SWATARA TOWNSHIP, Pa.--It has been 19 years since the skeletal remains of Kelly Ann Ward were discovered in a wooded area off of Chambers Hill Road in Swatara Township. And now, police have charged convicted serial killer 51-year-old Joseph D. Miller with first-degree murder in Ward's death.
Ward went missing in February 1986. It wasn't until 11 years later that her remains were found on Feb. 20, 1997--almost a mile from where the bodies of three other women were found in a landfill.
Miller, formerly of Steelton, was previously convicted of killing 18-year-old Selena Franklin and 23-year-old Stephanie McDuffey.
He was initially sentenced to death in March 1993. However, in 2002 a Dauphin County judge ordered his death sentences to be vacated because Miller is mentally disabled. In 2008, the state Supreme Court vacated his death sentences.
Police said Miller confessed to killing a third woman, but was not charged in her death.
Miller is also serving a life sentence for the 1990 murder of Kathy Novena Shenck in Perry County.
Miller remains in the State Correctional Institute in Camp Hill without bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 9.
