2 people are found murdered outside the Henry Doorly Zoo \u0026 Aquarium Michael Andersen, a 43-year-old Caucasian male, was found shot to death before dawn on July 22, 2010, just outside Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo near 10th Street and Bert Murphy Avenue. Security guards initially thought two people were sleeping on the grass, but on closer look they saw blood and flagged down police around 4:00 a.m. Officers arrived to find Andersen and 23-year-old Paige Miller lying in the grass with multiple gunshot wounds; both were declared dead at the scene.
Investigators said there were no signs of a struggle at the location and concluded both victims had been killed by gunfire. Detectives indicated the scene suggested the killer might have been someone the pair knew, and they worked the case by reconstructing each victim's life and movements in the hours leading up to the shootings. Andersen was identified in contemporaneous reporting as a freelance part-time mechanic, while Miller was a young mother; their bodies were found roughly 30 yards from the zoo's main entrance.
The double homicide remains unsolved. The Omaha Police Department's Cold Case Unit continues to highlight the case, and in 2021 authorities announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Despite renewed appeals through departmental features and local media reports no arrests have been made and no suspect has been named publicly.
Andersen's obituary published in the Omaha World-Herald confirms his death in Omaha in July 2010 and identifies him as Michael R. Andersen, age 43. That record, along with police summaries and subsequent news coverage, anchors the known facts of the case: two people shot, no struggle, and a lingering mystery that has resisted resolution for more than a decade.
