In Nova Scotia, the family of Clayton Miller is continuing their more than 30-year quest to fully understand the circumstances surrounding his death and hold someone accountable.
They say new evidence suggests Clayton’s death was not accidental, which has been the official story so far.
“We want the truth. We want to be told what happened to Clayton,” his mother, Maureen Miller, told Global News.
Clayton was 17 years old when his lifeless body was found in a small brook in New Waterford, N.S., on May 6, 1990. The last time the teen had been seen alive was two days prior at a party that was raided by police.
The Millers have never accepted the answers provided to them by investigators or the conclusion reached by the province’s police watchdog agency: that Clayton was drunk, fell into a stream and died of hypothermia.
Miller believes her son was murdered.
“He didn’t put himself in the brook. Somebody put him in the brook. Who did that?” she said.
The Serious Incident Response Team, a police watchdog agency, investigated Clayton’s death in 2015 and concluded that it was an accident.
“The evidence proves his death was caused by the unfortunate mixture of youth and alcohol,” SIRT said in a 2017 statement, saying there was no need to further investigate the case.
Ray Wagner, a personal injury lawyer representing the Millers pro bono, said he has been at work uncovering new information disputing the official narrative.
He said the statute of limitations prevents them from seeking civil action in the three-decade-old case, but said the public deserves to know the truth.
“This is about clearing the name of an individual who was very young, and who the official narrative dispenses with his character by saying that he was drinking and he was a master of his own misfortune because he fell and died,” said Wagner. “And we know that’s not true.”
Wagner said a new witness has come forward who has contradicted the official story.
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In a sworn affidavit dated Jan. 28, 2023, John Wilson said he was collecting bottles around the brook the Saturday after the party. He said he did not see Clayton, who was wearing a bright red sweater.
“If Clayton Miller’s body was there, at the stream on Saturday morning, I would have stepped on him because I walked all over that area and the path runs right through there,” the affidavit read.
He said there was “no way” Clayton’s body was in the brook that day, as he was “looking all through the bushes, walking all around, even over to the other side of the brook to see if anyone had thrown bottles over there that didn’t break.”
Clayton’s body was found in the brook the following day.
Wilson said he called the police two to three days later, after he heard Clayton’s body had been found. He said he told a police officer that he didn’t see the body on Saturday, but “no one followed up, no one took a statement.”
He said he called the police again after the investigation started, but was never interviewed.
In 2017, SIRT also dismissed claims from former search and rescue member Bryan MacDonald, who said the team searched the brook on Saturday and found nothing. SIRT called MacDonald “elderly and unwell.”
In an interview Friday, SIRT director Alonzo Wright said he only learned of the new witness on Thursday.
“If there’s any evidence, or if anyone has new evidence and comes to us with that new evidence, we will definitely take a look at it,” said Wright, who was not the director of SIRT at the time of the initial investigation.
Wright said there was an “extensive review of the case in the past,” but said he encourages any other potential witnesses to come forward. He offered his condolences to Miller’s family.
In a statement, the Department of Justice said while the case has been “reviewed many times in the past,” anyone who has “new information that would have a bearing on this matter” should contact police.
“Our thoughts are with the Miller family as they continue to mourn the loss of their son,” the statement said.
Cape Breton Regional Police spokesperson Desiree Magnus said in a statement that “we understand that there is a family who continues to grieve the loss of their son and our thoughts are with them.”
“As a police service, we are accountable to the public and operate with transparency; that’s why, as a result of concerns previously raised by the family, this matter was investigated by an outside police agency, referred to a fatality inquiry and then finally independently reviewed by the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner’s Office and the Nova Scotia Serious Incident Response Team,” Magnus said.
“All findings have consistently shown no evidence of foul play, negligence or wrongdoing in this death. If anyone has new information, we encourage it be brought forward to the Serious Incident Response Team.”
Wagner said 10 independent witnesses who were in the area of the brook Saturday, May 5, 1990, have said there was no body in the brook that day. MacDonald had also stated the search and rescue team was made up of about 12 to 15 people, none of whom reported seeing a corpse at the time.
“Now we have 22 people, at least 22 people, that say that Clayton was not where he was found on Sunday, on Saturday,” Wagner told Global News.
“We know he died. He was already dead. So it’s not a case of the walking dead. Somebody placed him there.”
Wagner said they have a “very good idea” of who they believe killed Clayton, but said they can’t make that information public yet.
He said they will be revealing information over the coming months that highlight the involvement of SIRT, the medical examiner’s office, the RCMP and the New Waterford police.
“Everybody says, ‘Oh, well, you know, this has already been investigated. It’s a closed case,'” said Wagner. “Well, it may be a closed case for them. It’s certainly not a closed case for us.”
Maureen Miller said all she wants is for the truth to come out.
“I would like to see Clayton’s case reopened and investigated by people with integrity, because obviously we haven’t dealt with anyone with integrity so far,” she said.
“What’s Clayton’s true cause of death? And where was he on Saturday? Because the evidence doesn’t match what they’ve been saying.”
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