He Murdered His Wife After She Discovered His Double Life

Double lives are not easy to live, especially if neither are the truth. As told on “A Lie To Die For,” which airs Saturday nights on Oxygen, David Miller managed to convince both of his wives that he was a financially stable Prince Charming with an exciting career. But, when his second wife found out about the other in 1991, his double life quickly came crashing down, and Miller ended up shooting his second wife seven times in the parking lot of a storage facility, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

So, what were the big lies that Miller told the women he was simultaneously married to, and how did he manage them?

He convinced his first wife that he was a spy, in hopes that the story would explain away his frequent absences and bizarre behavior.

Miller met his first of two wives in 1979. David and Dorothy Miller moved in together before getting married in Las Vegas. They relocated to Orlando in 1989, as told on “A Lie To Die For,” and Miller later asked Dorothy to live in Pennsylvania with her family. Why? Because he was a CIA agent; chased by foreign governments and terrorists, he needed to protect her.

Or, at least, that’s what he claimed. 

Miller secretly remained in California, however, and married another woman, Jayne Miller, in 1991, several months after the two met on a cross-country flight. He and Jayne moved to Sanford, a suburb of Orlando. Dorothy was made to believe that he would disappear from their home in Pennsylvania for periods of time for CIA missions.

“Which is the absolute perfect ruse to be able to go see another wife,” reporter Debbie Salamone told “A Lie To Die For” producers. “You don’t have to explain yourself, and you could never check on this story.”

So what justification did Miller have for Jayne whenever he traveled to see Dorothy? He told Jayne that he was a high-powered attorney for major international companies.

This was probably the first lie Miller told Jayne, because he said it when they met on a flight from Orlando to Los Angeles on Jan. 1, 1991. He told Jayne he was a tax lawyer who worked for big companies, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Miller did not belong to California Bar associations, nor did he belong to any in Florida. His father, Russell Miller, was also unaware of the lie, telling the Sentinel that he thought his son was a practicing tax lawyer for years.

Miller used his business network and lobbying experience to his advantage, though, and was able to introduce Jayne to congressmen and political leaders. He even convinced Jayne that he worked as an attorney at Walt Disney World — he took her on a tour of his office at Disney, with his name outside of the door and Jayne’s picture on the desk. This turned out to be a well-planned scheme. Miller never actually worked at Disney, though another man with the same name did, as related on “A Lie To Die For.”

Jayne, therefore, believed Miller’s trips were for business purposes when, in reality, he was visiting his other wife.

Perhaps the one lie that remained consistent between both of David Miller's marriages, however, was that he was wealthy.

David Miller was actually succeeding in business for a time. When he married Jayne, he was already running a printing business in Granada Hills. He was also the president of Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce outside Hollywood, and the founder of the San Fernando Valley Leadership Foundation, the Los Angeles Times reported.

He was a well-known civic leader in the area, but when financial troubles struck, he did not admit to them. Miller took Jayne out on extravagant dates, gifts and nice dinners included. He went so far as to take Jayne and several of her family members on a month-long summer trip to Europe, claiming the government of Kuwait would be funding the journey, because he was working for them as a part of his lobbying job. Miller even rented a limo to drive Jayne’s family to the airport, as told on “A Lie To Die For.”

Meanwhile, Miller’s financial situation was going south — checks were bouncing, a deal on a $200,000 home fell through and he had debts of $350,000, the Sentinel reported. He borrowed money multiple times from a friend and business associate, Ed Cholakian, who told “A Lie To Die For” producers that Miller had promised to pay the money back yet never did.

When Cholakian confronted Miller about payment, Miller allegedly cried and told him he had cancer. 

“When he told me that, how could I come after you and say I want my money back? I believed him,” Cholakian told producers. “He never did have cancer.”

Of course, friends and family of Miller and his wives grew suspicious as his excuses began to catch up to him. It wasn’t until Jayne Miller found the number of Dorothy Miller in her husband’s storage unit that the house of cards began to crumble — and her fate was, unfortunately, sealed.

Want to learn how the Miller wives cracked the case and found out their bigamist husband was a fraud? Watch Episode 8 of Oxygen’s “A Lie To Die For” on Oxygen.com, and catch new lies to die for Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.