POLICE REPORT - TIMOTHY A. MILLS HOMICIDE CASE

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INCIDENT REPORT -- DETECTIVE PHIL HICKMAN, MAJOR CRIMES DIVISION, OAKWOOD HEIGHTS POLICE DEPARTMENT

BACKGROUND - ABOUT THE SUSPECT

Suspect Timothy Allen Mills has been in custody since August 22nd, 2010. He is charged with six counts of first degree murder including the murder of a police officer, three counts of kidnapping, two counts of assault, three counts of breaking and entering, grand theft auto, burglary, animal cruelty, arson, and several counts of vandalism and property crime. There is another count of first degree murder in the works, as one of the kidnapping victims is still missing.

The suspect is 27 years old, unemployed, and was previously contracted with STH Fabrication and had been working to deconstruct the decommissioned coal freighter where the murder of Janice Bedford took place, and where William Bedford and Officer Joseph Butcher were unlawfully imprisoned. Timothy Mills has four previous convictions of prostitution and two counts of shoplifting, the most recent offense being three years ago. In 2000, when the suspect was 17, he was brought in for questioning along with his mother Lisa Mills, after a fire was set in the home, and his sister Amanda Mills, 7, receives minor burns on her hands and arms. You can read more about this case in Detective Colleen Colt's report, which is attached. No charges were filed against Timothy Mills, though Lisa Mills was convicted of child endangerment and the child was placed in foster care, though the mother would later regain custody. Timothy was reported to have run away from home that same year, where he went on to do odd jobs and prostitution in Chicago. The family home was vacated in 2002, after the body of Amanda Mills was discovered. She had died of dehydration after being locked in the bedroom wardrobe. The body was not discovered until a month later, when neighbors had called about the smell. Lisa Mills would not be convicted as she had apparently committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills, her body found face down in the upstairs bathtub.

On the scene of the crime, the suspect stated that he committed the crimes because he needed 'a new me.' Daniel Millman, his court appointed psychologist has theorized that this series of crimes was an attempt to recreate the circumstances of his life, recreating the abuse he received onto William Bedford, due to his family living in the Mills's former home. The suspect's father was killed in a drunk driving accident, the mother and the boy were in the car at the time and he was traumatized by seeing his father's injuries, including his head being nearly torn away by a piece of debris from the wreckage. The suspect claims that he was abused by his mother, including being locked in the wardrobe and having to destroy his own toys, as was done to his sister, see Detective Colt's report. He also reported that his mother had purposefully run over the family dog and attempted to cook it. While I won't get into the suspect's every unusual belief, these points could be useful in understanding the motivations for the crimes.

This is the timeline we have constructed.

10:10
17 Powell Street
Timothy Mills assaults Colin Thomas – a former work colleague – in Thomas’s home. He wants his weapons, but Colin Thomas has already sold them. Timothy ties Colin up. Finds little more than $100 in cash, and steals Colin Thomas’s car – a dark-green, 1998 Ford Contour with t he license plate, CHK-4PL8.

11:01 to 11:17
414 Oakwood Street
Timothy Mills is caught on a surveillance camera as he buys duct tape, rope, nails, knives, hammers, an electric sawsall and a crowbar at Acme Bolts & Nuts.

12:00 to 15:30
514 South Waring Street
Timothy Mills enters the Bedford family home on 514 South Waring Street via the porch door in the back. William Bedford, 9, and the neighbor, Lynne Jaskolski, 55, are at home. Lynne has been hired by the Bedford family as a babysitter. Timothy Mills assaults Lynne Jaskolski and holds William prisoner. He drowns the bound Ms. Jaskolski in the upstairs bathtub.

During the afternoon, Timothy Mills vandalizes the house. Spray paints over family pictures and the child's drawings. Burns William Bedford’s toys and other belongings in the backyard. Thereafter, he dismembers the family dog in the living room.

13:16 t o 13:18
17 Powell Street
Colin Thomas, who has escaped, reports the assault and the car theft to the police. An arrest warrant is issued for Timothy Mills and the car is reported stolen.

15:30
514 South Waring Street
Ryan Bedford, 43, is believed to have come home from work at the 38th street Target. Timothy Mills assaults Ryan Bedford with a chunk of concrete and ties him to a kitchen chair. He is then tortured with repeated stab wounds to the legs before his throat is cut.

16:42
514 South Waring Street
William Bedford's schoolmate, Soraya Mandell arrives at the home, presumably to play, though it is not known whether she may have been called or lured inside the house. Timothy Mills suffocates her by placing duct tape over her mouth and nose and locks her in a wardrobe in the upstairs bedroom.

17:52
514 South Waring Street
Timothy Mills leaves William Bedford tied up in the wardrobe on the house’s top floor, along with Soraya Mandell’s body, and drives off in his stolen car. He is seen leaving by a neighbor, Jerome Allen, who becomes suspicious after hearing the commotion inside. Mr. Allen goes over and knocks on the door, but there is no response. He then calls the police and gives a description of Timothy Mills and the vehicle.

18:15 t o 18:30
58 Parsons Street
The stolen car is seen outside St. Patrick Senior Center at 58 Parsons St, where Janice Bedford, 37, works. It is thought he was attempting to ambush her there, but she was out running errands and has already left for the day.

18:43
514 South Waring Street
Police officers, Joseph Butcher and Gary Clark, arrive at 514 South Waring Street in response to Jerome Allen’s reported
complaint. They discover signs of violence in the house, call for back-up, and then enter the house to look for survivors and perpetrators.

18:50
514 South Waring Street
Timothy Mills returns to 514 South Waring Street, shoots and kills Officer Clark and assaults Officer Butcher with the previously used chunk of concrete, knocking him unconscious.

18:55
Janice Bedford arrives home and is assaulted in the driveway by Timothy Mills, who tapes over her mouth and locks her in the trunk of his car. Jerome Allen comes to see what is going on, and while on the phone with 911, is shot and killed by Timothy Mills.

19:00
Timothy Mills forces Officer Butcher and William Bedford in the car and travels southwest with Janice Bedford in the trunk. They drive along St. Ford Street where witnesses lose track of them. He pulls over at some point to assault Officer Butcher with the handgun and continues toward Zug Island. Officer Butcher reports that he, William Bedford and Janice Bedford are held at gunpoint and taken to the ship's engine room and bound. For an unknown amount of time, Timothy Mills tortures and dismembers Janice Bedford in front of Officer Butcher and William Bedford. He removes Janice Bedford's heart and places it on a metal oil drum. He will later leave the room (presumably with William Bedford) while Officer Butcher is unconscious.

19:01
514 South Waring Street
Detectives David Rodriguez and Felicia Alvarez arrive at the crime scene on 514 South Waring Street. After discovering
the bodies and Officer Joseph Butcher missing, a State-wide arrest warrant is issued for Timothy Mills. Police patrols are dispatched to his home. They follow up on the stolen car report.

20:13
Zug Island
Detective Rodriguez learns through Colin Thomas, while working together two months previously, he and Timothy were involved with dismantling a derelict ship at Zug Island.

20:32
Zug Island
Felicia Alvarez and David Rodriguez go to Zug Island and discover the stolen vehicle on the pier.

20:35
Officer Butcher is able to escape the engine room, where he had been bound, and calls for help. Officers Rodriguez and Alvarez board the ship.

20:37
Timothy Mills is apprehended, standing on the deck of the ship, unarmed. He is incoherent, though the detectives were able to record references to the 'ritual' he was attempting to perform.

20:40
Detective Alvarez discovers the body of Janice Bedford in the ship's engine room. William Bedford is nowhere to be found.

20:49
Police reinforcements, ambulance, and forensic personnel arrive at the ship at Zug Island.

21:38
514 South Waring Street
The body of Soroya Mandell is discovered, hidden in the wardrobe.

Conclusion
Despite a thorough forensic sweep, Joseph Butcher’s testimony, and a search with dogs, William Bedford’s body is never recovered. He is presumed dead, either drowned in the river or on the lower levels of the ship, or hidden away somewhere in the rusty hull where the coal and waste oil hides the smell from the dogs.

In addition to this report, please see the included testimony of Officer Joseph Butcher, and Detective Colleen Colt's report.

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TESTIMONY - OFFICER JOSEPH BUTCHER

My name is Joseph Butcher, I am 24 years old and I have been working at the Oakwood Heights PD since 2007. On the day of August 22nd, 2010, at 18:27, Officer Gary Clark and I received a complaint of a potential trespasser at 514 South Waring Street. We arrived at 18:43 to find the front door parted. We discovered blood dripping out onto the stoop. Officer Clark phoned for backup and we entered the home. We saw the body of Ryan Bedford next to the open patio door. Officer Clark said he would clear the hall while I checked the back door. I secured the back door and attempted to check for vital signs on Ryan Bedford. As my back was turned, the suspect entered the home and assaulted me with a piece of concrete and shot Officer Clark.

I regained consciousness a few minutes later when I heard another gunshot outside-- the shooting of the Bedford's neighbor, Jerome Allen. The suspect held me and the child at gunpoint and directed us to the car. He zip-tied my hands together, and the child had already been bound. He began driving southwest toward Zug Island. I attempted to get free, and the suspect pulled to the side of the road and attempted to knock me unconscious with the butt of his gun but only further injured the back of my head as I attempted to dodge the blows. He seemed satisfied enough with this, or just gave up, and continued driving. He was very erratic, mumbling about rituals and his mother. I figured I would use the moment he got out of the car to try to subdue him, but as he pulled onto the dock, he stuffed a solvent-soaked rag into my face to attempt to knock me unconscious. This only led me to vomit but it was enough for him to get me at gunpoint once more.

He led me, Janice Bedford and William Bedford by gunpoint up the gangway to the ship. We were forced into the ship's engine room, where the suspect knocked Janice Bedford to the floor. I attempted to disarm the suspect but he was able to knock me over and ziptied my feet while I was dazed. He then tied Janice Bedford to a piece of machinery, and dismembered her in front of the boy and myself. If the boy attempted to look away, he would strike him until he was watching. He made no such moves against me. He removed Janice Bedford's heart and placed it on the oil drum, while doing some strange chanting. At some point I lost consciousness.

When I woke, I was alone in the room with Janice Bedford's body. I struggled out of the room and through the hatch, which had been left open by the suspect. I was able to crawl to the deck where I called for help, and Detectives Rodriguez and Alvarez were on the scene. Timothy Mills was found standing on the deck and there was no sign of William Bedford. The last I'd seen him, he was bound on the floor next to me, traumatized but relatively uninjured. I unfortunately do not know what became of him while I was unconscious.

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The following page has been printed out, complete with unclickable hyperlinks.

CASE 098947-B REPORT 4
REPORTING DETECTIVE: COLLEEN COLT

This report is best viewed in Internet Explorer or through the IDDS system. The links direct to files in evidence and earlier relevant reports.

On the night of August 22nd 2010, I was brought onto the investigation of a multiple homicide with one suspect - Timothy Allen Mills. This was due to my previous history with the suspect as a juvenile. I have tried to make myself more useful than a random consult and together with Officer Joseph Butcher from the 7th precinct have constructed the appended evidence file and expanded timeline of events. This report is complete as of September 8th 2010.  Additional evidence is being investigated and may be appended.  EDIT September 14th see Addendum. EDIT September 27th see Addendum.

On the night in question, I was called at roughly 2050 hrs (off duty) to go to a homicide scene at Zug Island, informed that the crime involved a suspect from an old case of my own - Timothy Allen Mills. At the time I was not told the name and did not fully connect that case with the current situation. The case was outside of my current precinct - the 2nd - so my role was to be supplemental. I arrived on the scene at about 2105 hrs and made contact with Lieutenant Pierce of the 7th precinct. I did not have much interaction with him when I was at the 7th on juvie, but he had been there at the time.

Lt Pierce informed me that there had been homicides in a house in South Waring, which I began to suspect was the former Mills residence. He also informed me that the crime scene had moved to Zug Island, as the suspect brought an officer and other victims to there from Waring. He mentioned a missing child and that the junior officer who had been abducted to the second site was alive and had requested my presence.

I went to see the junior officer, Joseph Butcher, at an ambulance. He was resting in preparation for the trip to Detroit General Hospital. He was blood-stained and had a black eye. He gave me a verbal rough outline of the night's events - that he had been subdued and his partner Officer Gary Clark had been murdered, that Timothy Mills had taken him and the other victims against their will to the Zug Island scene. The ambulance took him away and I moved on to look for more information.

I found Detective David Rodriguez. Like all of the officers on the scene except myself, he was from the 7th precinct. I knew him well from my time there. He informed me that the three people brought to the Zug scene were a mother and son and Officer Butcher, that the mother had been killed and the son was unaccounted for. Rodriguez left the scene to go to the first location - the Mills house. I went onto the boat where the murder had taken place, noting that the killer probably had a pre-existing connection to the site, felt comfortable there. I also found that the mother's dismembered heart was still at the scene, and weapons presumably used in the crime.

After some investigation, I went to the Mills house, arriving at roughly 2130 hrs and meeting with Rodriguez and Detective Phil Hickman. Hickman indicated to me and I observed where the family dog had been killed, where Officer Clark, the father and babysitter had been slain. I toured the scene and was downstairs when the victim Soraya Mandell was discovered in the master bedroom's wardrobe. After her body was removed from the site, I investigated that room on my own.

The wardrobe was the same one that had been there when the Mills lived there, with a crude painting of a demonic figure on inside of the top panel, facing down. There were signs of damage on the inside, presumably from Mandell attempting to free herself. I set to collecting copies of all the evidence for myself and looking for places where additional evidence might be gleaned, before leaving the site at roughly 0330 hrs, August 23rd.

Since then I have borrowed Officer Butcher from his precinct to help me collate these files and do some supplemental investigation of our own. Mostly, this has amounted to documenting the particulars of the suspect's mental state via his action, physical circumstances, and interviews with authorities relevant to his background - and that of his mother. For the remainder of this report, I will just outline possibly relevant events to the best of our collected knowledge.

1982, Lisa Monroe married Rick Mills, assuming his last name. She may or may not have been mentally disturbed at that time. I was unable to find evidence of her occult or demonic interests before 2000. In 1983, Timothy Mills was born.

During Timothy's childhood, there was evidence of abuse documented on various occasions (1,2,3,4,5), although that documentation was not very thorough. Rick Mills may have perpetrated some of it, but Lisa Mills was definitely guilty of some. Whether this was connected with her occult beliefs is unknown.

In 1990, Amanda Mills was born and a few months later, Rick Mills died. Again, the pattern of abuse was documented (1,2,3). During this time, Timothy Mills became known for erratic and sometimes violent behavior at school (1,2).

In October of 2000, I became involved (incident reports 1,2), as the Juvenile Case Detective at the 7th Precinct. It was unclear who was directly responsible for the abuse of Amanda Mills in that case, but a number of factors suggested Timothy worked with his mother Lisa on the act. Her toys were ritualistically dismembered and burned, during which time she also sustained burns and was sent to the hospital.

Noteworthy facts in the incident: based on the window of opportunity and amount of effort involved in laying out the ritual, it was most likely a two person job - and the only two people in a position to do so were Timothy and Lisa Mills. However, both denied guilt and indicated the other was responsible. My impression was that both of them were lying, which further convinced me they had collaborated.

Examining their household, there were clear signs of mental aberration in the occupants. There was a lack of sentiment in decor - very few family pictures or curios, extremely spare furnishing, inconsistent hygiene. Closer inspection revealed Timothy Mills had no toys and practically no personal effects, his mother as well. She had a shoebox containing pictures of the family with all the faces blotted out, and a wardrobe empty but for white paint and track lighting to illuminate the painting of a demon at the top. There was also evidence of the possibility their family pet had recently disappeared, perhaps violence similar to what befell the Bedford dog - though no evidence was recovered at that time.

My assessment was that Lisa Mills was a cruel parent, destroying her children's belongings in accordance with some strange occult beliefs. In the absence of his father, Timothy Mills was groomed to carry on her ways.

In 2002, Lisa was found dead of a sleeping pill overdose in her bathtub at the same address, having apparently killed Amanda weeks before. The girl was found in the wardrobe bound and too decomposed for clear cause of death, though thirst and suffocation both seemed possible. See report from Detective Spielman.

Timothy Mills spent some years as a street criminal with arrests for shoplifting and prostitution, with his last arrest in 2007. He seemingly went straight, getting a job with STH Fabrication in 2008. He moved between different positions and temporary jobs within the company. Possibly he was still employed with STH but between assignments, the company was difficult to work with and the documents they produced ambiguous. During this time, he stayed at an apartment of his own. He was not actively working for two months before the incident.

I was able to speak with some neighbors and coworkers (1,2,3,4,5) about him. He was sociable enough to attend some parties, including ones where alcohol and guns were present, though the recollections of the man who invited him were muddled.

The timeline of the events of August 22nd 2010 in Det Hickman's report is the best starting point for understanding the incident in full. The next section of this report expands on the details and includes links to statements from involved parties.


Anyone reading this report as a single file will come up with dead links and obviously a print version has the same issues. The version in departmental use is a zip folder that unpacks to a 2.8 gigabyte folder including image files of evidence and numerous additional html files.