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GI allegedly killed 2, poured acid on bodies

TACOMA, Wash. — The Pierce County prosecutor’s office says the Army is taking over prosecution of a Fort Lewis soldier accused of killing two married soldiers in Parkland.

Deputy Pierce County Prosecutor Ed Murphy told The News Tribune on Wednesday that the Army took custody of Spc. Ivette Gonzalez Davila, 22, of Bakersfield, Calif., and transferred her out of the jail in Tacoma. She had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon after prosecutors filed state charges.

Davila is accused of shooting 27-year-old Timothy Miller and his wife, 25-year-old Randi Miller on Saturday night at their home. Investigators also say Davila, an Army chemical specialist, poured muriatic acid on the bodies. Davila also is accused of taking the dead couple’s baby girl. She was turned over to Child Protective Services on Sunday after Davila was arrested.

Timothy and Randi Miller were medics who had served in Iraq. Investigators have said a possible love triangle may have been the motive for the killings.

Murphy wrote in a court declaration that Davila showed up at her barracks on Sunday afternoon with the baby and initially told a fellow soldier that she was baby-sitting. Eventually, she confessed to the soldier that she had killed the baby’s parents the night before, Murphy wrote.

The soldier reported what Davila had said to military police, who arrested her and turned her over to Pierce County authorities.

According to the declaration, Davila took the baby to a home improvement store after the killings, bought muriatic acid, returned to the home and poured it on the bodies.

Davila told the soldier that “Randi Miller was in a relationship with Davila’s ex-boyfriend,” Murphy said in his declaration.

Murphy said investigators had found a Home Depot receipt for the acid, a pistol and Randi Miller’s purse in a search of the barracks.

Timothy Miller was apparently shot in a bathtub at the couple’s suburban Parkland home, while Randi Miller was shot on a bed and then moved to the bathtub, Murphy wrote.

Relatives of the slain couple expressed disbelief at that alleged motive.

“They had a beautiful marriage,” said Randi Miller’s father, Robert Blanchard of Laconia, N.H., adding that he knew nothing about an affair. He said he and his wife met their granddaughter for the first time during a trip to Washington three weeks ago.

Randi Miller planned to leave the Army this summer, and the couple was hoping to move to Nevada to settle down, Blanchard said.

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