Bio

Garland Ray Milam was born in 1965 in the United States. He was connected to several states, including Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Tennessee. Milam later claimed that he had a troubled childhood. In a jailhouse interview, he said he was taken away from his mother when he was very young and later lived with relatives. He also claimed that he began hurting animals as a child. 

As an adult, Milam lived a transient lifestyle. He traveled across the country, took temporary jobs, and used drugs. He later said he kept moving because he was trying to control violent thoughts. Reports said he ended up in Nashville after becoming stranded while traveling from New Mexico to Maine.

By the summer of 2005, Milam was homeless in Antioch, Tennessee, near Nashville. He lived in a wooded area behind a strip mall on Bell Forge Lane. Other homeless men also stayed in the area, including Tim McCoy and Johnny Paul Davis. Both men later became his confirmed murder victims.

After his arrest, Milam made several disturbing statements to police and reporters. He claimed he wanted the death penalty because he believed he would kill again if he was ever released. His nickname, “Soul Sucker,” came from his own claim that he had taken or inhaled the souls of the people he killed.

Milam also claimed he had killed and dismembered a man in Tucson, Arizona. However, there is no reliable public record confirming that claim. For that reason, the Arizona case should be treated only as an unverified claim, not a confirmed murder.

Murder Story

In July 2005, Garland Ray Milam was homeless and living in a wooded camp in Antioch, Tennessee. The camp was behind a strip mall on Bell Forge Lane. Other homeless men lived in the same area, including 48-year-old Tim McCoy and 48-year-old Johnny Paul Davis.

Tim McCoy was the first confirmed victim. Milam later admitted that he strangled McCoy and then set his body on fire. Police found McCoy’s burned remains inside what was left of a tent behind a store in Antioch. At first, Milam was treated as a witness because he told police he had been with McCoy before the death and had later found the body burning.

After McCoy’s death, Milam killed Johnny Paul Davis. According to police testimony, Milam said he became angry because Davis refused to help pay for alcohol. Milam later walked into a grocery store and told an employee he wanted to turn himself in for murder. He then led police to Davis’s body. Reports stated that Davis had been strangled with a dog leash.

After surrendering on August 13, 2005, Milam also admitted to killing McCoy. He told police he had strangled McCoy with a money belt and then used a cigarette lighter to set him on fire. Police charged Milam in both deaths.

Milam’s case received attention because of the disturbing things he said after his arrest. He told authorities he wanted the death penalty and claimed he had become addicted to “sucking the souls” out of the people he killed. He also said he would kill again if he was not given the death penalty.

Milam later gave a jailhouse interview and said he felt no remorse. He claimed he did not kill out of anger, but because he wanted to kill. These statements were reported publicly, but the confirmed legal facts are that he admitted responsibility and pleaded guilty to two murders in Tennessee.

On January 24, 2007, Milam pleaded guilty to killing Tim McCoy and Johnny Paul Davis. He received two 51-year sentences for premeditated murder. The sentences were ordered to run one after the other, meaning he would not serve them at the same time. He had asked for the death penalty, but he did not receive it.

Milam has two confirmed murder victims. He also claimed he had killed and dismembered a man in Tucson, Arizona, but no reliable public record confirms that claim. For that reason, the Arizona claim should be treated as unverified and not counted as a confirmed murder.

Garland Ray Milam became known by the nickname “Soul Sucker” because of his own statements after his arrest. His confirmed case involved the murders of two homeless men who knew him in the Antioch homeless camp. His guilty plea ended the case without a full trial, and his consecutive prison sentences made release highly unlikely.