Trever Miller, a 31-year-old White/Caucasian man, was fatally shot on the evening of March 5, 2024, at a trailer on Morris Road Southeast in the Yelm area of Thurston County, near Prairie Elementary School. Deputies were dispatched at about 6:20 p.m. after a friend of Miller called 911. People in the area reported hearing gunfire and seeing a light blue or silver older-model Honda Civic with aftermarket wheels leaving the scene.
Yelm police, Thurston County sheriff’s personnel, nearby residents and fire crews attempted lifesaving measures, but Miller died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds.
Investigators found four 9mm cartridge casings inside the trailer, located between a bed and the doorway, along with an intact bullet. An autopsy performed several days later determined that Miller had been struck four times, with wounds to his knee, left arm and abdomen. One of the abdominal bullets damaged an artery, and the pathologist concluded that the resulting blood loss was fatal, estimating that Miller died within roughly the period it took emergency responders to reach him. Court records also alleged that before law enforcement arrived, Miller’s friend concealed a firearm belonging to Miller because the friend believed doing so would protect Miller from possible legal trouble.
The investigation increasingly focused on the vehicle witnesses had seen leaving the area. On March 10, an anonymous tip reportedly directed a Yelm police officer to surveillance footage from a local deli mart. According to the probable-cause account, the footage showed Jeffrey Paul Anderson and two other people arriving there shortly before 6 p.m. on March 5 in a light blue Honda Civic with gold-colored rims. Investigators located additional surveillance footage showing what appeared to be the same Civic turning from Bald Hills Road onto Morris Road at approximately 6:08 p.m., shortly before deputies were sent to the shooting. Authorities subsequently appealed to the public for information about the Civic, and the vehicle was later located after an observant person alerted law enforcement.
Detectives developed a possible motive after interviewing an associate of Anderson on March 25. According to the probable-cause statement, the associate said a drug transaction had been arranged between Miller and Anderson several weeks before the killing and that Anderson allegedly failed to pay Miller, creating friction between them. The associate reportedly accompanied Anderson to Miller’s residence on March 5 believing Anderson intended to settle the disagreement. Instead, the associate alleged that Anderson pushed past him, placed a firearm against Miller’s cheek and demanded that Miller surrender what he had. Miller reportedly pushed the weapon away and moved backward toward the bedroom. The associate told investigators that Anderson then shouted words warning against spraying or firing something, followed by the sound of gunshots. Anderson and the associate allegedly fled in the light blue Civic, and the associate later identified Anderson in a photographic lineup. Investigators were also told by Miller’s partner and another person at the property that Miller had been involved in selling fentanyl and methamphetamine and had recently obtained a new supply of narcotics. Those statements appeared in the investigative record as witness allegations rather than independently established findings.
After approximately three weeks of investigation, Thurston County Sheriff’s detectives arrested Jeffrey Paul Anderson during the early morning hours of March 28 while executing a search warrant at a residence in Yelm. The operation involved assistance from the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, the Washington State Department of Corrections, Thurston County SWAT and Pierce County SWAT. Anderson was booked into the Thurston County jail on suspicion of second-degree murder. Prosecutors subsequently alleged that Anderson shot Miller four times during an attempted armed robbery and that Miller’s child was on the property when the shooting occurred. Court records also indicated that Anderson was already under Washington Department of Corrections community-custody supervision at the time. At his preliminary appearance, Judge Sharonda Amamilo ordered Anderson held without bail after prosecutors argued that the allegations and his criminal history presented a continuing danger to the community. A prosecution motion stated that his prior record included numerous felony and gross-misdemeanor convictions and said that, if convicted of second-degree murder, he potentially faced life imprisonment and a substantial fine.
The available reporting identifies Anderson as the person arrested and accused in Miller’s killing. Although investigators described other people who were with Anderson before or around the time of the shooting, the online sources located do not identify another person as having been charged with Miller’s murder. The associate who accompanied Anderson was presented in the probable-cause account primarily as a witness who supplied investigators with the alleged sequence of events. Publicly available reporting located for this synopsis documents Anderson’s arrest, the second-degree murder allegation and the initial no-bail order, but does not provide a reliably verified later disposition establishing a plea, trial verdict, conviction, sentence or dismissal. Anderson therefore remains described here as the accused defendant in the reported court proceedings rather than as a person proven guilty of Miller’s killing.
