Category: New Jersey News

Harold “Hal” Miller Jr. disappeared in June, leaving behind only two clues for police to follow: his vehicle abandoned in Pennsauken and, inside, a cell phone that last dialed a contact named “E. Poker.”

From those scant clues, investigators said, they uncovered something grim: Miller had been shot to death and dismembered with a chainsaw, they alleged, by the man whose number was saved in his phone as “E. Poker,” Everton Thomas, and two of Thomas’ relatives, in Camden.

In September, police charged Thomas, 41, with murder, desecration of human remains, and tampering with physical evidence. His wife, Sherrie Thomas, 41, and son, Deshawn Thomas, 23, were also charged with desecrating and disposing of Miller’s remains.

But more than five months later — after 178 days of searches, interviews, and forensic work — investigators have yet to find Miller’s body.

“It’s a horrible waiting game,” said Miller’s ex-wife and mother of his four children, Tamika Miller.

The case that has emerged since Miller’s disappearance is as sprawling as it is brutal: a trail of surveillance footage, internet searches, hardware-store runs, and border crossings that authorities say chart a carefully concealed killing. Court records detail a sequence of events that is at once methodical and frenzied — and has left investigators hunting for Miller’s remains even as three members of the Thomas family stand charged in his death.

Everton Thomas denies any involvement in the crime and is expected to plead not guilty to the charges on Dec. 15, according to his defense attorney, Timothy Farrow. Attorneys for Sherrie Thomas and Deshawn Thomas did not respond to requests for comment.

‘An awesome father’

Harold Miller and Tamika Miller had four children, three girls and a boy. “He was an awesome father,” Tamika Miller said.

He swelled with pride when their son announced he would join the Navy, continuing a military tradition in his family that “flat-footed” Miller could not follow himself, she recalled. His happiest moment, she said, came when their daughter, a special-education teacher, received her bachelor’s degree.

Miller worked in Camden’s social-services world, leading outreach for Volunteers of America and programs for Joseph House, a men’s homeless shelter. In 2017, he pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to sell crack cocaine and served five years in prison.

The couple divorced in 2023. But the family still gathered for holidays, including Thanksgiving, when Miller would rent a hall large enough for 100 people and make sure four turkeys — including his favorite, fried turkey — were on the table, Tamika Miller said.

Miller, who lived in Deptford Township, was 48 when he died. “The holidays will never be the same,” Tamika Miller said.

The grisly crime

Miller’s final call — placed at 11:26 a.m. on June 12 — went to the contact in his phone listed as “E. Poker.” Investigators later learned the number belonged to Everton Thomas, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

Street cameras caught what happened next, the document said: Miller climbing the back stairs to Thomas’ Baird Boulevard home around the time the call was placed. Minutes later, the cameras recorded the crack of a gunshot. Miller was never seen emerging from the home.

From there, investigators say, camera footage captured an ominous procession across Camden. It shows a man they say is Thomas leaving the house in Miller’s minivan and abandoning it in Pennsauken. It shows his wife and son making a series of trips to stores, buying bleach, heavy-duty contractor bags, ice, latex gloves, duct tape, plastic sheeting — and a chainsaw, according to court filings. Later, cameras captured three people dumping large black trash bags into dumpsters behind a nearby housing complex, Tamarack Station Apartments.

When investigators examined Deshawn Thomas’ phone, they say, they found a browser search typed in amid the chaos: whether a chainsaw could cut through meat.

Authorities searched Everton Thomas’ house on June 20. They found a loaded Glock, and bloodstains on a doorframe leading to the basement, the affidavit said. Testing later confirmed the blood matched Miller’s DNA.

How the two men may have been connected is unclear. Tamika Miller said they were acquaintances, not friends. “Everybody knows everybody in Camden,” she said.

In an interview with police, Thomas told detectives that he and Miller had played poker the night before Miller vanished, and that they had spoken again around 11 a.m. on June 12. He denied knowing anything about what happened, according to the affidavit.

By the next afternoon, investigators said, they learned Thomas had slipped across the border. Agents at Fort Erie-Buffalo reported he had entered Canada. Nearly three months later, on Sept. 8, U.S. border officers arrested him as he tried to cross back into the country. He remains in custody, awaiting a court hearing next week.

Tamika Miller said family members held a private memorial service, where they gained some closure. “We don’t know if they will ever find him,” she said. “But we have hope.”

Investigators, meanwhile, continue to search for clues and Miller’s body.

“As we near the end of the year, our detectives are still seeking leads — no matter how small — that would assist with the recovery of Mr. Miller’s remains,” Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay said Tuesday. “For anyone who has information, but has not yet come forward, we implore you to consider what his grieving family has been through. They deserve answers and the opportunity to properly mourn their loved one. We remain hopeful that our community does what’s right and helps bring Mr. Miller home.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Jake Siegfried of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit at 856-225-5086 and Detective Andrew Mogck of the Camden County Police Department at 609-519-8588. Tips can also be submitted to https://camdencountypros.org/tips.