PHUKET: Fugitive and mother Kelly Lynn Miller, arrested on Koh Lanta and presented to the media on Phuket, is back on US soil, say reports from America.
Miller, 36, convicted in a 2004 fatal DUI crash, arrived in California via commercial airline after being deported from Thailand, according to the US Marshals Service.
The family of the man she killed, Donnie Goodwin, has been commenting on Phuketwan and other sites about their delight at her recapture.
Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that Ms Miller played a part while in Thailand in a detoxification centre where the exotic drug Ibogain was used.
An Australian man died at the detoxification centre on Koh Phangan in Thailand and his family and friends want the matter thoroughly investigated.
According to the Alabama site al.com, Miller fled the state in 2009 to avoid going to prison for five years for the DUI fatality.
Thai investigators say she virtually threw away her passport once she got to Thailand and tried to stay under the radar by living on holiday islands in the Gulf of Thailand and along the Andaman Sea..
When her arrest was announced at a press conference on Phuket last week, Miller displayed remarkable disinterest and at one stage applied lipstick.
The conference was held in the Thai language, which may have accounted for some of her casual approach.
Police on Phuket said that she gave birth to a child about two months ago at a clinic on Samui, thus avoiding the notice that would have come if the birth had taken place in a hospital. Latest reports do not mention the whereabouts of the child.
According to AL.com, Miller was a ''self-employed entertainer'' with a $4000 monthly income before she fled the US.
A Jefferson County grand jury in 2006 indicted Miller on vehicular homicide, according to Alabama court records. She was released on a $10,000 bond and subsequently pleaded guilty.
Her lawyer, Ralph ''Buddy'' Armstrong, who has since passed away, applied for probation, AL.com reported. Instead of granting probation, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Teresa Petelos sentenced Miller to five years in prison.
The judge set a $50,000 appeal bond. Miller eventually made bond, and then fled to Thailand, the Alabama site reported. She was official declared a fugitive in 2010.
''The family has been more or less holding our breath wondering if she was ever going to pay for this,''' Brenda Bagwell, Goodwin's sister, told AL.com.
''A sentence of only five years was a slap in the face and then when she ran it was unbelievable.'''
Bill Veitch, chief deputy district attorney in Jefferson County's Bessemer Division, said: ''They are likely going to send her directly to prison.
''Whether or not there will be other charges, I don't know yet.''
Vietch said he found out about the capture and immediately called Bagwell in Florida. ''She was really happy. I got really close to the victim's family and they are really good people.
''Brenda was active in coming here often. She's a remarkable person in that she drove back and forth (from Florida) I can't tell you how many times.''
Bagwell has said she hopes her family can begin to heal. ''There's not a day that has gone by that I have not thought about that person,'' she said of Miller.
''She took away a brother I was very close to. My mother is 87 years old and she was very close to him. It's been a tough few years. He was a good brother and son and we miss him really bad.
"I would like to say she's not worth my thoughts anymore and I don't know I'll ever be able to forgive her,''' Bagwell said, ''but I hope she's going through her own hell right now.''
Miller, 36, convicted in a 2004 fatal DUI crash, arrived in California via commercial airline after being deported from Thailand, according to the US Marshals Service.
The family of the man she killed, Donnie Goodwin, has been commenting on Phuketwan and other sites about their delight at her recapture.
Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that Ms Miller played a part while in Thailand in a detoxification centre where the exotic drug Ibogain was used.
An Australian man died at the detoxification centre on Koh Phangan in Thailand and his family and friends want the matter thoroughly investigated.
According to the Alabama site al.com, Miller fled the state in 2009 to avoid going to prison for five years for the DUI fatality.
Thai investigators say she virtually threw away her passport once she got to Thailand and tried to stay under the radar by living on holiday islands in the Gulf of Thailand and along the Andaman Sea..
When her arrest was announced at a press conference on Phuket last week, Miller displayed remarkable disinterest and at one stage applied lipstick.
The conference was held in the Thai language, which may have accounted for some of her casual approach.
Police on Phuket said that she gave birth to a child about two months ago at a clinic on Samui, thus avoiding the notice that would have come if the birth had taken place in a hospital. Latest reports do not mention the whereabouts of the child.
According to AL.com, Miller was a ''self-employed entertainer'' with a $4000 monthly income before she fled the US.
A Jefferson County grand jury in 2006 indicted Miller on vehicular homicide, according to Alabama court records. She was released on a $10,000 bond and subsequently pleaded guilty.
Her lawyer, Ralph ''Buddy'' Armstrong, who has since passed away, applied for probation, AL.com reported. Instead of granting probation, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Teresa Petelos sentenced Miller to five years in prison.
The judge set a $50,000 appeal bond. Miller eventually made bond, and then fled to Thailand, the Alabama site reported. She was official declared a fugitive in 2010.
''The family has been more or less holding our breath wondering if she was ever going to pay for this,''' Brenda Bagwell, Goodwin's sister, told AL.com.
''A sentence of only five years was a slap in the face and then when she ran it was unbelievable.'''
Bill Veitch, chief deputy district attorney in Jefferson County's Bessemer Division, said: ''They are likely going to send her directly to prison.
''Whether or not there will be other charges, I don't know yet.''
Vietch said he found out about the capture and immediately called Bagwell in Florida. ''She was really happy. I got really close to the victim's family and they are really good people.
''Brenda was active in coming here often. She's a remarkable person in that she drove back and forth (from Florida) I can't tell you how many times.''
Bagwell has said she hopes her family can begin to heal. ''There's not a day that has gone by that I have not thought about that person,'' she said of Miller.
''She took away a brother I was very close to. My mother is 87 years old and she was very close to him. It's been a tough few years. He was a good brother and son and we miss him really bad.
"I would like to say she's not worth my thoughts anymore and I don't know I'll ever be able to forgive her,''' Bagwell said, ''but I hope she's going through her own hell right now.''
