Marilyn Hickey

A woman is found stabbed and strangled in her apartment
Marilyn Hickey was a private but friendly woman who, despite health struggles, was a beloved mother and a familiar face in her Bremerton, Washington community. Originally from Sioux City, Iowa, Marilyn had lived in Washington for over 30 years. She was a 57-year-old mother to three grown children and had been divorced since 1969. She enjoyed playing pool and listening to Elvis Presley on the jukebox at local taverns. Marilyn also suffered from epilepsy, and her frequent calls for help made her well-known to local paramedics and firefighters, who remembered her as a sweet and thankful person. Her neighbors at her Chester Avenue studio apartment knew of her condition and kept an eye out for her.

On the afternoon of September 10, 1992, those neighbors grew concerned when they hadn't seen Marilyn for a few days. After receiving no answer at her door, they called 911 for a welfare check. Responding Bremerton police officers and paramedics gained entry to her apartment and made a grim discovery. Marilyn was found deceased on the floor. It was immediately clear she had been the victim of a violent assault. The telephone line had been ripped from the wall, and a pair of scissors was protruding from her chest. An autopsy later determined the cause of death was strangulation and that the stab wound had been inflicted after she was already dead.

The Bremerton Police Department's investigation began by retracing Marilyn’s last known movements. Witnesses reported seeing her at the Drift Inn Tavern on the night of September 8, two days before she was found. She had arrived alone but was later seen with a younger man, described as being in his early twenties with reddish-brown, collar-length hair. The two played pool and had drinks before leaving together in a cab around 2 a.m. The cab driver confirmed he dropped the pair off at Marilyn’s apartment, which was the last time she was seen alive. Investigators collected evidence from the scene, including fingerprints and the DNA of a male suspect, but the forensic technology of the time was not advanced enough to yield a match, and the case went cold.

For years, the case remained unsolved, leaving Marilyn’s family without answers. Her son, Robert Hickey, kept a binder of news clippings about his mother's death and called detectives regularly for updates. A major breakthrough came in 2006 when evidence from the crime scene was re-submitted to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab. This time, technicians were able to develop a full DNA profile of the unknown male suspect. The profile was entered into the national DNA database, where it matched DNA from another unsolved homicide: the 1994 stabbing death of 49-year-old Cheryle Barratt in Boise, Idaho. This link prompted detectives from Bremerton and Boise to join forces.

The collaborative investigation led them to re-examine old case files. They discovered that one name, Lee Robert Miller, had appeared as a footnote in both investigations. In Marilyn's case, an anonymous tip in 1992 had mentioned Miller, and a friend of his told police that Miller had introduced him to Marilyn. With this renewed focus, detectives identified Miller as their prime suspect. In February 2018, investigators in Boise began surveilling Miller and covertly collected a cigarette butt he had discarded. The DNA from the cigarette was a perfect match to the DNA found at both the Hickey and Barratt murder scenes.

In January 2019, more than 26 years after Marilyn’s murder, Lee Robert Miller, then 54, was arrested in Boise. He was extradited to Washington and booked into the Kitsap County Jail. At his arraignment, Miller pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder for the death of Marilyn Hickey. Ultimately, Miller would be convicted for both killings. He was sentenced to 42 years in prison for the murders of both Marilyn Hickey and Cheryle Barratt, bringing a long-awaited resolution to two families who had waited decades for justice. "You only have one mother," Marilyn's son Robert said after the arrest. "He took it. He can never replace that."