Family members of a Floyd County girl who was the victim of a still-unsolved murder two years ago held a vigil in a Des Moines area church last night. Relatives of five-year-old Evelyn Miller lit candles and sang songs in her memory. Miller’s grandmother, Linda Christie of Windsor Heights, says there are still times when she’s incapacitated by the loss of her granddaughter.
Christie says: "I miss her smile. I miss her smell. I miss her, ‘I love you grandma.’ I miss the 5-year-old. I miss the child." Christie says prayers and support from friends and family members give her the strength to keep her granddaughter’s memory alive. She says she still clings to a special flute with feathers attached that was one of Evelyn’s favorite toys.
Christie says: "One night, I was driving back from Kansas City and I was playing flute music, that’s all I play now is flute music, and I could feel the feathers in between my hands as I was driving just to let me know that, ‘I’m here, Grandma. I’m okay. Don’t worry.’" Miller vanished July 1, 2005, and a kayaker found her body along the Cedar River near Charles City several days later.
Prosecutors have filed no charges in the slaying. Richard Christie, the girl’s grandfather, says he hopes an arrest comes soon. He says, "I sure hope that the person who is responsible does fully take blame of what’s transpired here and faces his conviction and his time in jail." The grieving grandparents say the searing, sudden pain they felt two years ago has become more of an ache now — an ache they say will never stop hurting.