Woman, 94, Kills Self Where Husband Died 62 Years Ago

WYNNE, Ark. — A 94-year-old woman who had been a widow since 1938 drove her car into a large drainage ditch, killing herself at almost the exact spot where her husband had died in an accident 62 years before.

Carrie Miller left a note found by her housekeeper March 16, saying, “You can find me in my car where my husband was killed.”

State Game and Fish Commission divers found Miller’s body Wednesday in the Bay Ditch, a large, swift-flowing ditch that feeds into the St. Francis River. Her seat belt was buckled, the windows were up and the ignition was off, Cross County sheriff’s investigator Larry Williams said.

Williams said he was told by family members that Raymond Miller died in 1938 when his car skidded off a wooden bridge and into the same ditch.

The husband was duck hunting, Williams was told, and his car most likely slid on a patch of ice.

His widow gave birth to the couple’s only child, a boy, after her husband’s death. She never remarried.

The son died a couple of years ago, investigators said. Miller had been in relatively good health until recently and helped take care of her 96-year-old brother, but was hospitalized earlier this year.

Williams said he believes Miller drove her 1999 Buick Century off a boat ramp on the day the note was found. Foul play is not suspected.

A state highway department employee told authorities she asked for directions to the ramp that day, and he thought she was going fishing.

The employee later went to the ramp to make sure she had found the spot, and notified police when he didn’t see her there, Williams said.