Husband arrested after missing woman is found dead in creek under a bridge

DOTHAN, Ala. (TCN) -- Police arrested a 64-year-old man for allegedly strangling his wife to death during an argument and leaving her body under a bridge.

On Feb. 24, Stephen Miller reported his wife, Gloria Whitaker Miller, missing to the Dothan Police Department. He reportedly said she "suddenly disappeared from their home" on the afternoon of Feb. 22, and did not have any electronics or a change of clothes with her.

Police began investigating her disappearance and uncovered "several indicators of foul play," including the discovery of some of her belongings in the parking lot of a local shopping area. Dothan Police allege Miller left his wife’s property at the location not long before someone turned in her things to a business.

Miller reportedly confessed to police that he and his wife got into physical fight, so he strangled her "until she was lifeless." Police discovered Gloria Miller’s body in Geneva County in a dry creek bed under a bridge. The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences will conduct an autopsy.

Dothan Police took Miller into custody on one count of murder. He is being held on $1.5 million bond.

According to WDHN-TV, Miller filed a protective order against his wife in July 2024 because she allegedly said she would kill him, their son, and the son’s ex-wife. He had the order dismissed a few days later.

In January, Miller obtained another protective order after Gloria Miller allegedly pushed him and said she would "destroy" him. He reportedly said Gloria Miller previously spent time in a mental health facility and that she had a tendency toward "mental abuse." Miller asked the judge to dismiss the protective order several days later because he reportedly said they were getting help from a counselor and seeking a doctor for medication.

WTVY-TV reports her daughter also had a protection order against her mother because Gloria Miller allegedly threatened her with a knife in 2018.

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