Getting the news about Bobbie

Madeleine knew right away that the morning news was talking about her daughter—even though they didn’t use her name. They referred only to a “Gilford woman,” but Madeleine knew they were talking about Bobbie—her Bobbie—her 54-year-old daughter. It was Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010. A woman was found in her house, shot and killed, the previous afternoon. Her dog, too. Madeleine had just spoken to her daughter a few days prior. She was in good spirits. She was just getting settled into her new home. She said she was going to build some window box planters that weekend.

A lifetime of memories came flooding over her. How could this happen to her Bobbie?

The days following were a whirlwind. Bobbie was part of a big family. Her mother, Madeleine, was 80 years old. Bobbie had two adult children—a daughter, Jennifer, who was 25 years old, and a son, Jonathan, who was 23 years old. She also had five siblings—4 sisters and a brother. She had an ex-husband (the divorce had just been finalized). Her father was gone—he had died 17 years prior. Everyone in the family said that it was a blessing that he didn’t have to bury his own daughter—she was his favorite.

Bobbie Miller’s life

Bobbie was born in Manchester, New Hampshire on September 25, 1956.

When she was 7-years-old she moved with her many siblings into the house that she would spend most of her formative years, on Amherst Street in Bedford, New Hampshire.

Ken remembers her as a tough older sister, and though they had their feuds, they got along pretty well. Ken was one year and one month younger than Bobbie.

Though Bedford, by reputation, is an affluent small town just southwest of Manchester, the Dionnes grew up working class in a sprawling farmhouse built in 1879. The Dionne house was a hub of activity. Ken explained that their house was a hangout, and that his parents liked it that way—they wanted to know what was going on. Bobbie’s father kept a close eye on her and her sisters—there were five girls and one boy.

Ken: “Every one of us would tell you that Bobbie was my father’s favorite. Bobbie knew how to work my father. he was very tough. My sisters were all very good-looking girls, and boys just flocked to our house. My father was strict… If he said be home at 10 o’clock, that didn’t mean 10:01, that meant 10 o’clock. Of course, most of us… we wouldn’t come in until five past ten, ten past ten, or whatever… Bobbie would come in at five minutes of and score some big brownie points! And once my parents went to sleep, she’d sneak out the window and go back out. And they never knew it! It was the funniest thing. But she knew how to work my father for sure.”

Bobbie and Ken both went to West High School in Manchester, which was about 5 miles away. At first, they took the bus, but once Bobbie started driving, she would give him a lift.

Ken: “She would just drive as fast as she could. Living in the country, there were windy roads. And… of my gosh… I just remember 60 miles-per-hour down the road with the tires squealing… She would be in a big hurry because we probably left the house late. And she went just like a bat out of hell.”

Meeting Gary

In the late 70’s, Bobbie was waitressing at some Manchester restaurants when she met Gary Miller, who was working as a bouncer at a bar that she went to. Gary was a big guy and a hard worker—he worked by day as an auto mechanic and a bouncer by night. They were around the same age, and they hit it off.

By 1981, they were married. Gary was 24 years old, and Bobbie was 25. They were a young, beautiful couple.

In December of 1984, when Bobbie was 28 years old, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Jennifer. Two and a half years later, she gave birth to her son, Jonathan. Gary, Bobbie, and their two kids were a family unit, and after their stint in the Midwest, they moved back to New Hampshire, where they lived for many years in Wolfeboro, a hilly town on the eastern shore of a vast lake, Winnipesaukee. Bobbie wasn’t quite home, but was within spitting distance—about an hour and a half from her hometown of Bedford.

Bobbie enjoyed hiking, kayaking, crafting, and doing stained glass work. She was crafty. But more importantly, she was very involved with her children’s lives.

Gary was no longer a humble mechanic—he owned several businesses. He had two car dealerships: Auto Village of Wolfeboro, and Miller Ford in Sanford, Maine. And he had a tire shop, Tamworth Tire in Tamworth, New Hampshire.

The divorce and moving on

But everything changed in 2007. The kids were grown—Jennifer was 22, Jonathan was 21. Gary and Bobbie were on the rocks. They separated in June, and they filed for divorce on September 19th, citing “irreconcilable differences.” They had been married for 26 years. Bobbie was 51 and Gary was 50.

Ken: “I just remember talking to Bobbie about it early on. And uh… I was disappointed. I wasn’t disappointed in her. I was disappointed to see it happen. And I remember saying, ‘Jeez, I really like Gary.’ And she just kinda chuckled. She said, ‘Well, I like him, too, but I just can’t live with him.’”

The divorce was reported to be long and nasty. After going through mediation, the final divorce decree was signed on August 13th, 2010, 3 years later.

Bobbie was moving on and had decided to buy a home on the other side of Lake Winnipesaukee from Wolfeboro in the town of Gilford. She picked out a modest home on Country Club Road for $190,000. She got a dog, too—a yellow Labrador she named Sport.

On September 25th, 2010, Bobbie celebrated her 54th birthday in her new home and had a party, inviting her many friends over to celebrate the finalization of her divorce and the beginning of a new life.

Though she had some work experience, she was looking to start a new career. She enrolled at Granite State College, and though the main campus was in Concord, she was taking classes primarily from their Rochester, New Hampshire campus to pursue a degree in business.

Even though she was taking steps toward a new and independent future in a new home in a new town, she still had things left to take care of in the divorce.

Gary’s lawyer filed a motion alleging that Bobbie wasn’t meeting her end of the bargain to handle the sale of their old property in Wolfeboro. He claimed that she was dragging out the process in an effort to run up Gary’s legal fees and “ruin him emotionally and economically.” The crux of the matter seemed to be Bobbie’s share of the taxes that were due from 2009. Their tax return was prepared in early 2010, and it appears that Bobbie hadn’t paid her share, which, by the time of Gary’s filing, was worth about $72,000. Bobbie claimed that she didn’t have the money, but Gary’s attorney pointed out that Bobbie had received about $928,000 over the course of the 3+ years of divorce proceedings. Where was the money, he asked the court?

Bobbie responded to the motion claiming that she didn’t have the money. A hearing was set for the first week of November.

Halloween weekend, 2010

It was the weekend prior to her court date—Halloween weekend. On Friday evening, she was out on a date. On Saturday, she went out to a nice dinner in Lakeport, New Hampshire, with her friend Diane on the shores of Lake Opechee at O Steaks and Seafood. She and Diane were both majoring in business and taking classes together at Granite State College. After dinner, they returned to Bobbie’s home and watched movies until late at night. Diane left at 1:00AM to return home.

On Sunday, October 31st, the day of Halloween, Bobbie was working around the house, constructing window boxes. She had spoken separately to both her kids and to her mother over the weekend and had told them of her plans to convert the garage into a stained-glass studio. She went to the Lowe’s on Route 3 in Gilford around 5:00PM, just 5 miles from home.

The neighborhood that she was in wasn’t the sort that had many treat-or-treaters, so she settled in for a quiet evening on Halloween night.

It was sometime that evening or the next day that Bobbie and her dog were killed in her home.

Bobbie’s daughter, Jennifer, said that Bobbie was procrastinating in completing an assignment for one of her online classes and that it was due on Sunday night. That paper was never submitted, suggesting that Bobbie was killed before she completed it.

When the killer came to the home, they would have found Bobbie’s car in her driveway, clearly indicating she was home.

According to Jennifer, Bobbie’s daughter, the killer fired a shotgun blast into the kitchen, where Bobbie was standing, from the living room, based upon the location of the chunks of wood and beams that were later taken as evidence by the police. Although the first shot would have killed Bobbie almost immediately, the killer took aim and shot Bobbie a second time.

Ken: “The first time she was shot she was facing the person that shot her. She was wearing a hoodie. The first time she was shot, she was shot in the face and the throat area and the hood captured some of the blast. She fell on the floor and was shot again in the back of the head.”

Also home was Bobbie’s yellow labrador retriever, Sport. The killer shot the dog twice as well.

There was no sign of forced entry which meant that either the killer had a key, Bobbie let them in willingly, or Bobbie had left one or both of the exterior doors unlocked.

Bobbie had two neighbors—one to the north and one to the south. From the kitchen to the neighbor’s house to the north is 200 feet. From the kitchen to the neighbor to the south is 150 feet. Though there were at least 4 shotgun rounds fired inside of Bobbie’s home, neither neighbor told the press that they had heard anything.

The killer slipped away unnoticed.

Discovering Bobbie and Sport

On Monday afternoon, Bobbie’s son, Jonathan, called 911 from Bobbie’s home between 4:00 and 4:30PM. Ken’s wife said that Jonathan told her he had called Bobbie from work on Monday, but she hadn’t picked up, so he decided to go by the house and see her in person.

By 4:30PM, her neighbor to the north recalled seeing police arriving in droves. By 5:00PM, Country Club Road was shut down. There were fire trucks, ambulances, and police cruisers everywhere. By 6:00PM a detour was set up while New Hampshire State Police Major Crimes Unit processed the scene.

Sometime Monday evening Bobbie’s daughter, Jennifer, who was in California, was notified. Bobbie’s children were the first in the family to learn of her death. It wasn’t until Tuesday morning that her mother heard the terrible news on the TV.

The motive

In the beginning, nobody—neither the police nor the family—had a clue about the motive. Sexual assault was ruled out—Bobbie was found fully clothed. Robbery seemed unlikely: there was money in the house that was left by the killer. According to the Concord Monitor, police later returned $35,211 found inside the home in cash and checks to the family. Bobbie’s daughter, Jennifer, said that she was aware of $26,000 in the house (presumably in cash) that was discovered by the police.

People wondered if there was any connection to the arson that had occurred the Friday before her death: October 29th.

Arson in Acton, ME

Bobbie and Gary owned a three-season house on Great East Lake in Acton, Maine together—described as a “single-story, campy wood structure.” A big lake—Great East Lake—straddles the border of Maine and New Hampshire. Half of the lake is in Maine and sits within the town of Acton.

On Friday October 29th, 2010, around 9:30PM, Gary’s camp caught fire. It would later be determined that someone poured gasoline on it and lit a match. The fire started on the front porch. A neighbor in Acton told the Foster’s Daily Democrat that he had seen the two residents leave the home earlier. He was outside, cooking on his outdoor grill, when he saw “flickering light,” at Gary’s camp. He tried calling 911, but didn’t have service on his cell. He got ahold of another neighbor who was able to call the fire department. By the time they arrived, it had grown out of control.

By the time the fire was extinguished at 2:30AM, it was deemed a total loss. Two firefighters remained on-scene through the night, securing it until the Maine State Fire Marshal arrived. It was ruled arson.

The question lingered in everyone’s mind—was the arson related to Bobbie’s murder that happened 48 hours later?

According to Bobbie’s younger sister, Chris, Jennifer called her grandmother, Madeleine, the weekend of Bobbie’s death and told her about the fire, but she asked her not to tell Bobbie. Chris and Ken both aren’t certain today whether or not Bobbie knew about the fire by the time of her death.

Jon’s criminal background

Police started looking into the criminal histories of all of the people close to Bobbie.

Her son, Jonathan, has a rap sheet.

Ken remembers him getting in trouble a lot.

Ken: “Jon was in trouble… ALL the time. Whether it was stealing something from a friend of his, or stealing cars from Gary’s dealership, or breaking into Bobbie’s place of work (all the stuff could be substantiated—he’s got a record that’s a mile long), he was always in trouble. None of the family members ever said anything to Bobbie about it. If you said anything negative about Jon to Bobbie she would go right on the defense. You learned real quick—just bite your tongue.

Ken: “I know he broke into a place of business my sister Bobbie was working—one of the local companies in town. I know he broke into that place and robbed them… for crying out loud!”

In 2007, at 20 years old, he was convicted of a felony-level burglary in Wolfeboro.

He served another day later in 2007 for “disobeying a police officer.”

He had a restraining order against his father that expired in 2008.

He served five days in 2009 for a probation violation and assault.

He had multiple motor vehicle infractions, and a conviction for reckless driving.

The list goes on...

Gary Miller didn’t do it

Everyone in the family was aware of Jon’s checkered past at the time of Bobbie’s death, but because of the optics of the situation—Gary and Bobbie’s acrimony, Gary’s camp burning down just two days prior, the upcoming court date with $70,000 on the line, and the professional nature of the crime—they suspected Gary.

But Gary was being very cooperative with the police. He took a polygraph immediately and the police were “satisfied” with the results.. Though we don’t have the results, we have heard that the police were satisfied with them. He had an alibi for the timeframe of Bobbie’s death—he was with his new wife. He didn’t lawyer up. Gary was behaving like someone who was innocent. Within the first 6 months, that perspective began to shift to Bobbie’s son, Jonathan.

Ken: “Gary has been very very cooperative. He has worked tirelessly with me on this trying to figure out how to bring this to fruition. He was worked right alongside the state police—very cooperative. He had an alibi. He was nowhere near the scene that night. It was not him.”

The reward posters

At the one-year anniversary, the family pulled together a significant reward to try and shake something loose on the case. They offered $50,000 for information. Following the announcement, Ken put up reward posters all around Gilford.

Ken: “We were putting reward posters up all around the state, but really concentrated in the Lakes Region, because that’s where Bobbie had lived all those years. And somebody was taking them down.

So I put a couple of posters on [Jon’s] road, and I put a camera there. The camera that I put up was the kind of camera that would send pictures to my cell phone.

One day my camera stopped sending me pictures… and when we drove over there, there was a plywood sign and written in great big letters, it said ‘F*ck you, Kenny.” And I knew who put that sign there. And my camera’s broken. Somebody took a rock and smashed it. Well… what that somebody didn’t realize was that even though they broke the antenna on the camera—it wasn’t sending me pictures—it was still taking pictures. And the pictures it took were three pictures of Jon Miller. First it was just a picture of him with a rock in his hand. And then you see him with the sign. If someone were putting up reward posters to find out who killed your mother, why would you be taking those posters down?”

Ken’s activism

Ken has been a tireless advocate for Bobbie.

He has been the media spokesperson for the family. He has put up billboards advertising the reward and reminding people of Bobbie’s case. He has persistently contacted the police and the attorney general’s office. He has spoken at senate hearings, and so much more. He is tenacious and dogged in his pursuit of justice.

In fact, it was because of his activism that we crossed paths with Ken Dionne.

We attended a rally in front of the New Hampshire AG’s office in Concord on Tuesday, August 15th, 2023. He was there, too, advocating for his sister and for all families who are waiting for justice in the state of New Hampshire.

Ken is angry with the Attorney General’s Office. They operate in total secrecy. Any questions that families have for the AG’s office are met with empty platitudes—the case is “open and active” and that anything shared might jeopardize the investigation.

Ken’s family compiled a list of about 20 questions that they had about Bobbie’s murder, and they got a rare meeting with AG’s office to discuss them. Ken said that they refused to answer virtually any of their questions.

But what Ken is most upset about is the internal staffing problems at the AG’s office. There was supposed to be a prosecutor hired to work on cold cases, and that position went unfilled for years.

Ken: “So I ended up going to a public hearing one time. It was a panel discussion or victims’ rights. I got up and I spoke at that meeting—there were a bunch of cold case victims’ families in that audience—and I told them all that there was nobody (and there hadn’t been anybody) to prosecute one their cases for the past three years. From ’15 to ’18 that there was no prosecutor. After I got done speaking, the attorney general at the time, Gordon McDonald, said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, everything that this man said is the truth. We know we have a problem, and we’re trying to fix it.’”

Ultimately it wasn’t until early 2023 that they filled that position.

A reflection of Bobbie

Ken marks every passing year with a hike that Bobbie loved to do. He climbs Mt. Major—a 1,700-foot peak in Alton, New Hampshire—on her birthday. It’s a 3.5-mile trail that winds up the mountain, with a total of 1,100 feet of elevation change. When you get to the top, you look out over the southern waters of Lake Winnipesaukee. The view is terrific. I can imagine Bobbie making the hike with her new dog, Sport, who “weighed as much as her,” in the summer of 2010.

Bobbie’s 80-year-old mother made the strenuous hike on the one-year anniversary of her death. Some of Bobbie’s ashes were scattered at the summit, and it gave her an opportunity to be with her late daughter.

Bobbie, for her birthday, always asked her mom for a particular soup she loved. It’s base comes from a slow-cooked beef roast, onion, and a dry spice pack. Once the roast is done, you add tomatoes, spinach, and orzo pasta. Lastly, you chop up the roast and return it to the broth. The family calls it spinach soup, or more affectionately, “Bobbie’s Soup.” Her mom said that she would keep the tradition alive, saying, “That’s all Bobbie ever wanted for her Birthday, and I would make it for her every year. And I will still make it for her on her birthday as long as I can.”

If you have any information on the murder of Bobbie Miller, please call the NH Cold Case Unit at 603-271-2663 or email coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov.

This text has been adapted from the Murder, She Told podcast episode, The Murder of Roberta ‘Bobbie’ Miller. To hear Bobbie Miller’s full story, find Murder, She Told on your favorite podcast platform.

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Sources For This Episode

Newspaper articles

Various articles from Concord Monitor, Foster's Daily Democrat, Gilford Steamer, Journal Tribune, New Hampshire Union Leader, The Telegraph, and the Valley News here.

Written by various authors including Bea Lewis, Dan Seufert, Dave Solomon, Ethan DeWitt, Harrison Haas, Jeff Ferland, Kathryn Marchocki, Kevin Landrigan, Lauren Tiner, Matthew Spolar, Paula Tracy, Ray Duckler, Roger Amsden, and Samantha Allen.

Online written sources

'Maine car dealership to shut doors' (Seacostonline), 1/23/2009

'More details emerge from murder scene on county club road' (The Laconia Daily Sun), 11/3/2010, by Gail

'Homicide victim was dealing with financial, asset matters' (Foster's Daily Democrat), 11/4/2010, by Bea Lewis

'Police continue silent treatment regarding miller homicide' (The Laconia Daily Sun), 11/4/2010, by Gail

'Gilford woman & her dog were shot to death' (issuu), 11/5/2010, by Michael Kitch

'Roberta E. Miller' (Legacy), 11/9/2010, by New Hampshire Union Leader

'Investigation continues into Miller murder; Roberta Miller was the ex-wife of Gary Miller, who owned Miller Ford in Sanford' (Foster's Daily Democrat), 11/11/2010

'Investigation continues in Roberta Miller murder case' (New Hampshire Lakes and Mountains), 11/16/2010, by Lauren Tiner

'Authorities say new leads have surfaced in Bobbie Miller murder investigation' (The Laconia Daily Sun), 4/21/2011, by Gail

'Murdered woman's son charged facing gun charge' (The Laconia Daily Sun), 9/2/2011, by Gail

'NH family Offers $50,000 Reward to Find Woman's Killer' (CBS News), 10/25/2011

'Dedicated to the Life of Bobbie (Dionne) Miller- Help Solve Her Murder' (Bobbies Soup), 11/3/2011

'NH - Roberta 'Bobbie' Miller, 54, Gilford, 31 Oct 2010' (WebSleuths), 11/7/2011, by Kiln Wood

'Two years since murder, family awaits news of a suspect and an arrest' (Foster's Daily Democrat), 10/30/2012, by Samantha Allen

'Family of murdered woman hopes billboard will lead to clue' (The Laconia Daily Sun), 9/14/2015

'Family of woman killed in Gilford seeks answers 5 years later' (WMUR), 10/29/2015, by Andy Hershberger

'Brother says short-handed N.H. Major Crimes hindered in efforts to solve Bobblie Miller murder' (The Laconia Daily Sun), 11/30/2016

'Murder of Roberta 'Bobbie' Miller listed among 120 cold cases in NH' (WMUR), 6/8/2017, by Amy Coveno

'Families of murder victims remind NH lawmakers the demand for justice hasn't gone cold' (New Hampshire Union Leader), 1/29/2019, by Dave Solomon

'COLD CASE NH: Roberta "Bobbie" Miller' (100.3 WHEB), 10/27/2021, by Laura

'Unsolved Murder of Roberta “Bobbie” Miller' (Facebook), 10/29/2021, by Died in House

'Gilford woman, dog fatally shot on Halloween in 2010; case remains unsolved' (WMUR), 10/31/2022, by Christine DeLong Wheeler

'Family of Bobbie Miller seeks answers more than decade after her shooting' (WMUR), 11/22/2022, by Tim Callery

'Families of Victims of Unsolved Crimes in New Hampshire Protest 'Inaction' From the State' (Boston 25 News), 8/15/2023, by Bob Ward

'Families, Friends of NH Cold Case Victims Call for Justice: Watch' (Patch), 8/15/2023, by Tony Schinella

'Survivors and relatives of cold case victims seek audience with NH attorney general' (Concord Monitor), 8/15/2023, by Ray Duckler

Online video sources

'Roberta 'Bobbie' Miller's Murder Listed Among 120 Cold Cases in NH' (YouTube), 6/8/2017

'9's Unsolved: Who Killed Bobbie Milller?' (YouTube), 10/11/2018

'New Hampshire unsolved case: Bobbie Miller' (YouTube), 10/31/2022

'Unsolved Case - Bobbie Miller' (YouTube), 11/4/2022

'Family of Bobbie Miller seeks answers more than decade after her shooting' (YouTube), 1/13/2023

'Families, Friends Of NH Cold Case Victims Call For Justice: Watch' (Patch), 8/15/2023

'Families of victims of unsolved crimes in New Hampshire protest ‘inaction’ from the state' (Boston 25 News), 8/15/2023

'Family of Bobbie Miller Seeks Answers 5 Years After Her Murder' (YouTube), 9/25/2023

Interviews

Special thanks to Ken Dionne for agreeing to be interviewed. Special thanks to Chris Post for generously giving us her time to speak about Bobbie on background.

Photos

Photos were from the Dionne family and have been edited by Murder, She Told. Additional photos from WMUR, Google Maps, AllTrails, Patch.com

Credits

Vocal performance, research, and audio editing by Kristen Seavey

Writing, research, and photo editing by Byron Willis

Additional research by Bridget Rowley and Samantha Coltart.

Murder, She Told is created by Kristen Seavey.