U.S. Marshals have arrested a fugitive in Texas who was wanted for more than 30 years on a 1981 murder charge in Harrisburg.
Joseph Lewis Miller, 78, was arrested Monday in Mineola, Texas where he was living under an alias.
Miller, previously of Harrisburg, is charged with the Jan. 15, 1981, fatal shooting of Thomas Waller. According to a news release, Waller was killed in a parking lot next to the Times Hotel at the corner of 14th and Regina Streets in Harrisburg.
Miller was charged with four felonies: murder, crimes committed with a firearm, former convict not to own or possess a firearm and firearms not to be carried without a license.
“The murder occurred more than three decades ago, and while this case presented us with a significant challenge it also exemplifies the dedication, thoroughness and diligence the fugitive task force has toward cold cases. I am proud of the hard work they displayed,” U.S. Marshal Martin J. Pane said in a news release. “While not an easy case, justice has prevailed.”
Miller is known to have a long violent history. In June 1959, Miller was arrested by the Harrisburg Police for the slaying of John H. Lumpkins. Miller used a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot John and Donna Lumpkins on June 12, 1959. Lumpkins died from his wounds July 4, 1959. Miller pled guilty to murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections on Jan. 22, 1960.
Pane said Miller was using the alias of Roy Eubanks, was married and a deacon in his local church, and had been receiving Social Security disability benefits for more than two decades.
He will be held in custody in Wood County, Texas, pending court proceedings concerning his extradition to Pennsylvania.