She had been in Thailand for six years, most of the time illegally, and had given birth to a child while here.
Police said Kelly Lynn Miller, 36, from Alabama, arrived in Thailand in January 2009. They said she threw away her passport right after arriving “because she was afraid that police would find out about her case back in the US”.
The Alabama news website AL.com reported, “Miller, then 26, was charged with drunken driving in the death of a tractor-trailer driver on Interstate 459 in Hoover in 2004.
“Florida truck driver Donald Goodwin, 57, had parked his truck in the right emergency lane near Parkwood Road bridge and was checking his tires when he was struck and killed.
“Hoover and Bessemer police responded to the scene, which happened about 12:15am that Tuesday. Police believe Miller sideswiped the truck with her car and then hit Goodwin. She paid a $1,000 [B30,000] bond and was released later that day.”
Pol Col Suppaseth Chokchai, Deputy Commissioner of the Thai Tourist Police, said yesterday, “She flew to Thailand legally after she was granted bail in her car smash case.
“A few months after she disappeared, the US canceled her passport but she had already thrown it away, and had been moving around Thailand a lot,” said.
“We will tighten cooperation between Thailand and other countries to ensure improved data sharing on tourists there who are wanted by their governments.”
When arrested by a special regional police task force, Ms Miller was living with her husband and their small child – born in Thailand – in a bungalow on Koh Lanta.
She was charged with being in Thailand illegally and was taken to the cells at Phuket Immigration in preparation for her deportation to the US.