Murder suspect Miller pleads guilty to fraud

The man police say shot and killed five people in an east Mesa gated community two years ago has pleaded guilty in a related arson case.

William Miller, 31, pleaded guilty Monday on fraud charges for submitting false insurance claims saying he lost items in a fire in his Scottsdale home in November 2005. He has said he wants to get out of county jail and into state prison to await trial in the murder case.

Confessed murderer to plead guilty to fraud

Download William Miller's interview by Tribune Reporter Gary Grado (MP3 - 1.64MB)

Warning: Profanity and graphic content

Listen to the full interview (55 minutes)

VIDEO: Tribune reporter talks about his jailhouse interview

INTERACTIVE: Miller's Show & Tell - Inside the house that night

Sentencing is set for May 30 in the fraud case. The guilty plea will allow him to be transferred to state prison from county jail.

Miller is awaiting trial on 14 counts of first-degree murder, murder for hire and arson stemming from the Feb. 21, 2006, murders in Barrington Estates, near Baseline and Ellsworth roads. Authorities allege that Miller shot and killed five people, including a 10-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl.

Authorities have alleged in court documents that Miller was eliminating Steven Duffy, 30, and Tammy Lovell, 32, as witnesses in the Scottsdale arson case.

They were former employees of Miller, and Duffy was a co-defendant in the arson case who, along with Lovell, reported Miller to police.

Miller told the Tribune in July that he shot and killed Duffy when Duffy opened fire on him, but that an accomplice, whom he won't name, shot and killed Lovell, her children, Jacob and Cassandra Lovell, and Duffy's brother, Shane Duffy, 18.

Miller has also said that he wanted to get out of county jail, where he is kept in solitary confinement and locked up 23 hours a day.

According to court documents, the murder trial probably won't begin until early 2010.