Memento mystery goes cold

Someone kept a cardboard box filled with Burt Miller’s yellowed military papers, faded pencil doodles of ships and U.S. Navy ribbons for more than 30 years before a maintenance worker found the items in a vacant Costa Mesa apartment.

Miller died in the early 1970s, but Costa Mesa resident David Stiller hopes to return the box to Miller’s daughter, Marsha, who he thinks left it behind.

“I want to know why this material was found in a vacant apartment and they didn’t realize they had left it behind,” Stiller said. “Some people don’t want to be found, they’re quite content to remain invisible, slugging back and forth in commuter traffic every day, who knows.”

Stiller first read about Miller’s keepsakes in the Daily Pilot last month. A maintenance man who works at the apartment complex where retired Korean War veteran James Russell Brown lives passed the box onto Brown several months ago, hoping he would be able to locate the owner. Brown called the Daily Pilot to help find the rightful owner.

“Whoever had these things carried them around for a long time,” Brown said. “I hope she’s thankful people have worked so hard to find her.”

Stiller has a knack for finding information. He worked more than 20 years as an insurance investigator for a major company in Southern California, investigating claims ranging from fatal shootings to dog bites. Now retired, Stiller helped find almost 60 missing alumni or their widows for his 50th Naval Academy class reunion.

“It’s not what you know, but knowing how to find out,” Stiller said.

After visiting with Brown and looking at Miller’s high school diploma and various military documents, Stiller located Social Security records that indicated Miller probably died in 1972.

“He was only 38 when he died. It’s quite puzzling. I think he died rather suddenly,” Stiller said.

Stiller was drawn to Miller’s story because they were both in the Navy. Miller must have worked hard to rise through the ranks to become a master chief petty officer, he said.

“Burt Miller was a guy from a very small town in Arkansas who came through high school in ’51. I graduated in ’53.” Stiller said. “Burt didn’t have the advantages I had — I got a scholarship to the Naval Academy. He must have worked hard and kept his nose clean.”

Miller’s military records show he was a model sailor with an aptitude for electronics. Stiller believes Miller supervised repair work on electronic equipment for Navy planes and helicopters.

“I don’t know if he drank bourbon or rye whiskey, if he preferred blonds or brunets or liked steak or chicken, but that demands respect,” Stiller said.

Stiller located a former high school classmate of Miller’s in Hot Springs, Ark. By chance, the classmate ran into another man who served in the Navy with Miller in California. The man told the classmate Miller had married a girl from their home town who graduated from high school a year after him.

“It’s interesting the amount of help people will give you to find someone. It’s a little parking and just going and knocking on doors and seeing who answers and what their story is,” Miller said.

Stiller discovered that Miller’s wife, Mona Faye Miller, had died in 1979 — another dead end. By using an old obituary, Stiller and Miller’s old classmate were able to locate the woman’s half-brother. Another relative still had an old address book with a listing for Miller’s daughter in Costa Mesa, but the two hadn’t talked in years. The address for Marsha Miller is from the same apartment complex where her father’s mementos were discovered.

That’s where the trail goes cold.

The address for Marsha Miller in Costa Mesa was current as recently as 2006, according to Stiller’s research. A telephone number listed under Marsha Miller’s name at the same address still works, although there is no answer. Stiller knocked on several doors at the apartment complex, but came up empty-handed.

Marsha Miller would be about 55 years old and has a daughter named Chrissy, Stiller said. Wherever she is, Stiller believes the woman may have left her father’s things behind accidentally.

“If she truly wanted to abandon that stuff, why didn’t she just throw it in the trash when they decided to move?” Stiller said. “Maybe they had a pile of stuff and forgot this one last box as they walked away and never even knew it.”

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.