Suspect in deadly Lubbock apartment fire pleads guilty
A 40-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison after admitting to setting a fire that killed two people at a south Lubbock apartment.
Todd Miller pleaded guilty to a count of arson causing a death. The offense is a first-degree felony that carries a punishment of five years to life in prison.
Court documents indicate prosecutors used Miller's 2012 aggravated robbery conviction in Tarrant County to enhance his minimum sentence to 15 years.
Miller entered his plea ahead of a Nov. 18 trial set in the 364th District Court and four months after his defense attorney indicated a possible insanity defense in the case.
Miller was initially charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of 45-year-old Ta-Tanisha Harris and 63-year-old Tommy Hornton after a May 2020 apartment fire in South Lubbock.
As part of his plea deal, prosecutors with the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office dismissed the murder charge and filed the arson charge.
Miller's charge stems from a Lubbock Fire Marshal's investigation into the deadly blaze at the River Oaks Villa apartments in the 1300 block of 65th Drive, where Harris and Hornton were found dead.
Two other people were taken by ambulance to a hospital for minor injuries, LFR officials said.
Lubbock fire crews responded about 11 a.m. May 31, 2020 to a two-alarm structure fire at the apartment complex. Officials reported the fire was extinguished about three hours later and fire marshals began investigating the cause of the blaze.
Fire investigators determined the fire started in the apartment unit Miller lived in with his girlfriend and her adult son.
Investigators believed the fire started in the apartment unit's living room near the couch.
Investigators spoke with the adult son, who initially told them that Miller and his mother left for the store earlier that day and he went to sleep.
He said Miller woke him up and told him to get out of the apartment. He said when he was outside, he began to vomit and looked back at the apartment as smoke billowed from the front door.
However, the man later told investigators he lied about how the fire started, saying he was afraid of Miller.
He said he was startled awake by Miller, who kicked open the door of the their apartment unit then told him to leave.
He said he saw Miller try to light bedding on fire with a small torch. However, the materials didn't ignite and he said Miller pushed the bedding into a pile near the couch and set fire to a plastic bag, which caught fire and dripped flames onto the bedding, which ignited.
The man said Miller grabbed a backpack before leaving through the front door.
Meanwhile, the man said he ran outside and vomited. After seeing smoke billowing out of the building, he ran back and began knocking on his neighbors' doors to alert them.
Investigators also spoke to Miller's girlfriend, who said before the fire, she and Miller were outside near the front of the apartment complex arguing because Miller accused her of cheating on him.
She said Miller walked away. Moments later her son called her telling her that Miller was setting their apartment on fire.
She said she saw Miller walking from the apartment toward her, telling her that he was going to prison. She said she left the scene with him.
Miller spoke with investigators and initially denied starting the fire. He said he left the apartment with his girlfriend but said he went to the store alone to buy cigarettes.
However, he said felt compelled to return to the apartment to check on his girlfriend's son and kicked open the door when he arrived.
He said he didn't see any smoke or flames as he left the apartment. Instead, he said he returned to his girlfriend who was outside the apartment complex and heard an explosion.
However, after speaking with Miller's girlfriend and her son, investigators spoke with him a second time and he ultimately admitted to setting the bedding on fire to force his girlfriend's son out of the apartment. The documents do not state why he wanted him out of the apartment.
During a search of the apartment unit, investigators found three small torches, one of which was in bedding on the living room floor.
Miller stipulated that he used fire as a deadly weapon in the case, which will require him to serve half of his setnence before he is eligible for release on parole.
