What happened to Sharee Miller’s husband Bruce Miller?

BRUCE Miller was the victim of a conspiracy plot organized by his wife Sharee and her online boyfriend Jerry Cassaday. 

ABC 20/20 will air an exclusive interview with Sharee on February 11, 2022.

What happened to Sharee Miller’s husband Bruce Miller?

Bruce was the owner of a Michigan junkyard and overseeing work operations often kept him away from Sharee. 

Alone at home, she used her time to seduce men on the internet and admitted to having a Machiavellian, manipulative personality. 

Bruce, roughly 20 years senior to his wife, was said to have known about Sharee’s online flirtatious behavior but came to accept it as innocuous.

Sharee fostered an online and physical relationship with Jerry Cassaday, a former police officer turned casino pit boss.

Cassaday was beholden to Sharee and carried out her plan that left her husband dead of a gunshot wound. 

Bruce was killed at his place of business on November 8, 1999. 

What happened to Jerry Cassaday?

Sharee sold Cassaday a fictitious story that Bruce was abusive towards her and a member of the Mafia.

She told Cassaday that she had two pregnancies end in miscarriages as a product of Bruce’s abuse. 

Cassaday was extremely vulnerable at the time due to a divorce and relocation.

Infatuated by her, he was the recipient of sexually explicit messages and images she shared with him.  

Their online correspondence would play a crucial role in Sharee’s trial.

Sharee left Cassaday shortly after the murder and his life continued to spiral.

Cassaday committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was found dead in Missouri on February 11, 2000. 

In his final act, Cassaday prepared a briefcase that he instructed his brother to open in the presence of an attorney.

In the briefcase were printed pages of his communications with Sharee, with their plot to murder Bruce in plain text.

Forensic Files

What is second degree murder?

Sharee was officially charged and convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. 

Murder laws vary from state to state though, naturally, a murder offense carries a very serious penalty in every state.

First-degree murder is a premeditated killing where the intent to kill can be proven.

Second-degree murder is more nuanced–passion killings, altercations that unexpectedly result in death, and actions that demonstrate a disregard for human life are chargeable versions of second-degree murder.

Sharee received 54 to 81 years for a second-degree murder charge.

Sharee was also charged with and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, a crime that carries comparable penalties to murder.

The Michigan State Legislature mandates that a person guilty of conspiracy to commit murder to be given a life sentence. 

ABC 20/20 is branding the Miller conspiracy as the “first internet killing” in promotional videos.