Channelview Star Baseball Player Being Stalked

This is an unbelievable story about one of the area's top high school baseball players:

Threats cloud bright future
Years of attacks and warnings have this star athlete fearing for his life
By CINDY HORSWELL
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

From a young age, a talented baseball pitcher in Channelview has drawn the attention of scouts and colleges.

But 17-year-old Aaron Miller, a left-hander whose pitches reach 92 mph, is frightened now that the attention has turned to death threats and vandalism.

Channelview takes its high school sports seriously. This was the quiet east Harris County suburb that became nationally famous in 1991 when Wanda Holloway, the mother of a high school cheerleader, was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill the mother of her daughter's cheerleading rival.

Now, Harris County sheriff's investigators are struggling to find a motive for a series of attacks on the star baseball pitcher that have frightened Miller and his family so much that they have considered moving. Although Aaron is widely viewed as a mild-mannered teen, the only motive investigators and family members have come up with is jealousy. No one will point to any one suspect while authorities continue their investigation.

But baseball is clearly an issue in the attacks.

The first attack came five years ago, when vandals spray-painted the family's garage with death threats against Aaron, then 12. The messages warned him to "get out of town" and that he "will die."

But last October, when Aaron and his father were away at a baseball tournament, someone took Aaron's first home-run baseball that had been displayed in his bedroom, penned a message on it and left it in the Millers' mailbox.

"It said something like, 'This is your last chance, Aaron. If you don't leave, you'll die,' " said Aaron's mother, Bonnie Miller.

But the latest incident on Sept. 4 could have been disastrous. While Aaron and his father traveled with the Houston Heat to play in a University of Houston tournament, intruders apparently entered the family's house shortly after Aaron's mother left to run errands. They stacked Aaron's clothes in a pile, topped it with his baseball mitt and drenched the pile in lighter fluid. Another stack of photographs also was drenched in lighter fluid. For some reason, the intruders left before setting the stacks on fire, which could have burned down the house.

In that same incident, an ominous warning was scrawled in black in the hallway of the family's home: "Aaron, you die." Another threat written in lipstick in the bathroom added: "We will be back."

Besides writing threatening messages, the intruders did more than $70,000 damage to the house and made it "basically unlivable," Aaron said.

Sinks had been plugged and the water left running to flood the house. Walls, mirrors, windows, appliances, toilets, marble counters, computers and tile floors were repeatedly smashed with a sledgehammer. Bleach and motor oil also had been slung over the carpeting, walls and furniture. Mattresses, couches and pillows had been slashed, dishes broken and contents from the pantry spilled everywhere.

Harris County sheriff's investigators wonder whether the vandals are jealous of Aaron's success. They have found nothing to hint of a hoax or other motive.

His family believes — but won't name any suspects — that the vandals' obsession with Aaron began when he started to shine in Little League and escalated after he began playing on Channelview High School's varsity team.

"Anybody would worry about this," Aaron said. "It's hard to pick out who might do something like this." The soft-spoken youth is ranked third in his class and never had a physical confrontation with anyone, probably because of his 6-foot-2 frame, his family said.

Aaron's father, Ricky, who has served the past seven years as a Channelview school trustee, said the family has contemplated moving away.

"Nobody likes being run out of the home they built," said Miller, a regional manager for a refrigeration company.

While the Millers do not want to cave in to their tormentors, they also are concerned for their security.

"I never feel safe. Every minute, I worry about Aaron. How could someone hate one person so much? I can't imagine it," Bonnie Miller said.

"Whoever is doing this is pretty motivated and daring to do such things in the broad daylight," said Aaron's brother, Brandon, 22, who lives at home.

Bennie Onken, the area's Little League president, said he's certain jealousy lies at the bottom of the turmoil.

"This kid never offended anyone. He's nice and sensitive, and God gave him a great ability to play baseball. But he never throws it in your face," Onken said.

At age 10, Aaron pitched on a Little League team coached by his father that placed second in state. When he turned 14, he was chosen as one of the 40 players on the national Junior Olympics roster.

In addition to his powerful pitches — he has averaged two strikeouts an inning while on varsity — Aaron has a .422 batting average in district play this year. He and the Channelview Falcons made it to the regional semifinals.

But Harris County sheriff's Sgt. Richard Manning said someone appears to be very unhappy with Aaron's success.

Manning has assigned two detectives to the case, but no arrests have been made. Fingerprints taken from the scene are still being processed.

To help catch those responsible for the attacks against Aaron, community residents held a rag-ball tournament and barbecue last weekend, raising $1,900 to add to Crime Stoppers' $5,000 reward fund.

"We called the tournament Catch the Punks," Onken said.

School authorities also have met with the Miller family and put the faculty on alert. "There is always concern for safety when you receive threats like this, but nothing has come into the school so far," said Roxanne Wilson, executive director of student services.

"We just want whoever is doing this to be caught so Aaron can have his life back," Bonnie Miller said.

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Security cameras seem like a no-brainer.

I'm surprised they haven't found any fingerprints or anything. What a strange ordeal. $70,000 worth of damage is serious, but Miller could potentially be a top draft pick in 2 years.