Mikayla Miller Advocates Want Independent Inquiry In Teen's Death

HOPKINTON, MA — Advocates for the family of a 16-year-old Hopkinton girl found dead April 18 want the Middlesex District Attorney's Office removed from the investigation, saying DA Marian Ryan and state police have so far mishandled a sensitive case that touches on race and sexual orientation.

The demand for an independent investigation came Tuesday night on the GBH show "Greater Boston," where Ryan and Violence in Boston’s Monica Cannon-Grant met for the first time to talk about the circumstances of Mikayla Miller's death. The interview was taped shortly after Ryan released new details about the case, including that the girl was assaulted by two other teens hours before she was found dead in a wooded area in Hopkinton.

Cannon-Grant accused Ryan of failing to communicate properly with Miller's family, and being slow to release information about the case. Miller's family has said they suspect the teen was murdered and possibly lynched. Ryan's office has refused to comment on the circumstances of the girl's death.

Ryan said her office has been in contact with Miller's family since April 19, adding that she has personally spoken to a family representative multiple times each day this week.

At a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Ryan gave some details about what happened before Miller was found dead by a jogger on April 18 in a wooded area off West Main Street. She stressed the investigation is still ongoing.

According to Ryan, Miller met with five teens between about 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on April 17 in a common area at the Windsor at Hopkinton apartment complex. Miller got into a fight with two of the teens — a boy and a girl — and came away with a bloody lip, Ryan said.

Miller's mother reported the incident, and Hopkinton police went to the apartment complex around 7:30 p.m. to take a report. About 90 minutes later, Miller walked away from her apartment into the woods. Ryan has said data from Miller's phone showed she walked only to the spot where she was found dead.

On GBH, Cannon-Grant said Miller sent a Snapchat message from the woods the night of April 18, which would've alerted her peers about her location. Ryan said the five teens who visited Miller were not near where the girl was found. Two girls were accounted for between about 9 p.m. April 17 and 6 a.m. April 18. Two boys left town with a family member and were captured on video eating at a Wendy's in Sturbridge at 9 p.m. on April 17. The fifth teen, a girl, was at home over that Saturday night.

Still, many aspects of the case are troubling for Miller's family and advocates: that an autopsy has not yet been completed to confirm Miller's cause and manner of death; that police initially told Miller's mother that the teen died by suicide without any investigation; whether Miller, who was Black and gay, may have been targeted because of her race — and if she wasn't murdered, may have been driven to self-harm due to bullying.

Advocates are planning a rally Thursday in Hopkinton to draw attention to a case that is beginning to draw statewide attention, with everyone from Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone to the ACLU of Massachusetts weighing in. The rally begins at 4:30 p.m. in downtown Hopkinton on Thursday.