According to Cathy Harper of Federal Way, Scottye Miller was very clear he wanted to kill her daughter, 33-year-old Tricia Patricelli.
“He threatened to kill her in the letters,”
Harper told KIRO 7 on Thursday. "He threatened her life many, many times."
On October 30, 2012, Miller made good on those threats and stabbed Patricelli to death inside her Auburn apartment. He was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
On Thursday, Harper filed a lawsuit claiming the State of Washington, the Department of Corrections and Miller's community corrections officer failed in their court-ordered supervision of Miller after his release from prison just 15 days before he killed Patricelli.
Harper – who is now raising Tricia's two little girls -- blames the state and CCO for her daughter's death, just as much as she blames Scottye Miller, because many of the written death threats were sent while Miller was incarcerated. According to Chris Carney, Harper's attorney, those letters should have been read by prison staff, intercepted, and never delivered to Patricelli because they were a violation of a protection order in place until 2015.
Carney told KIRO 7 even one letter could have kept Miller behind bars. "It could have been a new criminal charge for attempting to violate his no-contact order with her," Carney said. "If they had caught these letters, he might not have been out in the first place" when he killed Patricelli.
The victim's brother, Tony Patricelli, said he saw many of the threatening letters and believes Miller didn't even try to hide the threats from jail staff: "On the outside of the envelopes were threats, threatening her life, 'your time is coming.'"
A spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.
Carney said a trial date has been set for December 2015.