The Murders of Rosalie Miller & Mindy West (New Hampshire)

When two women known to spend time in Manchester, New Hampshire’s inner city both dropped out of contact with their families in the late 1990s, it wasn’t entirely out of character from the lives they once led. But for Mindy West’s father, who had watched her working to get her life back on track, he just knew that something was wrong. Rosalie Miller’s brother, too, worried as weeks passed without contact from his sister, despite her history of disappearing.

The violent predator on the streets of Manchester and surrounding communities at the time of their murders has never been caught for what they did to Rosalie and Mindy. It’s possible there’s even more than one violent predator still at large, because there’s still no conclusive connection between their cases. Yet the similarities cannot be ignored.

Rosalie Miller’s Death

It was the afternoon of Monday, January 20th, 1997 and a few kids in Auburn, New Hampshire were outside getting a little fresh air, despite the below freezing temperatures you’d expect to see during peak New England winter. As they explored a wooded area near the Route 28 bypass off the Londonderry Turnpike, their playtime took an unexpected turn. There in the woods partially covered by a pile of leaves was the nude body of a woman.

According to reporting by Deena Furguson for the New Hampshire Union Leader, although investigators did not specify the precise location of the remains, they did say she was found near a private home. A state police trooper blocked the long uphill driveway leading to a white house and the 60-acre property on which it sat. The home belonged to two individuals who owned and operated a land development company in Londonderry.

The woman did not have any identification on her when she was found, but she had a few unique tattoos: a rose on her left forearm and one on her hip, as well as a blue circle on her ankle described as a quote, “jailhouse tattoo”. Julie Huss reports for the Derry News that police photographed the tattoos and showed the Polaroids around town hoping to locate someone who recognized the distinctive ink on the woman’s body.

Police received a tip from an individual who believed they recognized the roses as the same ones their friend had. That friend and the victim’s family were able to identify her as 36-year old Rosalie Miller, who also went by Rose. At the time of her death, Rosalie was living in an apartment at 307 Cedar Street in Manchester. With that, Manchester PD joined Auburn Police and the New Hampshire State Police to collaborate on the investigation.

Early reports did not disclose Rose’s cause of death but the case was being treated as a homicide. This was Auburn, New Hampshire’s first homicide in 15 years, though it wasn’t confirmed that she was actually killed there, and police didn’t think she got to that location on her own.

Rosalie Miller: Early Investigation

The frozen state of Rose’s body delayed the autopsy an extra few days. But even after the autopsy was complete, investigators did not immediately release a cause of death, nor did they disclose details of the crime scene. More contemporary sources do list a cause of death for Rose, however. It’s been reported that she died of strangulation.

But determining exactly when and where Rose died still hasn’t happened. At least, it’s not public information at this stage. Some source material gives only an approximation, stating that police believe Rosalie died in December of 1996, possibly before Christmas of that year.

William has said that his sister was known to drop out of contact from time to time, for weeks, months, and even years. This time, he hadn’t heard from her since before Thanksgiving in 1996. Even though it wasn’t the longest she’d been MIA, William still got a bad feeling.

It’s unclear where William got this information, but as of 2005, it was his understanding that Rose was last seen alive in December of 1996 as she was leaving the 3-Cousins Pizza & Lounge at 137 Wilson Street on the east side of Manchester. She was supposedly getting into a van. William said she was with some members of a motorcycle gang.

Police have publicly stated that 3-Cousins Pizza & Lounge was a known hangout for members of motorcycle gangs, but have stopped short of confirming William’s statements to the media about the circumstances and timing of his sister’s last known whereabouts. There were other reported sightings, too. At least one witness told police they were sure they saw Rose at a New Year’s Eve party in 1996, which would have been after estimated date of death, but investigators couldn’t confirm that sighting and discounted its validity.

According to Mark Hayward’s reporting for the Union Leader, Assistant Attorney General Patrick E. Donovan said that Rose was believed to be involved with sex work at the time of her death. So, police were obviously exploring the possibility that this played a role in her murder, however, they did not have anything yet that led them to believe she was killed by a client.

In the weeks and months before her death, Rose had stayed with various friends, and was moving from one apartment to another. She didn’t have one single spot to call home, meaning her belongings were left in more than one place, with more than one person, making it difficult to look for clues in her personal effects.

However, at least some of Rose’s things were recovered during the course of the early investigation. Source material notes that her clothing was found on the side of the road near an apple orchard in Londonderry at some point. As of 1998, investigators didn’t know how or why the clothes were there, but they don’t have any reason to believe that the individuals who found the clothes had anything to do with Rose’s murder.

In February of 1997, Manchester Crimeline offered a $1000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed Rosalie, which was unusual. Typically, Manchester Crimeline rewards were only granted for crimes within Manchester, but police still had yet to determine where Rosalie died.

Although the first two months of the investigation were filled with over 100 witness interviews and steady leads, police were running into challenges. Rosalie’s life had led her into circles of drug use and sex work and crime. Some potential witnesses in those circles didn’t walk to talk to police or get involved.)

But there was one witness who ran in the same circles as Rose, and she spoke to police during the initial investigation. Her name was Mindy West. A little over a year and a half after Rose’s body was found by children playing in the woods, Mindy herself was the subject of a similar heartbreaking discovery.

Mindy West: Disappearance and Discovery

Stanley West heard from his daughter every single week, without fail, even after she moved out of his home in Londonderry, New Hampshire in May of 1998. But by the first or second week of July that same year, 31-year old Mindy West stopped calling. That’s when Stanley knew something had to be wrong.

Stanley reported Mindy missing, but he was told that police really couldn’t do anything. She was an adult and there were no obvious signs pointing to foul play. A few months later, the signs were all there. Al Nettel reports for the New Hampshire Union Leader that around 2:30 p.m. on October 4, 1998, four children were out playing in a wooded area off Huse Road, about a quarter mile south of Mammoth Road in Manchester, when they saw what they first believed to be a scarecrow. In reality, they’d found the badly decomposed remains of woman.

Roger Lambert reports for Derry News that she was tied to a tree and there was a knotted rope around her neck. She was later identified as Mindy West, and an autopsy determined that she had been strangled.

The area where Mindy was found was dense with undergrowth which may have been why she hadn’t been discovered sooner. Because of the state of decomposition, police assumed Mindy had been there for a while but could not determine exactly when she died. Later source material indicates that the medical examiner estimated Mindy’s approximate time of death to be at the end of July 1998, which aligns with her last phone contact with family.

The stories of Rosalie Miller and Mindy West continue on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.