Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced Tuesday that Myrle Miller of Union County, was found guilty of first-degree murder for poisoning her husband, John Nichols, in 2018.
A Union County jury found Miller, 78, guilty of first-degree murder and five other felonies: theft by deception, forgery, insurance fraud, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, and perjury.
Miller faces mandatory lifetime imprisonment when she is sentenced at a later date. Following the verdict early Monday evening, she was remanded to Union County Prison.
“The defendant was systematically emptying her husband’s bank accounts, and upon being found out, made the deliberate and intentional decision to kill him,” Henry said. “It is hard to fathom acts more cold, calculated, and self-serving, and while we cannot bring back the life of Mr. Nichols, we hope today’s verdict offers a measure of justice to his family and friends.”
A Grand Jury investigation found that in the months prior to Nichols’ death, Miller drained all of her husband’s bank accounts. She forged his signature on checks, fraudulently made herself the sole beneficiary on two of his life insurance policies, fraudulently obtained loans against those policies and, when the fraud was about to be exposed, killed her husband by mixing large amounts of her medications and his medications with his coffee.
The investigation revealed that, shortly before Nichols’ death, a representative from the Union-Snyder Agency on Aging visited the couple’s home regarding a report of financial exploitation. According to testimony, Miller panicked that Nichols would learn about the theft, and told her son she would “handle it.”
Additionally, in the months leading to Nichols’ death, Miller was involved in multiple romantic conversations with men through Facebook. A former friend testified that Miller told her she was in love with at least one of the men.
