STANGE BREW
Brian Russell Stange, accused of the murder of David Miller on Shepard Lane in Bishop on February 12, was in court on Friday, April 12 for his preliminary hearing.
Enough evidence was presented to convince Superior Court Judge Stephen Place to hold Stange over for trial on two counts.
His arraignment on these new charging documents is scheduled for April 23.
According to the amended complaint, he faces one count of 1st degree, premeditated murder, a felony, with a special circumstance (lying in wait) and three separate firearm enhancements.
The second count is for stalking, also a felony.
Prosecutor David Christensen of the Inyo County District Attorney’s office called several witnesses on Friday. The hearing lasted all day.
Inyo County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Brian Howard was first on the stand, and explained how law enforcement came to identify Mr. Stange as the prime suspect.
And what was interesting was how quickly law enforcement was able to zero in on Stange.
The advantage of living in a society where a lot of cameras are rolling.
Observant delivery drivers are also very helpful.
On the day Mr. Miller was murdered while walking home northbound on Shepard, a delivery driver for a local florist had just made a delivery at the end of Shepard Lane.
As the driver was returning from the delivery and exiting Shepard, the driver noticed a late model, tan pickup truck with a camper shell and a black toolbox on the roof parked on the opposite side of Line Street, just down from Mumy Lane (kitty corner on the right), facing east.
A vehicle of similar description was caught by Manor Market’s street-facing camera speeding down Line Street eastbound right after the fatal rifle shot was fired.
It also turns out the same vehicle was captured on dashcam video by a California Highway Patrolman parked at that same location just prior to the shooting.
Where Mr. Miller was felled on Shepard Lane was perhaps 100 yards in from Line St.
Without foliage in February, a shooter wouldn’t have to park directly across from the Shepard entrance to get a clear shot.
In an interview with Investigator Howard ten days after the shooting, Mr. Stange acknowledges that he was parked in the aforementioned location on the afternoon of the shooting.
A Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power employee, Stange said he decided to take a break from work and “go for a walk” on Mumy Lane. Once he finished his walk, he said he realized he was late returning to work – thus speeding down Line Street to his home on Barlow.
He then said he changed his shirt (which he said had been contaminated from spraying herbicides that day) and got into his second truck, a 2006 Toyota Tundra, and drove back to work. He claims he changed vehicles because he likes to balance the miles between both rigs.
But let’s back up a few weeks here.
Or actually, let’s back up to October, 2023. That’s when the victim, Miller, began dating Samantha Rottner, a fellow Inyo County employee (she works with the probation department).
Rottner testified Friday after a lunch break.
Her testimony proved riveting.
In contradiction to what Stange had told Investigator Howard during his interview on February 22 (Stange had told Howard his relationship with Rottner was an affair of the heart which had never become physical), Rottner said she had commenced a three-year romantic affair with Stange when the pandemic began. She said their sexual relationship ended by May, 2023.
Stange’s wife discovered their relationship early on, said Rottner, but this evidently did not prove dissuasive.
Rottner said she did not tell Stange about her new relationship when she began seeing Miller, but Stange “somehow found out.”
And he was less than thrilled.
According to Rottner, Stange said Miller was a jerk and that he had “done something” to make his wife and daughters leave the state. Stange told Rottner to be careful.
Stange had known Miller since the early 2000s because Stange’s wife and Miller’s ex used to work together. They had socialized and Stange had even visited Miller’s home – though he said not within the past decade.
While Rottner said she told Stange on multiple occasions that she was no longer interested in a relationship, Stange continued to contact her – in fact, his efforts increased.
These were unwelcome contacts, she said, and she would block Stange for a spell. And then unblock him. “I didn’t want to be mean,” she said.
The stalking
The vandalism began on January 14-15.
Rottner spent the night at Miller’s home the evening of January 14 and January 15 was a holiday (MLK).
They woke up and had breakfast together on January 15 before Miller went out to his car.
And then came back inside to report that two of his tires had been slashed.
He also had a truck parked out on the street.
Two of the truck’s tires had also been slashed.
Rottner’s vehicle had been parked next to Miller’s in the driveway. None of her tires were slashed.
Two days later, Miller’s remaining tires were punctured and slashed.
And the word “Die” was spray-painted on both the car and truck.
Miller also suspected someone had put something in his gas tank and oil pan so the vehicles wouldn’t start.
Miller’s response was to set up security cameras.
He suspected that his neighbor across the street, Cody Barker, may be responsible, as they had an uneasy relationship.
Barker, for his part, turned his video camera towards Miller’s home following the vandalism.
This would prove crucial to the police investigation on February 12.
Because minutes before the sounds of a rifle shot pierced the air, Mr. Barker’s video camera showed him walking out to retrieve his mail. This immediately eliminated him as a suspect as the bullet was fired from the south and Barker and Miller lived at the north end of the street.
As Investigators and the coroner later determined, the round that killed Miller entered his left back, went through his left lung and exited his chest, leaving what was described as a “golf ball-sized” exit wound.
He died within a few minutes.
Sheriff’s Dept. Evidence Technician Gabrielle Rinker said 31 guns were removed from Stange’s home during a search on February 22.
Back to the timeline.
There was another vandalism incident on January 26 where the word “pedophile” was spray-painted on Miller’s vehicle.
And then Miller was alerted (while he was out of town) by his camera system which showed a prowler on his property February 2.
On February 9, while Mr. Miller was rollerblading (he liked to rollerblade in the Vons/Kmart parking lot), he noticed he was being watched by a person in a gray truck parked on Wye Road. Miller told Rottner later that the person in the truck (whom he couldn’t identify at a distance) pointed his finger/hand at him in the form of a gun and motioned like he was pulling a trigger.
The truck was later spotted on the Grocery Outlet’s street-facing security camera but a license plate could not be made. The hitch on the silver Tundra, however, matched the one on Mr. Stange’s Tundra.
Of note: Photographs of the slashed tires on Mr. Miller’s vehicle were found on Mr. Stange’s cellphone when it was confiscated.
During this period of time (start of vandalism through the days leading up to the murder), Mr. Stange made repeated and increasingly desperate email appeals to Ms. Rottner – who was asked to read from these email exchanges on the witness stand.
In these emails, Mr. Stange asked her to remember the good times. Wrote, “I never knew how much I needed you in my life. Please come back to me.” And “I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to be as happy as I was with you. You complete me.”
“Is there anything I can do to bring you back?”
After the shooting, when Rottner went on Facebook to start a fundraiser for Miller, Stange was able to access the fundraiser page and leave hearts on certain photos.
He also made a donation.
Stange was arrested by law enforcement on February 22 in the parking lot of Yamatani restaurant in Bishop. He had just celebrated a birthday dinner with his wife.
During Rottner’s testimony, Stange, who was wearing his jail-issued gray on gray with a white t-shirt underneath, rarely looked at Rottner, and not for any length of time. The balding Stange, with an uneven buzzcut and glasses and a week or two of growth on his face, would busily take notes or occasionally whisper something to his attorney.
As for Rottner, she was composed, steady, until she was asked about the day of Miller’s death. How they had texted in the morning and had spoken at lunch and even texted one more time as Miller was heading home.
And then never spoke or texted again.
The weight of ‘never again’ finally shook Rottner’s composure. She was crying as she left the courtroom.
