Northern California conservation area closed by manhunt to reopen

Federal officials will reopen a 68,000-acre conservation area in Northern California on Friday that was closed for two weeks because of a manhunt for the suspected killer of his wife and two young daughters.

Shane Franklin Miller, 45, allegedly shot his wife, Sandy, 34, and daughters Shelby, 8, and Shasta, 5, to death on the night of May 7. The triple killing happened near Shingletown in Shasta County, but investigators said Miller fled in his pickup truck about 200 miles to Petrolia, a town of about 300 residents, in coastal Humboldt County.

A woman whom Miller shared a child with reported seeing the suspect not long before he abandoned his gold Dodge truck. Investigators found “blue tipped live rounds” for a firearm in the truck, similar to the ones found at the crime scene, according to authorities. A note was also found in the truck, according to a Shasta County sheriff’s warrant, “where he briefly addressed members of his family and made implied threats towards some of them and apologized to others implying he did something wrong.”

Two hikers later found Miller’s dog, a dachshund, abandoned in a parking lot.

Shasta County Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Kent said investigators believe Miller might have hidden in the wilderness of the King Range, an area he apparently knows very well.

The manhunt, which at one point swarmed Petrolia with heavily armed -- and armored -- law enforcement officers, including from the U.S. Marshals Service, resulted in the closure of the vast, rugged conservation area, said Jeff Fontana, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.

He said parts of the King Range Conservation Area have been closed in the past because of wildfires and storm-damaged paths but never the whole area.

The Memorial Day weekend is usually the busiest time, when more than 300 visitors use the campgrounds and winding trails. About 100,000 people visit the conservation area each year.

“Closing isn’t something that we do often or take lightly,” Fontana said. “It’s been 15 days of law enforcement in the area. The suspect has not been located and we’re still going to ask people to pay attention to their surroundings and to contact the sheriff if they see anything unusual.”

Lt. Steve Knight of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said the scale of the manhunt has decreased significantly, but a law enforcement presence will remain for the time being.

“The suspect is very savvy of the area. He visited multiple times in his lifetime,” Knight said, adding that Miller grew up in the community.

According to a warrant, on the night of the killings, there was a 911 call from the suspect’s home on 28400 Alpine Way. A dispatcher could hear someone in the background sobbing, as well as “banging.” When deputies arrived, they found the doors locked but through a window could see Miller’s wife and one of his daughters lying motionless on the ground. They later found the other daughter, also dead.

Lying around the scene were spent shell casings and live firearm rounds, according to the warrant.

During the investigation, detectives discovered that that deputies had responded to a domestic disturbance call at the residence on April 9. Miller’s wife left with the assistance of the deputies, according to the warrant.

Deputies responding to the scene of the slayings found weapons and ammunition, but not the weapon or weapons believed to have been used in the crime. All three victims were shot more than once.

Miller is described as white, 5 feet, 10 inches tall and about 200 pounds with red hair and blue eyes.

He was charged in 2002 in San Francisco with growing and selling marijuana, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing a machine gun and money laundering.

Miller pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison. Kent said Miller was discharged from federal parole within the last year.

Investigators have not divulged a motive for the slayings, but according to the warrant, Sandy Miller had told family that her husband had warned her that he “was going to killer her and their children.”

“Detectives also learned through interviews that on the day of the homicide ... Sandy was going to tell Shane that she wanted a place of her own for her and the children in [an] attempt to leave him due to ongoing domestic violence issues,” the warrant read.

After the killing, Miller left for an area of Northern California that he knew intimately. According to the warrant, family of the suspect said that if he were to flee it would be to near the town of Petrolia, where he grew up.

“Shane Miller’s family stated he was skilled and knowledgeable enough to stay hidden in the rugged wooded area for months and be undetected,” the warrant said. “Shane Miller also reportedly had a cache of weapons, money and food buried/hidden in the area.”

Humboldt County, including swaths of the Lost Coast, where Petrolia is located, is known as a major hub for the cultivation of illegal marijuana. Knight said as law enforcement combed the area for Miller, there was some initial concern they would use the searches to arrest people who might be involved in the marijuana trade.

He said that while they have to enforce the law, they tried to reassure people their attention was on capturing Miller.

“We made it very clear to the citizens that ... our focus was finding a triple homicide suspect. They understood that,” he said. “We gained their trust so that the suspicion levels went down and we received more cooperation.”

Despite that, Miller has not been seen. Knight said investigators can’t say for sure if Miller is still in the area, has fled or even killed himself.

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hector.becerra@latimes.com