Brutal double murderer dies in prison

A Kalispell man who brutally murdered a mother and daughter on Christmas Day 2010 died Sunday night in a Shelby prison.

Tyler Michael Miller, 38, was found unresponsive in his cell at 9:26 p.m., according to a news release from the Crossroads Correctional Center. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at the Marias Medical Center. 

Crossroads, which is a private facility, didn’t indicate a cause of death. Toole County Coroner Dan Whitted was just starting work on Miller’s case when he was contacted Monday afternoon by the Daily Inter Lake.

“We are just doing the autopsy now,” Whitted said. “It’s a presumed suicide, but we haven’t started that.”

Miller was serving two life sentences for the 2010 murders of his ex-girlfriend Jaimi Hurlbert, 35, and her 15-year-old daughter, Alyssa Burkett. He was sentenced in February 2012. 

More than 1,000 people attended the funeral for Hurlbert and Burkett.

Hurlbert’s father and Burkett’s grandfather, Butch Hurlbert of Kalispell, reacted to the news of Miller’s death with a feeling of closure. He said that his other daughter, Jennifer, worried about the future even with Miller in jail.

“My daughter’s always had a bit of fear that he might escape and try to finish wiping out the family,” Butch Hurlbert said. “And now she doesn’t have to worry about that again. It pretty much puts a closer on the whole thing.”

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan initially sought the death penalty for Miller but rescinded it after Miller changed his plea to guilty.

According to court documents, Miller and Hurlbert broke up shortly before Christmas 2010. Abuse, fueled by drugs, escalated in the following days. Miller threatened Hurlbert’s life through emails. On Christmas Eve 2010, a friend called 911 after Miller attempted to break down Hurlbert’s door.

In another incident, Miller showed up at The Scoreboard where Hurlbert was working. Another employee said Miller was threatening to kill Hurlbert’s friend and have a shootout with police.

On Christmas Day, Miller brought a .45-caliber handgun to his mother’s house west of Kalispell to await the arrival of Hurlbert, who would be picking up their infant daughter.

Witnesses recalled hearing Hurlbert scream “Oh my God” followed by the sound of gunshots.

Miller shot Hurlbert twice and Burkett once. 

He hit Hurlbert in the face with the butt of his gun, splitting her lip completely in two. 

When a mortally wounded Burkett started screaming, “Mom! Mom!” Miller kicked her in the face.

Hurlbert died at the scene and Burkett died later at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Miller then stole Hurlbert’s vehicle and fled the scene before abandoning it and stealing another car, which he drove to a vacant trailer home west of Kalispell, where he was located and arrested.

After his arrest, Miller gave statements of joy about the murders. 

“I’ll do it again if I don’t get the death sentence,” he reportedly told police.

“I probably pulled off the most evil, manipulative pathetic thing today, but I feel good about it,” Miller said. “I wish I felt bad, I wish to God I [expletive] felt bad, but I am [expletive] happier than hell. I prayed to God that I could pull off something like this.”

Whitted, the Toole County coroner, said that he may be able to determine a cause of death by this morning. 

Butch Hurlbert said that a suicide determination wouldn’t serve justice. Just four years after losing two family members, the pain is still evident.

“If he took his own life, I’m disappointed,” he said. “If somebody else took his life, then I’m a little more pleased, because then he would get to know some of the fear that went through my daughter and granddaughter. And that’s straight-up the way I feel about it.”

Reporter Matt Hudson may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mhudson@dailyinterlake.com.