Kelsi doesn’t show up for work
Her parents call the police
Kelsi’s boss at Ector County Abstract called Lance Miller in Iraan around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, October 7, 2008, to say that his daughter had not shown up for work on Monday or Tuesday, and had not called in. He also said that Jarrett had not shown up at his job.
Debra called Kelsi’s cell phone and got voice mail. She then called Kelsi’s friends—the last time they had seen her was Friday night. Debra asked the friends to call around to find her daughter. One of the friends called the restaurant where Kelsi waitressed—she’d taken another job to pay down her bills and save for a divorce—and learned that she had last worked Sunday from 3 to 7 p.m.
Debra called Jarrett’s mother and asked if she had heard from him. The mother didn’t know where he was, but assured Debra that Jarrett was doing well. But just in case, she’d ask her husband to check on them.
There was no answer when her husband knocked on the door to Jarrett’s apartment. However, his truck was parked outside and his cell phone was on the front seat.
Lance called the Odessa police department to report his daughter missing. He was put on hold three times.
Scared and frustrated, Debra drove to the state troopers office in Iraan. The trooper said he needed an exact address in order to check the situation out-but Debra didn’t know the address. She went home, got the exact address, and drove back to the trooper station. The officer said they’d let the Millers know as soon as they heard anything.
Twenty minutes later, a state trooper showed up at the Millers’ home. He had a grim look on his face, but would only say, “You have to go to Odessa.”
“He killed her, didn’t he,” Debra screamed.
The trooper did not answer.
“It’s not good”
Jarrett’s mother had called the manager of the apartment complex where her son lived. She asked the manager to check on her son’s welfare. He forced his way into the apartment—the door had been blocked with a car steering wheel club—and found two dead bodies. He shouted for his office workers to call the police.
Debra and Lance Miller drove the 90 miles from their home to Odessa in an hour. Debra screamed the entire trip. She talked to Jarrett’s mother again, who had gone to the apartment. “Oh, Debra, it’s not good, it’s not good,” she said. “They have found two dead bodies inside, one white male and one white female.”
By the time the Millers arrived, the apartment was cordoned off by yellow crime scene tape. A white van from the police forensics department was there, and officers in white hazmat suits were going in and out of the apartment. A crowd of people surrounded the scene, and camera crews from the three local TV stations recorded everything.
“We kept thinking, maybe it’s not her,” Debra said. “Maybe it’s someone else.”
The Millers’ worst fears came to pass. Kelsi and Jarrett Weaver were dead.
Shot 10 times
Kelsi had been shot 10 times at point blank range. Jarrett apparently contemplated what he had done for awhile, and then shot himself once between the eyes. A 9 mm semiautomatic pistol was found lying barrel up on Jarrett’s right side.
The autopsy indicated that Kelsi had two entry wounds to the left jaw that passed through her right jaw, broke her mandible and maxilla bones, and knocked out her teeth. She was shot twice in the head, with one bullet breaking her neck, and the other fracturing her skull. She was shot twice in the left arm, with one bullet fracturing her humerus bone and the other re-entering her chest, puncturing her lung and fracturing two ribs. She was shot once in the back, which severed her spinal cord. She was shot in the right arm, which fractured her shoulder blade. She was shot once in each thigh, with one of the bullets fracturing the femur bone and piercing the femoral artery. Her left thumb was shot off as she put up her hand in self-defense.
Kelsi’s toxicology report showed no drugs or alcohol in her body. Jarrett, however, tested positive for Xanax, and was at almost four times the legal limit of intoxication. Several vials of steroids were also found at the scene.
The Ector County Medical Examiner ruled Kelsi’s death as homicide and Jarrett’s death as suicide. Kelsi’s death certificate stated that she was “shot by a known assailant.”
Learning more of the truth
Debra Miller didn’t know why her daughter was in Jarrett Weaver’s apartment. She also didn’t know everything that had been going on.
After Kelsi’s death, she learned that the night before her daughter’s wedding, her friends wanted to take her out for a bachelorette party. Jarrett became so enraged that he punched a brick wall near Kelsi’s head—that’s why his hands were broken.
Debra learned that Jarrett had stitches in his hand a month after the wedding because he and Kelsi argued in a restaurant and he punched out a window. They were kicked out of the restaurant, told never to return, and Jarrett had to pay for damages.
Debra learned that in September 2007, when the police were called to Jarrett’s parents’ home, Jarrett had first attacked Kelsi’s car with a weed eater. After Kelsi drove off, he ran into the garage and grabbed a saw off the wall and started to saw his own arm off. When Jarrett’s father took the saw from him, Jarrett pinned his dad up against the wall. The police arrived and, after a scuffle, Jarrett was placed under arrest. The police report noted that Jarrett was a danger to himself and others, and had threatened to kill himself.
Debra learned that when the couple went to Del Rio, Jarrett had been arrested for assault by contact, family violence. After staying out all night, Jarrett arrived back at the motel at 6 a.m., and he and Kelsi started arguing. Distraught, Kelsi ran to Jarrett’s truck and got into the driver’s seat to leave. Jarrett broke the window in on Kelsi, then tried to pull her through the window, over the broken glass. That’s when the police arrived. Kelsi had glass in her eye and cuts.
Debra learned that, when he was mad at Kelsi, Jarrett put a gun to her dogs’ heads and threatened to kill them. He threw one of the Chihuahuas up against the wall, injuring it. Kelsi had to take the dog to a veterinarian for treatment.
Debra learned that the young man and woman Jarrett had assaulted back in June had dropped the charges, because Jarrett had threatened to kill them if they didn’t.
Debra learned that on Saturday night, October 4, Kelsi was heard arguing with someone on the phone. The next day at work, she told a friend that Jarrett had threatened to break into her grandmother’s home and take her Chihuahuas.
That was on Sunday, October 5, 2008—the last day Kelsi was seen alive.
Kelsi’s journal
After her daughter’s death, Debra Miller found Kelsi’s journal. On July 29, 2008, Kelsi wrote:
It will be six weeks since I left Jarrett on Thursday. I am on a horrible emotional roller coaster ride. It’s so overwhelming to me that the man I love and want to spend the rest of my life with has done all this crap to me. I know I will become a stronger and better person through this. They say a man will come into your life and change it for the better and for me that was Jarrett. He showed me an ugly side of a human being and it’s something I don’t want to deal with for the rest of my life. It’s just hard to picture the rest of my life without him. I wrote a list of qualities I want in a husband and from now on I will not accept anything less. I also made a list of things I like to do and when I feel sad I will do something on that list.
Qualities in a husband Honest Non-violent Passionate Intelligent Handsome Faithful Not an addict Provider Christian Supportive Keeps a job Loving
Things that make me happy Friends Family Starbucks Shopping Road trip Compliments Traveling Positivity Getting dressed up Hot baths Reading Doing good in school
Speech to victims
On Sunday, April 19, 2009, Debra Miller gave a speech to the Odessa Crime Victims Coalition. “Words seem trite in describing how your daughter was lied to, stolen from, assaulted, humiliated, manipulated and eventually murdered,” she said. Then she related the series of events that led to her daughter’s death.
The speech was difficult. On a few occasions Debra choked up. She had to stop, take a few breaths and a drink of water, and then continue. Finally, she reached her conclusion:
“I know what many of you are thinking. How in the world did a beautiful, intelligent, loving young lady with such a bright future fall for a total loser like that? I’ve often asked myself the same question. The answer is simple. The person she fell in love with never existed. It was an illusion created by him to defraud her into marrying him. Once married, he slowly began to reveal his true self, but she still believed in the basic goodness of humanity and got satisfaction from nurturing and helping others. He preyed upon this and deceived her with his charm and flattery, built up her trust, and then slowly isolated her from family and friends, and then it was all about power and control. Being the type of person she was, she believed in honoring her commitment even as she was beginning to realize that she had made a terrible mistake.
“There are no adequate words in the English language to describe the horror, pain, anger and despair her dad and I have suffered. This has forever changed our family structure, and shattered our lives. We will spend a lifetime trying to put the pieces back together, but it is impossible because a big piece is missing. A piece we will never get back.”
By the time Debra Miller finished her speech, many in the audience were crying, as was Debra. “I stood there wishing I had that I could have taken Kelsi to an event like it—where she could see pictures—and put a name and face to a victim,” Debra said. “Maybe it would have made a difference. They always think, ”˜It couldn’t happen to me. He wouldn’t hurt me.’”
For more information and to comment on this story, read the Lovefraud Blog: Marriage to a sociopath ends in murder.