He hunted for his daughter's killer for 40 years. Then he got a phone call

"Tim Miller is good at finding missing people or rather, their bodies. Four years ago, a stranger called him and left a rambling message claiming that he had important information about an unsolved murder case. Miller, who lives in Texas and runs a non-profit search-and-recovery organization called EquuSearch, did not treat the message as a high priority. The caller sounded as if he might have been drunk or on drugs. Although tips are vital to EquuSearch's work, the tip line brings a certain number of hoaxes, cranks and innuendo."

"Miller's teenage daughter, Laura, disappeared in League City, Texas, in 1984 and was found murdered two years later. His zealous efforts to find out what happened to her, and his frustration with what he viewed as an inadequate police investigation, led him to develop a certain expertise in locating people or their remains. He founded EquuSearch, in 2000, as an outgrowth of that work. EquuSearch so named because its volunteers sometimes conduct searches by horseback has an office on a sun-baked road on Texas's gulf coast, about 10 miles (16km) from the bayous, beaches and oil rigs of Galveston Bay."

"Laura was one of about 30 women and girls who disappeared or died in the area between the 1970s and early 2000s, the victims of what law enforcement agencies believe was a grim confluence of overlapping serial killers and one-time acts of violence. Despite the notoriety of these crimes which have been the subject of years of media coverage, including a 2022 Netflix documentary many of the cases remain unsolved. When families or law enforcement agencies ask for EquuSearch's assistance, it is often for situations that are urgent but, unfortunately, not unusual: someone suffering a mental health crisis can't be found; a relative w"

Tim Miller runs EquuSearch, a Texas non-profit focused on search-and-recovery for missing people and remains. A call four years earlier about an unsolved murder case did not initially seem urgent, reflecting how tip lines often include hoaxes, unstable callers, and misleading information. Miller’s expertise grew from his own experience: his teenage daughter disappeared in 1984 and was found murdered two years later, alongside frustration with what he saw as inadequate police investigation. EquuSearch, founded in 2000, conducts searches using volunteers and equipment such as ATVs, boats, horses, and backhoes. The organization supports families and law enforcement in urgent situations, including mental health crises and other disappearances, in an area affected by overlapping violent crimes that remain partly unsolved.

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