Missing Persons Case Solved! Woman Missing Since 1974 Found Living In Texas
Pendleton – A woman missing from her home in Laurel, Indiana since 1974, has been found living in a small town in south Texas under an alias. Shortly after giving birth to her third child in 1974, Lula Ann Gillespie-Miller, then 28 years old, felt she was too young to be a mother at the time and signed her children over to her parents in Laurel. She then left home never to be seen again by her family.
Detective Sergeant Scott Jarvis took the case in January, 2014, after the Doe Network, a web site that assists families with missing person’s investigations, contacted the Indiana State Police at the Pendleton Post. The site advised they had been in contact with Lula Gillespie-Miller’s family. The family had told the site the last contact they had with Lula, was a letter they received from her, postmarked in Richmond, Indiana, from 1975.
Jarvis checked with the Richmond Police Department Records Division and found they had a case of a deceased unidentified female found in 1975. The female was buried in an unmarked grave in the Earlham Cemetery in Richmond. A search warrant was obtained in December, 2014, and a body was exhumed from an unmarked grave for DNA analysis. A DNA sample was also obtained from Lula Gillespie-Miller’s biological daughter, Tammy Miller, for comparison.
The DNA sample taken from Tammy Miller was also entered into a national data base for missing persons, with no match found. While awaiting the DNA analysis on the exhumed unidentified body, the investigation led Jarvis in a different direction.
He began to investigate the trail of a woman with similarities to Lula Gillespie-Miller, who had lived in Tennessee in the 1980’s, then later in Texas. Further investigation led Jarvis to a woman living in a small town in south Texas since the 1990’s, possibly still living under an alias.
Today Jarvis contacted Texas Rangers in the area and had them go to the woman’s home. She admitted to the Rangers that her name is actually Lula Gillespie-Miller, now 69 years old, and originally from Laurel, Indiana. Lula Gillespie-Miller did not commit any crime by leaving her home in 1974, and still reserves the right to remain anonymous.
Although Gillespie-Miller could offer no explanation as to why she left her Indiana life behind in 1974, she did give consent to Sergeant Jarvis for her contact information to be given to her daughter, Tammy. Thanks to the hard work of Indiana State Police Detective Sergeant Scott Jarvis, this Easter weekend, Tammy Miller hopes to make contact with the mother she has never known.
Media Note: Due to the extended Easter Holiday weekend, please hold all requests for interviews with Sergeant Jarvis until Monday, March 28th. Thank you
How she wicked? There’s no crime committed it better she did what she did than kill the child or mistreat her. Sometimes mi feel like dissappear to an never to be found mnl.
kill the child?? a three she lef behind oo
Oh wow!! Maybe she couldn’t handle it and just split. Not everybody did cut out fi be a mother and back in a dem days deh contraceptive wasn’t prevalent like now .
I wouldn’t call her wicked cause it’s a damn if you do or don’t, if she did kill dem off wi wuda seh why she never give them up,drop the off a the police,fire house hospital or same way give it to family members…don’t what she was going through at the time and she did what she thought was best for all three at that time which was giving them up,what she is doah is selfish cuz one of de kids dem want to know her suh dem can know what they need to know nd she owe de that
She ran from supporting the child they should let her pay back child support.
Betta shi run whey more dan do worse…like Andrea Yates, Susan Smith or Casey Anthony…
There has to be some underline mental issue.
Met I wouldn’t say she she wicked for leaving the children, we could have read another story with a totally different outcome that would warrant this reaction. Her actions were selfish yes but the resources available in 1976 and 2016 are totally different. Now there are more ways to diagnose and help depression which she probably suffered from, we don’t know enough to come to that conclusion.
I would rather 1 million mother’s run weh lef dem children than harm them, of course I would wish that those 1 million mother’s not have the children in the first place for them to end up in this situation.
Needleeye101 I just finished reading the story and read the first line of your comment and those are my sentiments exactly : HOW IS SHE WICKED ?
She killed no one. She responsibly handed and signed the children over to her mother. She did not leav them unattended or dumped them in a trash can. She did not starve them. She CHOSE to bring forth the lies and did not take the route of abortion.
She loved them enough to carry them full term.
Before we are quick to judge people’s actions, me must look into the flaws within our very own IMPERFECT LIVES!!!
No one knows what was going through her head at that time. Childbirth, child rearing brings a LOT of stress .
Some women suffer psychosis, others depression, others personality changes .
Or simply , maybe she just could not handle it . What was so wrong with that ?
Life happens.
As a mother who has sacrificed EVERYTHING for my children and given them the best education, the best early childhood Montessori, best Middle schools, the best musical training , best extra-curricular activities and lifestyle I can barely afford, I can attest that many children in today’s society grow up to be very ungreatful, selfish and unappreciative of the gifts and privileges they are given .
They think parents ” owe” them something and you can barely get anything in return.
The responsiblites of motherhood and the psychological stresses are great. Everyone experiences
So when woman like this decides to run away, only GOD ALONE CAN JUDGE HER
@anon 10:26 I agree totally.