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Between death and justice
Miller’s family had to wait 36 years for solace
By GREG KATSKI
Staff Writer
Piecing the puzzle together
Wendy Miller McGee waited over the first 20 years of her life to find out about the death of her father in 1993.
The process of discovery started years before, when she found her father’s side of the family.
As she matured from childhood into adolescence, Miller McGee’s curiosity about her father and his side of the family grew. After many inquiries, her mother, Vickie Babbitt, gave her an old contact number she had saved for Miller McGee’s grandmother. Babbitt told her 16-year-old daughter that the phone number was the only contact information she had for Miller’s family.
Going out on a limb, Miller McGee called the number, and miraculously her grandmother picked up on the other end.
Miller McGee talked to her bed-ridden grandmother, who was battling multiple sclerosis, for a good while. During the conversation, she learned much about her father and that she had two half-sisters.
Time passed after Miller McGee’s conversation with her grandmother with little contact between her and her father’s family. Miller McGee’s most frequent correspondence was with her sister, Tamara Hull, who wrote letters to her from Madison, Wis.
“I occasionally got a couple of letters,” said Miller McGee. “Tamara wanted me to go out there for Spring Break.” But Babbitt would have none of it, said Miller McGee. She tried to make sure her daughter had as little contact as possible with Miller’s family, she said.
In 1992, after years of little communication with her father’s family, Miller McGee received another letter from her sister, Hull. At this point, Miller McGee was out of her mother’s house. She was living with her new husband, and looking to start a family. She was also ready to meet her long-lost family.
In her newest letter, Hull again pleaded for Miller McGee to come to Madison. Miller McGee was more than happy to oblige. She got her husband to buy a plane ticket and embarked on the most important trip of her young life, she said.
Exiting the plane, Miller McGee was worried that she would not be able to find her sisters. Hull assured Miller McGee that she would “just know” who her sisters were.
“I got off the plane, and they looked just like me,” Miller McGee said. “It was just a feeling of joy and excitement. Meeting my sisters, I was just very, very happy,”
Miller McGee made sure to ask her sisters about their father, specifically how he died, she said.
“I met them and I was trying to ask them questions about my dad because I knew nothing,” she said.
She spent the next several years finding out more and more about her father from his family.
“Over the years, I was asking questions and trying to find out about my dad and what type of person he was and just stuff in general,” Miller McGee said. “Really just learning about everything.”
She also wanted to make sure she kept her newfound family close to her heart.
“I tried to stay in touch over the years. I wanted to get to know them as my family,” she said.
Miller McGee’s perception of her mother and father was blown wide open when she received an anonymous letter in the mail, she said. The letter, which Miller McGee’s aunt, Sharron Aguilar, said was sent by Hull, included the NCIS judge advocate’s report into the investigation of Miller’s death.
Miller McGee said she was “pretty shocked” after reading the report.
“But I wanted to know what happened and why,” she said.
Miller McGee called her aunt, Aguilar, who was deeply involved in the investigation of her brother’s death.
“She called me, and the two of us got in contact with the investigator, Wayne Brown,” said Aguilar. “He worked on it a long time. In fact, he worked on it off the clock. He believed in it that strongly.”
Aguilar and Miller McGee continued to pursue the case, with the help of Brown, but the big break would not come for over another decade, she said.
Divine assistance
In April 2008, Lindell Kay, a crime reporter for the Jacksonville Daily News, began covering Onslow County cold cases for the newspaper.
Aguilar, who often scanned the Internet for new information about her brother’s death, stumbled onto Kay’s cold case beat in early August.
“About four weeks ago now, Billy was real strong on my mind, to the point I couldn’t think of anything but his case,” Aguilar said. “So I sat down at the computer, and was trying to find someone to help me out with this story. Somebody to pick up this cold case.”
She contacted Kay and asked him if he would research Miller’s cold case and write an article about his death some 36 years ago. Kay took the story of Miller’s death and “ran with it,” said Aguilar.
After publishing two articles about the case in mid-August 2008, a key witness came forward with substantial new evidence.
Using the new evidence, the agencies working on the investigation, including the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, went to work on making a case for the arrests of Hayden and Babbitt. On Sept. 4, the agencies confirmed they had enough evidence to make the arrests.
“Once I started it, it was like a domino effect,” said Aguilar. “And everything just fell into place.”
Aguilar thinks she had some divine assistance in bringing Hayden and Babbitt to justice, she said.
“I had some divine help with that, I think,” she said.
Miller McGee was in shock when she got word that her mother and step-father were arrested.
“I was hysterical,” Miller McGee said. “Happy on one point, very sad on another point. Because that’s my mom, and that’s my brother’s father.”
Aguilar said it was a lot easier for herself to be joyous than her niece.
“She wants this,” said Aguilar. “Then, on the other hand, this woman gave her birth. She’s torn, but she hasn’t weakened.”
But then Miller McGee thinks back to all the memories missed out on with her father, she said.
“He was taken from me when I was a year old,” she said. “I’ve missed out on a lot. I missed out on my father, I’ve missed out on my sisters. He’s missed out on his grandkids.
“That’s not fair to me. I didn’t do anything wrong. So why was he taken from me? Why was his family taken from me, as well?”
Knowing this, Miller McGee has no regrets, she said.
“That was really the main thing that kept me going,” she said.
By GREG KATSKI
Staff Writer
Piecing the puzzle together
Wendy Miller McGee waited over the first 20 years of her life to find out about the death of her father in 1993.
The process of discovery started years before, when she found her father’s side of the family.
As she matured from childhood into adolescence, Miller McGee’s curiosity about her father and his side of the family grew. After many inquiries, her mother, Vickie Babbitt, gave her an old contact number she had saved for Miller McGee’s grandmother. Babbitt told her 16-year-old daughter that the phone number was the only contact information she had for Miller’s family.
Going out on a limb, Miller McGee called the number, and miraculously her grandmother picked up on the other end.
Miller McGee talked to her bed-ridden grandmother, who was battling multiple sclerosis, for a good while. During the conversation, she learned much about her father and that she had two half-sisters.
Time passed after Miller McGee’s conversation with her grandmother with little contact between her and her father’s family. Miller McGee’s most frequent correspondence was with her sister, Tamara Hull, who wrote letters to her from Madison, Wis.
“I occasionally got a couple of letters,” said Miller McGee. “Tamara wanted me to go out there for Spring Break.” But Babbitt would have none of it, said Miller McGee. She tried to make sure her daughter had as little contact as possible with Miller’s family, she said.
In 1992, after years of little communication with her father’s family, Miller McGee received another letter from her sister, Hull. At this point, Miller McGee was out of her mother’s house. She was living with her new husband, and looking to start a family. She was also ready to meet her long-lost family.
In her newest letter, Hull again pleaded for Miller McGee to come to Madison. Miller McGee was more than happy to oblige. She got her husband to buy a plane ticket and embarked on the most important trip of her young life, she said.
Exiting the plane, Miller McGee was worried that she would not be able to find her sisters. Hull assured Miller McGee that she would “just know” who her sisters were.
“I got off the plane, and they looked just like me,” Miller McGee said. “It was just a feeling of joy and excitement. Meeting my sisters, I was just very, very happy,”
Miller McGee made sure to ask her sisters about their father, specifically how he died, she said.
“I met them and I was trying to ask them questions about my dad because I knew nothing,” she said.
She spent the next several years finding out more and more about her father from his family.
“Over the years, I was asking questions and trying to find out about my dad and what type of person he was and just stuff in general,” Miller McGee said. “Really just learning about everything.”
She also wanted to make sure she kept her newfound family close to her heart.
“I tried to stay in touch over the years. I wanted to get to know them as my family,” she said.
Miller McGee’s perception of her mother and father was blown wide open when she received an anonymous letter in the mail, she said. The letter, which Miller McGee’s aunt, Sharron Aguilar, said was sent by Hull, included the NCIS judge advocate’s report into the investigation of Miller’s death.
Miller McGee said she was “pretty shocked” after reading the report.
“But I wanted to know what happened and why,” she said.
Miller McGee called her aunt, Aguilar, who was deeply involved in the investigation of her brother’s death.
“She called me, and the two of us got in contact with the investigator, Wayne Brown,” said Aguilar. “He worked on it a long time. In fact, he worked on it off the clock. He believed in it that strongly.”
Aguilar and Miller McGee continued to pursue the case, with the help of Brown, but the big break would not come for over another decade, she said.
Divine assistance
In April 2008, Lindell Kay, a crime reporter for the Jacksonville Daily News, began covering Onslow County cold cases for the newspaper.
Aguilar, who often scanned the Internet for new information about her brother’s death, stumbled onto Kay’s cold case beat in early August.
“About four weeks ago now, Billy was real strong on my mind, to the point I couldn’t think of anything but his case,” Aguilar said. “So I sat down at the computer, and was trying to find someone to help me out with this story. Somebody to pick up this cold case.”
She contacted Kay and asked him if he would research Miller’s cold case and write an article about his death some 36 years ago. Kay took the story of Miller’s death and “ran with it,” said Aguilar.
After publishing two articles about the case in mid-August 2008, a key witness came forward with substantial new evidence.
Using the new evidence, the agencies working on the investigation, including the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, went to work on making a case for the arrests of Hayden and Babbitt. On Sept. 4, the agencies confirmed they had enough evidence to make the arrests.
“Once I started it, it was like a domino effect,” said Aguilar. “And everything just fell into place.”
Aguilar thinks she had some divine assistance in bringing Hayden and Babbitt to justice, she said.
“I had some divine help with that, I think,” she said.
Miller McGee was in shock when she got word that her mother and step-father were arrested.
“I was hysterical,” Miller McGee said. “Happy on one point, very sad on another point. Because that’s my mom, and that’s my brother’s father.”
Aguilar said it was a lot easier for herself to be joyous than her niece.
“She wants this,” said Aguilar. “Then, on the other hand, this woman gave her birth. She’s torn, but she hasn’t weakened.”
But then Miller McGee thinks back to all the memories missed out on with her father, she said.
“He was taken from me when I was a year old,” she said. “I’ve missed out on a lot. I missed out on my father, I’ve missed out on my sisters. He’s missed out on his grandkids.
“That’s not fair to me. I didn’t do anything wrong. So why was he taken from me? Why was his family taken from me, as well?”
Knowing this, Miller McGee has no regrets, she said.
“That was really the main thing that kept me going,” she said.
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| County looking to build new jail |
tunne rat wrote on Jul 6, 2009 8:55 PM:
that is the biggest propganda word that every came out of butterfields and rino jones mouth in the past hundred years .
just 2 water boys for the obama socalist party , and a hand full of red necks that dont have a clue about whast they are talking about . "