Delbert Miller, 69, Pronounced Dead
Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel
CORCORAN – Investigators at Corcoran State Prison and the Kings County District Attorney’s Office said yesterday they are investigating the death of inmate Delbert Miller,
69-years-old, as a homicide.
It is believed the former Humboldt County man serving time for murder was killed in his own cell at the hands of his much younger 20-year-old cellmate.
Miller was found unresponsive in his prison cell and was pronounced dead Thursday morning, January 24, according to the press release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
Miller was serving an 81-year-to-life sentence beginning in May of 2008 for the first-degree murder of
38-year-old Lori Ann Jones, whose decomposing body was found in Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park in 2004. Prosecutors convinced jurors during his trial that Miller murdered Jones because he believed she was stealing from him and had accused him of rape, the Times-Standard reported.
Miller had a prior 1988 conviction from Humboldt County for rape and forced oral copulation of a child. He had been housed at Corcoran State Prison since last July.
Miller’s cellmate, Kyle Alexander Osborn, has been identified as the only suspect. Osborn has since been removed and placed into an Administrative Segregation Unit. Details of the alleged killing have not been released.
Osborn, 20, was admitted to state prison from San Bernardino County in June of 2009 with a 26-year sentence for lewd and lascivious acts on a child with force and violence, and burglary and first-degree robbery. It is unknown how long he has been at Corcoran, or sharing the same cell with the older Miller.
The Kings County Coroner will perform an autopsy. The Office of Inspector General’s Bureau of Independent Review was notified, the CDCR said.
A small city in and of itself, California State Prison-Corcoran opened in 1988 and houses 4,595 minimum to maximum high-security level inmates. It employs 2,300 people and is one of 32 adult facilities located throughout California.
Ms. Connie Gipson is the current warden of the all-male prison which has had as many problems as notorious inmates over the years.
