In what appears to be a crime of passion fueled by jealousy, pretty 22-year-old Spc. Ivette Gonzalez Davila, a soldier stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, has been arrested on allegations that she killed two fellow soldiers, a man and a woman, and then took the married couple’s six-month-old baby back to the barracks with her. The victims, Timothy and Randi Miller, ages 27 and 25, respectively, were killed in their off-base home in the community of Parkland, Washington, sometime Saturday evening, March 1, 2008, according to reports by The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
According to Ed Murphy, a Pierce County, Washington deputy prosecutor, Davila purportedly told another soldier that "Randi Miller was in a relationship with Davila’s ex-boyfriend, another soldier, who had apparently chosen Randi Miller over Davila." Davila, a specialist in the I Corps and a member of the Fort Lewis color guard, is expected to be charged with the killings on Wednesday, March 5, 2008. If charged with aggravated murder and kidnapping, Davila, originally from Bakersfield, California, could face the death penalty.
According to published reports, Davila had posted messages on the victims’ MySpace pages earlier in February 2008 in which she had indicated that she was coming to their home to visit. The postings, police allege, indicate that she knew both of the victims, both of whom were sergeants and had done tours of duty in Iraq. Timothy Miller, originally from Gardnerville, Nevada, had been in the Army for 10 years, and had been making plans to join up with the Nevada State Police following his military service. Those who knew the couple said that both appeared very loving, and that both lived for their daughter. They were described as a hard-working couple, and very reliable. Family members discounted the possibility that Randi Miller had been having an affair, as Davila had apparently believed.
"They had a beautiful marriage," Randi’s father told reporters.
