Fort Smith man receives death penalty for three killings

Published: April 5, 2008

FORT SMITH, Ark. - A Fort Smith man who lived with the bodies of his girlfriend and her two children for five days after killing them will be put to death for the crimes, a jury has ruled.

James Aaron Miller, 32, declined to speak before Judge James O. Cox confirmed the jury's decision. The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for four hours before finding Miller guilty in the deaths of Bridgette Barr, 28, Sydney Barr, 5, and Garrett Barr, 2. They spent another 2½ hours before deciding Friday night that Miller should receive the death penalty.

Police have said that Barr's two children were visiting their mother for the Christmas holiday season, and normally lived with their father in Muldrow, Okla.

"The community is going to be proud, because the system worked," Prosecutor Gunner DeLay said after the verdicts. "I'm a father of four children myself. It was very hard emotionally on our entire legal team, because we're all fathers."

Authorities found the bodies Dec. 26, 2006, after police were called by Miller's father, who asked that police check on the family. Autopsy results showed that Bridgette Barr was strangled, Sydney was stabbed in the neck and Garrett was smothered. The autopsy showed the 2-year-old's body was placed for a time in a heated oven but was found by police in a bathtub.

A police report said Miller lived with the bodies for about five days before their discovery. Investigators said Miller confessed to killing the mother and daughter but said he didn't remember killing Garrett, though he assumed he must have done it.

Police who searched the home found a bottle of window cleaner, allegedly used by Miller to try to clean up blood stains. Officers said there were signs the walls and carpeting had been cleaned as well.

Miller's attorneys sought to show their client suffered from a mental defect and didn't understand at the time that his actions were criminal.

Ray Barr, Bridgette Barr's ex-husband, said the death sentence gave him "some" closure and peace.

"I always put my children first," Barr said at trial. "When Bridgette and I divorced, I fought two years for custody, not because of anything about Bridgette but because of Aaron Miller. I knew he was a violent and abusive man."

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