARIS, Mo. – The jury in the first-degree murder case of Lyle Miller now has the case for deliberation after about two hours of closing arguments Thursday morning.

Miller is accused of the murder of Betty Hayes, whose body was found on a pond on Miller’s property in December 2021.

Miranda Loesch with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office told the seven-woman, five-man jury that Miller, a hired hand at Betty Hayes’ cattle farm, told John Moyer, who lived at his house, that he had stripped her, wrapped her body in 9-gauge wire, tied it to a cement block and threw her body in a pond on his property in December 2021.

Moyer had testified that he told Miller, “‘I think they found Betty Hayes,’” Moyer said. “(Miller said), ‘That’s not where she’s at.’” Moyer said he then spoke with Rick Gunier, a neighbor which led to Moyer being questioned by law enforcement after Gunier went to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Loesch focused on Miller’s contentious relationship with Hayes and that Miller believed Hayes owed her nearly $7,000 and that anger festered and came to a head when Hayes was going to sell her cattle for about $100,000 and he would never get the money he believed he was entitled to. Miller was suffering from financial strain and deteriorating health, but Loesch said he was still strong enough to overpower and kill the frail, 88-year-old Hayes.

Hayes disappeared on Dec. 16, 2021 after she had begun to sell part of her herd.

Loesch said Moyer had no relationship with Hayes and had no motive to harm her, unlike Miller, who said had developed a vendetta over his lack of payment.

She said Miller had an 18-hour window commit the crime. Betty Hayes was last seen at 9:30 pm on Dec. 16, 2021 and her son reported her missing the next day at 4:30 p.m., giving Miller plenty of time to dispose of the body and hide evidence, including burning Hayes’ clothes in a brush pile.

Loesch reminded the jury of Moyer’s testimony where he claimed Miller acted like he relieved himself of a burden after telling Moyer he killed Hayes.

“The truth will set you free,” Loesch said, despite the irony that those words may end up putting Miller in prison.

Defense attorney Jeff Hilbrenner used his closing to tear at the credibility of the state’s key witness, John Moyer, who had lived with Miller for six years and allegedly heard him confess to killing Hayes.

Hilbrenner argued that Moyer’s testimony was compromised, citing his inconsistent statements, lack of police cooperation, and his presence at the crime scene.

Hillbrenner emphasized reasonable doubt using, questioning Moyer’s whereabouts and actions on the night of the murder, and highlighting the absence of physical evidence linking Miller to the crime. He criticized the state for relying heavily on Moyer’s testimony, calling him a liar, saying his neighbors described him as a liar and reiterating that “John Moyer is reasonable doubt,” a line he used earlier in the week.

Every time Hillbrenner wanted to emphasize a point of reasonable doubt, he would put a pill into a Tylenol bottle, calling them poison pills.

Those points also included:

• Moyer’s seeking of a bribe and a reward for his cooperation, which undermined his credibility.
• Why John Moyer was out in the middle of the night on December 16 and why there are no injuries on Miller’s body.
• Why didn’t Moyer go to the police and why he started talking about sharp, bloody instruments.
• Moyer was in Lyle Miller’s house when law enforcement arrived, and he started talking about sharp, bloody objects before the cause of death was known.