Bio 

John Mills was born on June 4, 1970, in the United States. By 1995, Mills was living in Knox County, Kentucky. He rented a home from Arthur L. Phipps in the Smokey Creek area. Before the murder, records show that Mills had problems with alcohol and had left school in the ninth grade. Later court records also discussed his difficult background, low IQ scores, and mental-health evidence during review of his death sentence.

At the time of the crime, Mills lived near Phipps. This became important because police later followed a blood trail from Phipps’s body toward the home Mills rented from him.

Murder Story

On August 30, 1995, Arthur L. Phipps was killed at his home in Smokey Creek, Kentucky. He was stabbed repeatedly with a pocket knife. Reports state that he was stabbed 29 times and that a small amount of money was taken.

Phipps’s son-in-law found his body later that day. Police found a blood trail leading away from the body toward the home John Mills rented from Phipps. Mills was arrested the same day at the rented residence on Phipps’s property.

In 1996, Mills was convicted of murder, first-degree burglary, and first-degree robbery. On October 18, 1996, he was sentenced to death. Mills later appealed. His murder conviction stayed in place, but his death sentence was overturned because his trial lawyer had not presented enough mitigation evidence during sentencing.

In 2014, the Kentucky Supreme Court agreed that Mills should receive a new penalty phase. Current Kentucky prison records list him as serving a life sentence.