Kriti Mehrotra
When Patricia Leigh Mills died of asphyxiation in her 127 South San Patricio Street home in Goliad, Texas, during a fire on June 25, 2003, it left her entire family shattered to the core. The 32-year-old mother of one was a proud housewife and a member of the Assembly of God, as profiled in NBC’s ‘Dateline: Secrets in the Ashes,’ so her loss was felt across the community, too. However, it wasn’t until nearly a decade later that they got a sense of closure as her widower, Delbert Andrew Mills, was legally deemed responsible for deliberately causing her death.
Delbert Mills and Patricia Mills Had a Tumultuous Relationship
Surrounded by their loved ones, Patricia Leigh and Delbert Mills tied the knot in a cozy ceremony in the mid-2000s and settled in a beautiful suburban home. They welcomed a son, John Michael Mills, two years later, completing their little family while also being active members of society. They appeared to be an idyllic, tight-knit group from the outside, but the reality was reportedly quite different, according to the homemakers’ family, who claimed significant domestic violence at the hands of the husband. As per Patricia’s siblings and their children, Delbert was emotionally, physically, and verbally abusive towards her from the moment they got married. They claimed it was so bad that she had tried leaving him once in 1999 by moving in with her sister and filing for divorce, following which he allegedly openly threatened her.
According to court records, Sharon Burdette claimed that he often even used to drive up and down her street while the couple was separated as a form of intimidation. Thus, after a few months, the mother of one went back to the septic tank plant employee. It’s imperative to note that Delbert was allegedly also abusive towards his son, with Sharon testifying in court that he treated the young boy “like a stepchild” his entire life. In fact, she stated that when John Michael was less than an hour old and crying in the hospital, his father threatened to throw him out the window if he didn’t quiet down. On the flip side, though, many in the community believed the couple were living in matrimonial bliss, as they only ever saw them as over-the-moon happy. A local laundromat owner even asserted, “They acted like a high school couple in love.”
Delbert Mills’ Comments and Behavior Ultimately Led to His Arrest
While the house fire that took Patricia’s life on June 25, 2003, was ascertained to be suspicious, the cause of it could never be identified, and so her case sadly led nowhere. Her family had long made it clear that they were certain she had been deliberately murdered, but it took until 2011 for the matter to be officially reopened and looked into further. That’s when officials uncovered a web of incriminating comments, outright lies, and strange behaviors from Delbert in the aftermath of the death, leading to more questions. All of it culminated in his arrest for murder in December 2011.
When authorities looked into Patricia’s case again, they discovered that Delbert had allegedly not only abused her but also specifically threatened her life over their marriage. He allegedly often told her he would kill her before he would file for divorce or pay child support, with one comment even including something along the lines of her only way out of their house being in a body bag. As if that’s not enough, as per court records, he also lied to Sharon about having a life insurance policy on his wife, only to later collect $15,000 and use it to purchase a new truck.
The fact that Delbert had married a woman by the name of Allison Newman merely two months after Patricia’s death didn’t help his case either, especially as there were rumors they had been having an affair. However, the most incriminating detail to emerge from the investigations was that he had made several remarks about knowing “how to start a fire and not be caught.” He had reportedly stated it to his then-wife in the presence of her ex-husband, in front of a few friends, and had once even offered to start a fire as a hitman of sorts. According to records, in 2007, he told a woman named Keisha Ringland that he could help her get rid of her husband in this way.
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Delbert Mills is Currently Serving a Life Term in State Prison
Delbert was arrested in December 2011 on the charge of murder purely on circumstantial evidence, meaning there was no physical proof that he had started the fire that killed Patricia in the home they shared in 2003. Therefore, when his bench trial commenced roughly a year later, the prosecutors relied heavily on the testimonies of her loved ones to prove he had intent and motive to harm her. The fact that these statements painted a picture of him being sad about his son having survived the fire didn’t help his claims of innocence, and neither did the details of his own prior incriminating remarks.
The prosecutors argued he killed his wife not only to get out of their marriage without the process of a divorce and child support, but also to start afresh with Alison with the payout from her life insurance. On the other hand, Delbert’s defense asserted there was no evidence proving he had started a fire that set the house ablaze, and that too, around 100 minutes after he had already left for work. As for his remarks, his attorneys agreed it was unwise for him to make such claims after the tragedy, but vehemently stated he was “just being goofy” whenever he said anything about fires.
Nevertheless, in the end, in January 2013, a judge found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to the maximum term of life in prison, especially after taking into account his previous convictions. According to court records, years prior, Delbert had been convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in Arkansas, of failing to register as a sex offender in Dallas, and of assault in Victoria County. Thus, today, at the age of 58, he is incarcerated at the James “Jay” H. Byrd Jr. Unit in Huntsville, Texas, where he is expected to remain until at least November 2041, when he becomes eligible for parole.
