In the early morning hours of March 16, 2020, 22-year-old Dayton S. Miller of Vancouver, Washington, was found dead in a bedroom at the Teal Pointe apartments in Northeast Hazel Dell from a single gunshot wound to his forehead. Deputies were initially confronted with what looked like a suicide: a small-caliber handgun beneath Miller’s hands. Investigators later learned that the scene had been staged.

Twenty-year-old Korbin Andrew Bourn, a friend of Miller’s, told investigators he and Miller had been taking turns pointing the gun at each other and pulling the trigger. Bourn said he thought the firearm was unloaded; he reported a click when Miller first fired at him, then fired at Miller and the weapon discharged fatally. Bourn admitted placing the gun under Miller’s hand and instructing others to say Miller had killed himself. Bourn was arrested on manslaughter and unlawful possession charges.

Miller’s family remembered him as a wonderful and caring person, and they said grieving was made harder by the pandemic. Does anyone have information about Dayton’s final hours or the people who were present that night?