One of the five people serving prison time in the 2010 kidnapping and murder of Santa Maria teen Dystiny Myers committed suicide in his cell, a Kern County Coroner’s Office spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Cody Lane Miller, 25, was found dead in his cell June 11 at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, where he was serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Miller’s death has officially been ruled a suicide, with the cause of death being asphyxiation, the spokeswoman said.
No other details were immediately available.
Krissi Khokhobashvili, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman, said last month that Miller did not have a cell mate.
Myers’ body was found beaten and partially burned in a field in Santa Margarita in September 2010.
Myers, 15, was killed because she was “disrespectful” and tried to leave a group of South San Luis Obispo County residents who allegedly ran a meth ring, according to trial testimony.
After the killing, Miller was beaten with a shovel when the group suspected him of being a police informant. He fled and later told police about the killing.
Although Miller initially accepted a plea deal with a prison term of about 40 years, he ultimately turned it down in favor of life in prison without parole. His attorney said at the time that Miller didn’t believe he deserved forgiveness for his crimes.
Matt Fountain is a reporter for the San Luis Obispo Tribune. Contact him at mfountain@thetribunenews.com or 805.781.7909.
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