Miller admits to murder in sentencing assessment; judge gives him life in prison for December 2021 death

PARIS, Mo. — Lyle Miller proclaimed his innocence for more than three years for his involvement in the death of Betty Hayes, the 88-year-old woman whose body was wrapped in 9-gauge wire, attached to a cement block and found in a pond on Miller’s property in Madison, Mo., in December 2021.

John Moyer, who had been living in a feed shed on Miller’s property at the time of Hayes’ death, testified during a March trial that Miller confessed during the summer of 2023 to killing Hayes, saying that he “messed up” in killing the woman he once worked for as a farmhand. Yet Miller continued to proclaim his innocence.

A seven-woman, five-man jury found Miller guilty on March 21 of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence, and his sentencing was held Friday in Monroe County Circuit Court before Judge Rick Tucker.

Miller’s story, however, only recently changed.

In a pretrial sentencing assessment completed April 28 by the Missouri Department of Probation and Parole, Miller was asked why he decided to kill Hayes.

“Been waiting for years to get paid, and she never would pay me,” he replied in the assessment, a copy of which was obtained by Muddy River News through a Missouri Sunshine Law request. “She kept lying and lying.”

Monroe County Prosecuting Attorney Nicole Volkert, who said Hayes owed Miller three cows, said she first learned of Miller’s confession for the first time on Tuesday.

“I’ve never seen a criminal defendant confess to a crime for the first time in a pre-sentence investigation,” said Volkert, who has been practicing law for 27 years. “I was surprised. I hope that his admitting gives some closure to the family. There shouldn’t be any uncertainty for anyone as to who killed Betty Hayes.”

Tucker sentenced Miller, 66, to life in the Missouri Department of Corrections at the end of an hour-long hearing. Miller’s attorney, Jeff Hilbrenner, asked for a sentence of 10 years on the second-degree murder charge and four years on the tampering charge. 

Tucker said he read 25 letters that were written on behalf of Miller, many of which referred to his selflessness.

“Whether it was caring for a neighbor’s dog then then were overseas, offering to maintain the farm or offering shelter to those with nowhere else to go,” Hilbrenner said. “One writer noted his would open his home and his heart to anyone in need, even when it meant he was being taken advantage of.”

Hilbrenner said the author of one of the letters said Miller reminded him of Eeyore from the “Winnie the Pooh” cartoon series — slow-going, quiet but always kind.

Tucker recognized Miller’s life as a farmhand, helping people for more than 60 years “carried weight.”

“Where Lyle doesn’t help himself is where (Hayes’) family went 589 days without knowing they should stop looking for her, and the stress they felt every single day,” Tucker said. “That really overcomes all the goodness of 60 years.”

Tucker said he believes Miller had help with the commission of the crime.

“The problem in this case is that it seems apparent that Lyle could not have committed this crime on his own,” Tucker said. “Breaking the door down (at Hayes’ home), dealing with the body. I don’t know where the evidence of the DNA would have been. Maybe it was in a different vehicle. I don’t know. I feel like even now, the family members don’t know the truth. They don’t know how it happened. They don’t know who else would have been involved if anybody else was involved. They don’t know where the clothes are. 

“There are so many unanswered questions that make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, (for family members) to ever find forgiveness in their heart and move on with their life. Even now, there’s so many unanswered questions that apparently, from the (sentencing assessment report) as Nicole said, I think that you do have those answers. So because of that, I don’t think the court has any choice but to give you life (for the second-degree murder count) and four years (on the tampering count).”

Tucker asked Miller if he wanted to make a statement of allocution. Miller simply shook his head.

Volkert showed Tucker a video from April 19, 2018 when Hayes met with law enforcement officials after she alleged Miller had pushed her down and struck her in the face. She told officers that she “didn’t want to do anything harmful” like press charges against Miller.

“He’s always getting his fists out and fights like that when he gets mad at you,” Hayes told officers.

“Did you strike him at all?” Hayes was asked.

“Are you kidding?” she replied.

Hayes later said to Miller, “I’m afraid of you now,” as he sat in the front of a police vehicle. “I was afraid of you before, but I didn’t think you would cross the line.”

“Where in the hell did you come up with this stuff?” Miller replied.

Hayes’ daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter all made victim impact statements during the hearing.

Cindy Engle, Hayes’ daughter, said she taught Miller when he was a student at Madison Junior High School. She said her mother had listed Miller as a pallbearer in her funeral plans.

“What happened to Mom? Is she somewhere suffering?” Engle said. “Who did this? We had no answers anywhere. All that time, Lyle hid. He lied when questioned. He gave us no answers, no relief, no accountability. … I want there to be no chance that any other family because of Lyle Miller will be traumatized and suffer the way our family has.”

Heather Mozingo, Hayes’ granddaughter, said she watched Miller sit stoically in the courtroom as he saw photos of her grandmother’s naked body being fished out of the pond.

“He looked at that TV screen as though he was watching his favorite TV show,” Mozingo said. “Those photos didn’t bother him. He knew what she was going to look like, because he had done that to her. … Lyle could have pled guilty, and he would have saved my family and this community from seeing those awful pictures of Grandma. He has never showed any remorse for this crime.”

Makayla Hayes, Hayes’ great-granddaughter, said she fears going anywhere by herself because of Miller’s actions.

“I fear sleeping alone in my apartment. I fear every single person around me,” she said. “What would stop a random person from kidnapping and murdering me, if someone who my grandma trusted was capable of kidnapping and murdering her. If there is only one thing you take from my speech today, let it be this. My family and I have lived in constant fear since Dec. 16, 2021. Unless we can be certain Lyle Miller will never be outside the walls of that prison again, that fear will never subside.”