In the early morning of February 12, 2024, Marjorie Jeanne Marjie Valentine, 72, and her husband Sam Allan Miller, 73, were found shot to death in their Northeast Phoenix home near 35th Street and Campo Bello Drive. The 5:15 a.m. call to police was initially a domestic violence report made by the couple’s 38-year-old son, Jim Miller, who first told officers his father had shot his mother and then himself. Officers arriving at the residence detained Jim and found both parents dead; a roommate in the house was unharmed.

Investigators say Jim Miller later recanted his fabricated account and confessed to shooting both parents, citing alleged childhood abuse and recent taunting as his stated motive. Court documents mention a history of mental illness and drug use; the roommate said she was awakened between 3:30 and 4 a.m. by the sound of something thrown against the parents’ bedroom wall. Miller reportedly admitted using meth after he “snapped.” He was arrested and booked on two counts of first-degree murder.

Marjie and Sam were lifelong Phoenix residents, active in Christ’s Church of the Valley, and are survived by a daughter, five grandchildren, and other family. Does anyone have information about the couple, their family, or the neighborhood that could shed light on what led to this tragedy?