WURTLAND, Ky. — Chadd E. Miller of Chimacum met his new love, Amber Nolan, on the social networking site MySpace.
Miller arrived in Wurtland on July 27 to live with her.
He would die 11 days later, allegedly killed by her ex-boyfriend.
Miller, 27, and Nolan, 33, were in bed around 3 a.m. Saturday when Beryl W. Smith broke the front-door window, barged into her house and shot Miller several times with a 9 mm handgun, according to a Greenup County Sheriff’s Department report.
Nolan escaped uninjured, deputies said.
Smith, 33, of nearby Raceland, was holding the handgun when he was arrested without incident while standing in the middle of the road outside Nolan’s house about 3:30 a.m. Saturday, authorities said.
Miller was pronounced dead at the scene.
“This was very, very tragic,” Deputy Sheriff David Bocook said Monday.
Bocook confirmed that Miller and Nolan met by corresponding on MySpace.
“They hit it off, according to Miss Nolan, after a couple of months,” Bocook said, “and they made the determination he would come here and be with her.”
Miller made the 2,500-mile trip on a Greyhound bus, according to The (Ashland, Ky.) Independent.
Bocook said Miller arrived in Wurtland on July 27.
Miller’s last log-in to his My-Space page was Friday. Using the nickname “Chaddog,” he lists his home as Kentucky and his mood “anxious.”
Smith had told Nolan that he would kill Miller, but Smith and Miller never spoke a word to each other, Bocook said.
Smith was arraigned Monday in Greenup County District Court on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and first-degree wanton endangerment in connection with the shooting, District Court Deputy Clerk Melinda Lawson said.
Judge Brian McCloud set cash bail of $200,000 for Smith, and Smith was returned to the Greenup County Detention Center in the county seat of the same name.
A preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 18 in Greenup County District Court, where the case will likely be bound over to a grand jury, Bocook said, adding that a trial would likely be held in county Circuit Court.
Smith would face the death penalty if convicted of those charges, Bocook said.
Bocook said Smith and Nolan met online a few months ago and decided that Miller, a 2000 graduate of Chimacum High School, should move to Kentucky and live in her house at 401-B Chinns Branch Road.
Nolan works as a caretaker at Pathways Inc., a disabled children’s assistance agency in nearby Greenup, Bocook said.
Miller, a former employee of Westbay NAPA Auto Parts in Port Townsend, was unemployed.
Nolan and Smith, who is unemployed, broke up about eight months ago, Bocook said.
They had a child in common.
Miller also has a son who was a little boy when Miller was hired at Westbay in 2001, said store manager Nellie Amo.
Nolan’s neighbor, Alexis Stapleton, said Monday that Nolan has two elementary-school-age children who play with her two children.
Nolan’s children were not at Nolan’s house at the time of the shooting, said Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorney Cliff Duvall, who is prosecuting the case.
Smith was charged with first-degree wanton endangerment because Nolan was in bed with Miller when Smith shot Miller, Bocook said.
“At any time, one of those stray bullets could have struck her and resulted in her death as well,” he said.
Bocook interviewed Nolan a second time Monday for about 45 minutes.
“For the most part, the investigation is pretty much completed,” Bocook said.
Stapleton, who lives four houses away from Nolan’s corner house, said she and her husband did not hear bullets being fired early Saturday morning.
“She really kept to herself,” Stapleton said.
“We are a really small, little place,” Stapleton said of Wurtland. “You don’t hear anything like that going on.”
Amo said Miller started as a driver for the auto parts store in 2001, left for a year, then returned for four years and worked the counter.
“He was a very quiet person,” she said. “Everyone knows him, but not real personally.”
Miller’s last day at the store was Aug. 2, 2009.
“Cars were his life,” Amo said, adding that Miller was especially fond of a particular nameplate.
“If someone would come in who had a Ford, we’d call Chadd to the counter because he knew Fords,” Amo said, noting that Miller also repaired cars on the side.
“Chadd was just a good guy all the way around. He was a very caring person.”
Smith has numerous prior convictions for misdemeanors, including driving under the influence and possession of marijuana, according to The Independent.
The Leader newspaper in Port Townsend reported on its website Monday that Miller, in addition to his son, 9, is survived by his mother of Chimacum and a younger brother, Kipp, of Port Hadlock.
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Senior Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
