WRAL.com Archive: Ann Miller Kontz Case

A murder case from 18 years ago that involves a former researcher for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who turned up dead is getting renewed attention thanks to a cable television show that is airing a segment about the high-profile murder case.


A murder case from 18 years ago that involves a former researcher for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who turned up dead is getting renewed attention thanks to a cable television show that is airing a segment about the high-profile murder case.

The story about the slaying of Eric Miller was featured on an episode of Investigation Discovery that began airing July 20, 2018. The episode about the "unimaginable murder" is titled "Fatal Passions" and relies on interviews with people who knew the couple, recreations of events by actors and recollections by reporters who covered the case, including WRAL's Amanda Lamb.

Miller, 30, was poisoned by his wife, Ann Miller Kontz, who pleaded guilty on Nov. 8, 2005 to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the Dec. 2, 2000 arsenic poisoning death of her then-husband Eric Miller, who was a pediatric AIDS researcher.

Raleigh police spent nearly four years pursuing Kontz, a former chemist and researcher at GlaxoSmithKline, before she was indicted on first-degree murder in September 2004.