HOPKINTON, Mass. — Town officials in Hopkinton held an emergency meeting Tuesday ahead of a vigil for 16-year-old Makayla Miller who was found dead in the woods in the town back on April 18. Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan also joined the meeting on Tuesday providing the clearest picture to date of what happened to Miller leading up to her death in the woods behind her Hopkinton home.
The district attorney’s comments come as the group Violence in Boston is planning a vigil at the Boston Marathon Starting Line Thursday by the Hopkinton Town Common. Group founder Monica Cannon Grant posted an image suggested that Miller could have been murdered and may have been a victim of racial hate.
DA Ryan said investigators have not reached any final conclusions. But, she added, despite what online critics have stated, there is no cover up in the Miller investigation.
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DA Ryan provided a timeline of events that suggest Miller may have taken her own life.
Miller lived in an apartment complex on West Main Street with her mother. On Saturday April 17, from 5:17 to 6:41 p.m., Miller was involved in an altercation at the apartment complex’s clubhouse. At the time, four other people, two males and two females, were in the clubhouse with Miller. One of the females was in a relationship with Miller. A third female was in a car parked outside the clubhouse.
At 7:20 p.m., Hopkinton Police were called to Miller’s apartment. Police said Miller’s mother told them her daughter was jumped. Miller was inside the apartment. She told police she was pushed. Police determined Miller was punched in the face and they observed a bloody lip.
Police left the apartment at 7:43 p.m.
Miller’s mother went to bed between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m. believing Mikayla was still in the apartment. Instead, DA Ryan said, an app on Miller’s cell phone indicated she left the apartment and walked 1,316 steps into the woods.
At 8:43 a.m. Sunday morning, a jogger found Miller’s body along a path in the woods and called police. Miller’s cellphone and backpack were recovered with Mikayla.
DA Ryan said cell phone records and witness accounts tell investigators that none of the people who were at the altercation with Miller were with her in the woods. In fact, the DA said, nearly all of them were outside of Hopkinton.
She added, so far, there is no evidence suggesting anyone else was with Miller either.
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DA Ryan said her office is still waiting for lab results from evidence submitted, as well as a final ruling from the State Medical Examiner as to cause and manner of Mikayla Miller’s death. DA Ryan promised that her office will reveal online the full details of the investigation once all of the facts are in.
Meanwhile, the vigil/rally is still scheduled for Thursday night. And there is concern in Hopkinton over the possibility of violence. Town leaders and police ask the public to focus on Miller’s life with respect and to do so peacefully.
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