Bio

Hugh D. Miller was born on June 13, 1964, in the United States. He lived in Burlington County, New Jersey, and was a maintenance worker from Burlington. He is also identified as Hugh Miller Jr. Miller had been in a relationship with Corrine Cochran-Ball. Reports state that the relationship had ended and that Miller was angry over the breakup. The end of that relationship became the main reported motive behind the first killing.

Miller also had a close connection to Keith S. Tiesman, who was described as his best friend or close friend. His mother, Charlotte Simcox, lived in Burlington City and was his mother from a previous marriage. All three victims were people personally connected to Miller.

By April 1995, Miller was under emotional strain connected to the breakup with Corrine Cochran-Ball. Public reporting also described him as a sometime drug abuser, but the available sources do not clearly establish drug use as the direct cause of the murders. The confirmed motive reported in the case was anger over the end of his relationship and events that followed during the same day.

Murder Story

On April 7, 1995, Hugh D. Miller killed three people in Burlington County, New Jersey, within a short period of time. The victims were Corrine Cochran-Ball, Keith S. Tiesman, and Charlotte Simcox. The case was later described by Burlington County officials as one of the county’s deadliest killing sprees.

The first victim was Corrine Cochran-Ball, Miller’s former girlfriend. Reports state that Miller argued with her because she had ended their relationship. During the confrontation, he beat and strangled her to death. Her body was later found in Miller’s apartment, lying on a bed. Early reports placed her death in the late afternoon, around 4:00 to 4:30 p.m.

After killing Corrine, Miller went to see his close friend, Keith S. Tiesman. Prosecutors later said Tiesman taunted Miller about the failed relationship. Miller then shot Tiesman in the head. Police later found Tiesman dead with a gunshot wound from a .45-caliber weapon. Reports placed Tiesman’s death shortly after 7:30 p.m.

Miller then went to the home of his mother, Charlotte Simcox. Prosecutors said he confessed to her about the earlier killings. When Simcox urged him to turn himself in, Miller shot her in the head. Her husband, Charles Simcox, later came home around midnight and found her body face-down on the floor of an enclosed patio.

The investigation began with Charlotte Simcox’s death. Police first treated the case as a homicide investigation, but the inquiry quickly expanded. Officers contacted relatives and searched for people connected to Simcox. Within hours, they discovered Corrine Cochran-Ball’s body at Miller’s apartment. That discovery changed Miller from a person of interest into a suspect.

Later that morning, police found Keith Tiesman’s body. By then, investigators were searching urgently for Miller. Reports said he was believed to be driving Corrine Cochran-Ball’s car. Police distributed information about possible places where he might go.

Miller was arrested on April 8, 1995, at about 1:30 p.m. in Pitman, New Jersey, at the home of a woman friend. He was arrested without incident. Prosecutors later charged him with three counts of murder and related offenses.

Miller faced a possible death sentence. On April 23, 1998, he pleaded guilty to all three murders before Judge Donald Gaydos. By accepting the plea agreement, he avoided a capital trial and the potential death penalty.

On June 12, 1998, Miller was sentenced to three consecutive life terms in prison. Each life sentence carried a 30-year minimum period before parole eligibility. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively, meaning one after another, not at the same time.

Miller later tried to challenge his guilty pleas. In 2008, about ten years after sentencing, he filed a motion to vacate the pleas and later filed a petition for post-conviction relief. He argued that he had not entered the pleas knowingly and voluntarily. The trial court denied the petition, and in 2012 the New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed that denial. Hugh D. Miller remains convicted of the three murders.