Woman encountered suspect in Humboldt County triple killing

As the hunt in rugged wilderness for a man suspected of gunning down his wife and two small daughters stretches into a week, law enforcement officials say that at least one person stood face to face with Shane Franklin Miller before he disappeared.

Humboldt County Sheriff’s Lt. Steve Knight said that last Wednesday, a woman Miller knew was standing near the general store of Petrolia when the suspect drove up to her in his truck. This was a day after the 45-year-old man had allegedly killed his wife, Sandy, 34, and daughters Shelby, 8, and Shasta, 5, about 200 miles away in their Shingletown home in Shasta County.

“He told her something along the lines of, ‘It’s going to be OK,’” Knight said Tuesday. “She was freaked out when she saw him. She was concerned for her well-being.”

The woman called 911, which led officers to race to the town of about 300 residents as quickly as they could along rutted, steep and potholed roads. It was an hour drive, Knight said.

“You can’t go too fast to get there on those roads,” he said, adding that the woman positively identified Miller.

Knight said Miller apparently drove off in the direction where the law enforcement cruisers were coming into town from, but then turned around and went the other way. The Petrolia volunteer Fire Department also sprung into action, and about an hour later, authorities found Miller’s abandoned truck behind a closed gate near Mattole Road.

From there, Knight said, it would have been a short walk into the dense forestlands of the Kings Range Conservation Area, and it was already turning dark.

Searchers are using dogs to try to track Miller’s scent, including cadaver-sniffing dogs in case the suspect took his life. Because cellphone and other communication devices don’t work well in the area, satellite phones were issued to SWAT teams scouring for Miller, and the U.S. marshals brought in a communication van.

“He’s an avid outdoorsman, he knows the Kings Range Conservation Area,” Knight said of Miller. “He grew up in the area. He was born and raised in southern Humboldt County.”

More than 70 law enforcement officers, including SWAT officers and U.S. marshals, have descended on Petrolia.

Deputies responding to the triple killing Tuesday night a week ago found weapons and ammunition at the home, but not the weapon or weapons believed to have been used in the crime. All three of the victims were shot more than once.

“There was a lot of weapons that were in his name and his wife’s name that have not been accounted for,” Shasta County Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Kent said. “He’s armed and extremely dangerous with the types of weapons unaccounted for.”

Based on interviews with family and acquaintances of Miller, investigators believe he may have kept weapons in other places, including a cabin he reportedly had in the Petrolia area. The search for Miller is fraught with danger.

“It’s a very difficult area to search, a very frustrating area to search,” Knight said. “It’s heavily wooded, sparsely populated, with a lot of cabins, a lot of summer cabins. There’s a lot of broken-down cabins in the area of the Kings Range. There’s no paved roads down there and limited dirt roads.”

Miller is described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing about 200 pounds, with red hair and blue eyes. He has had previous run-ins with the law. Miller was charged in 2002 in San Francisco, according to the Redding Record Searchlight, with growing and selling marijuana, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing a machine gun and money-laundering.

The newspaper reported that Miller pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, according to court records. Kent said Miller was discharged from federal parole within the last year.

Last month, deputies responded to a domestic disturbance at the home he shared with his wife and daughters, he said.

In an interview last week with the Associated Press, the suspect’s mother said she wasn’t aware of marital problems between her son and his wife, or whether he may have wanted to harm his family.

“I can’t speak to that. I don’t know,” Joan Miller said. “It was none of my business. This just breaks my heart.”

She told the AP that she had no communication with Miller after the hunt began.

Knight said that although authorities believe Miller is still in the area, they cannot discount the possibility that he is not.

“Since we found the truck, unfortunately we have not found him or any evidence of him,” he said. “We’re not ruling anyting out…. After talking with family and friends of the suspect, they all tell the officers they believe that he will be in that area somewhere.”

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hector.becerra@latimes.com