$50k reward: "Bobbie' Miller's family determined to have her killer brought to justice

ALTON — Tuesday was the kind of day Roberta "Bobbie" Miller would have loved. The sky above Mount Major was bright blue, the wind blew briskly and the once brilliant autumn foliage was just past its peak.

But Miller wasn't at the mountain yesterday.

About a year ago she and her dog Sport were brutally shot to death while inside their Gilford home on Country Club Road and it was her family who met with the media in the Mount Major parking lot to ask for the public's help with the unsolved crime and to offer a $50,000 cash reward for information that leads to an arrest and prosecution.

"She deserves to be standing here right now. She was supposed to be here. She didn't need to die. Not this way," said Jennifer Miller, Bobbie's daughter who is a mechanical engineer with NASA in California.

Jennifer Miller, Bobbie's mother Madeline Blake, Bobbie's sister Mickie Moore and her brother Ken Dionne implored the general public to try and remember anything that may help the police locate the killer(s) and bring some kind of resolution to the family.

At yesterday's reward announcement, Blake brought a pot of Bobbie's favorite soup and shared the delicious beef and spinach mixture with members of the media who came from as far away as Boston to interview the family.

"I call it Bobbie's Soup," she said, "It was what she asked for her birthday every year."

www.bobbiessoup.com is also the website created by the family as a place to learn more about the slain mother of two and to offer information and donations, if desired.

According to N.H. Asst. Attorney General Benjamin Agati, Miller was shot to death sometime between Sunday Oct. 31 at 4 p.m. and Monday Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. when her body was discovered by an unnamed family member.

Agati said they have obtained a security tape from a local business establishment that shows Miller alive on Oct. 31 but he declined to say where or what business.

Aside from the immediate cause of death and a 24-hour window of opportunity, State Police and the A.G.s Office have released very little information about the 2010 Halloween homicide. Still unknown is what type and caliber gun was used by the killer(s), how the person or people entered the house, and whether or not both Miller and her dog were shot by the same weapon.

Jennifer Miller said she has had regular communication, at times "almost daily" with the A.G.'s Office and while sometimes she said she gets frustrated, she understands how difficult it will be to find and convict whoever shot and killed her mother.

Jennifer remembered her mother as someone who "was always outside" and ready for just about any adventure that came her way.

She said her mother feared heights but would still hike up mountains and skied even though she was once hit in the head with a chair lift.

"She even snowmobiled after she broke her ribs in an snowmobile accident," Miller said, smiling as she recalled her mother's non-stop energy.

Bobbie's mother, Madeline Blake, also recalled how proud her daughter was of Jennifer, who is one of the engineers for the upcoming Mars Rover that will be launched next March from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

"She was supposed to come to the launch and then we were supposed to go Disney World," Jennifer said. "You know. All the Florida things."

Bobbie's best friend Diane Kuhn joined the family at yesterday's gathering and said she spent the Saturday night before Bobbie's murder with her at O's Steak and Seafood Restaurant in Laconia.

Kuhn said the two knew each other for the 20 years they both lived in Wolfeboro and still maintained a close friendship after Bobbie moved to Gilford.

They both attended Granite State College and, if she had not been murdered, Bobbie was due to graduate this December with a degree in business.

"We were both single, out of work, and went to school," said Kuhn. "We did everything together."

After the press conference, Jennifer said her brother Jonathan just "wasn't up to coming."

She said while she lived in California and spoke daily to her mother by telephone, Jonathan lived nearby and was always with her. She said Jonathan lived in Gilford and that was why her mother chose to move there.

Jennifer said he was helping her make some flower boxes in the days before she was killed. She said she didn't know what her mother was planning to plant but that she was beginning to add some personal touches to the home she had just purchased.

"She just lived for me and Johnny," said Jennifer. "There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for us."

If anyone has any information about Bobbie Miller's death please call the N.H. State Police Tip Line at 603-223-3860, the New Hampshire State Police Major Crimes Unit Line at 603-223-8573, or the Gilford Police at 603-527-4737.