Cold-Case: Trial looms for ex-wife of slain marine during Vietnam War

Cold-Case Trial Looms for Ex-Wife of Slain Marine
37 years later, NC trial looms for ex-wife in cold-case slaying of Marine over love triangle
By KEVIN MAURER Associated Press Writer
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. December 30, 2009 (AP)

William Miller's final errand was supposed to be a good deed, helping his estranged wife with car trouble. The Marine sergeant left home one night in 1972 and within the hour was found dead on a rural road.

Thirty-seven years later, three people face trial on murder charges for what prosecutors say was an ambush triggered by a love triangle around Miller's wife and violence between Marine pals.

The case remained unsolved until Miller's sister contacted a newspaper reporter looking into cold cases and the resulting investigation elicited new information from a 1970s baby sitter.

Miller's ex-wife Vickie Babbitt, 58, is scheduled to go to trial in March on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Also charged with murder and conspiracy are George Hayden, 57, who married Babbitt after Miller's death and later became a small-town police chief, and Rodger Gill, 56, an ex-Marine who was friends with the others.
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Cold-Case Trial Looms for Ex-Wife of Slain Marine