CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Harrison County prosecuting attorney Joe Shaffer said a Lumberport man thought a wedding would help him get away with last month’s murder of a Clarksburg man.
“Tipsters tell us that Mr. Miller’s bright idea was that, if he married the girl, then she could not testify against him,” said Shaffer. “But, as many of us know, the marital privilege doesn’t go to crimes that are committed together.”
Shane Andrew Miller, 21, and Tracy Renee Miller, 19, of Lumberport were married last Saturday. On Wednesday, the two were charged with first degree murder for allegedly killing Darrell Golden, 58, of Clarksburg.
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“They got married and they thought all was well until they went out and ran their mouths about what they had done and people started calling in,” said Shaffer on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
A fisherman found Golden’s body on March 20 at a pond near Wallace, three days after his family members had reported him missing. Investigators said he had been beaten with beer bottles before he was dragged to that pond on Jones Run and drowned.
Shaffer said investigators believe the murder was tied to a nighttime break in that happened at the Blue Bird store in downtown Clarksburg on March 13 when “a couple hundred dollars in change” and cigarettes were taken.
Shane Miller, who had been on probation for daytime burglary and grand larceny, was a suspect in that burglary.
Shaffer said he did not think Golden was part of the break in, but may have known about Miller’s involvement.
“We think we have what’s very clearly a first degree, premeditated murder where a man suffered a great deal, all in anticipation of him ratting them out on the burglary,’ said Shaffer.
The Millers were being held in the North Central Regional Jail without bail.
“It’s a horrible situation and just another case of people getting lost when they’re young and getting into these types of lives with nothing but disaster ahead of them,” said the prosecuting attorney.