Jonathan Mills

Serial Killer

Jonathan Mills: The Guilford, Connecticut Killer

Background

Jonathan Mills was born on July 22, 1973, and lived in the shoreline community of Guilford, Connecticut. By his late twenties, Mills had accumulated an extensive criminal history involving property crimes, theft and narcotics offenses. Court records indicated that he was arrested approximately twenty-three times between 1990 and 1999. He was familiar to local police officers and had repeatedly passed through Connecticut's criminal justice system before his offenses escalated to murder. Mills was heavily addicted to cocaine and heroin, and much of his criminal conduct was connected to his attempts to obtain money or property to support that addiction. During the final months of 2000, his behavior became increasingly violent. He murdered four people in two separate incidents in Guilford: a young woman he knew and, more than two months later, his aunt and her two small children. Although the final three victims were killed during one attack, the earlier murder of Mindy Leigh made Mills a multiple murderer whose crimes occurred on separate occasions.

The Murder of Mindy Leigh

Mindy Elizabeth Leigh was a 20-year-old woman who had moved to Connecticut from Texas and was living in the Guilford area. She knew Mills socially, and early reports described the two as having dated or maintained an intimate relationship. On October 11, 2000, Leigh was with Mills near the Guilford Fairgrounds when an encounter between them turned violent. Mills later admitted that he strangled Leigh following a sexual encounter and an argument. After killing her, he concealed her remains near the fairgrounds. Leigh was reported missing, but investigators initially had no body and no complete explanation for her disappearance. For more than two months, her family was left without answers while Mills continued living in the area. The truth about Leigh's disappearance emerged only after Mills was taken into custody for an unrelated triple homicide in December. While confessing to those killings, he told detectives that he had also killed Leigh and described where he had hidden her body. Officers went to the location he identified and recovered her remains, confirming that the missing-person investigation was a homicide case. ...

Confirmed Victims: (4)

Mindy Leigh Age: (19), Date of Death: 2000-10

Killer of 4 and cellmate to testify against suspected New Britain ...