HALIFAX – More than 600 people said goodbye to Catie Miller, 29, at the Bedford Baptist Church on Saturday.
Family and friends who spoke at the service remembered her as a beautiful, intelligent, fun-loving woman and a devoted mother to her three-year old son, Oliver.
Her father John Miller and childhood friend Carolyn Prest both gave eulogies. Her older brother Chris Miller spoke to the media afterwards.
“I never had a younger brother and I treated her that way so she was pretty tough,” said Chris. “I’m incredibly sad but at the same time happy to have had her in my life for 29 years … I’m looking to celebrate the 29 years that I was lucky enough to have her as a sister.”
The family’s months-long search for Miller ended on Monday when police charged Jason James Johnson, 29, with first-degree murder. On Thursday, police charged two more people in connection with her death. Kelly MacDonald, 33, was charged with first-degree murder and George Hubley, 30, was charged with accessory to murder after the fact. All three also face charges of indecently interfering with a dead body.
Rev. Ida Whitehouse, who has known the family for 40 years, she says people from all parts of Catie’s life came to pay their respects.
“People knew Catie from school, and then they knew her in terms of work, and being an electrician. It was wonderful and the way that the community gathered around and we were able to be quiet and to feel the pain together,” said Whitehouse.
Two overflow rooms were used at the church to accommodate everyone who went to the service. Whitehouse said the outpouring shows just how much Catie’s story affected the community.
“It is our worst nightmare. Our worst nightmare is certainly a child that dies, and then when a person is murdered it just has a whole other layer of I think fear as well as a sense of pain,” she said.
The mourners who came out to pay their respects today gave Catie’s family a sense of comfort, said Chris.
“The turnout was beyond what I could have imagined … so that warms our heart a bit, it makes things just a little bit easier to handle.”
Miller was last heard from on July 15. Her family reported her missing on July 21. Police said they believe she died on or around July 15.
Investigators found human remains on Wednesday at one of the scenes they were searching in relation to Miller’s death. However, so far those remains have not been identified. Police searched four sites but did not reveal where they found the remains. Investigators searched two locations in Lawrencetown, one in Port Dufferin and one in Goffs near the Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
READ MORE: Investigators in Catie Miller case find human remains
Police said MacDonald and Hubley were known to Johnson but not to Miller. All three of the accused are due back in court on Feb. 3, 2015.
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