Authorities charge paroled burglar in editor's death

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. -- Authorities on Sunday charged a recently paroled burglar with first-degree murder in the rape and slaying of a former writer and editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Brian Michael Walters, 27, was charged in the stabbing death of Nancy Miller, 59. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch said authorities did not know if Miller and Walters knew one another.

Officials said Walters had been staying with his parents in the subdivision where Miller lived.

Walters also was charged with armed criminal action, first-degree burglary and rape in warrants filed Sunday, according to the Post-Dispatch Web site. He was being held without bond in the county Justice Center in Clayton.

McCulloch said the suspect had been serving an unspecified term for burglary and was released from a Missouri prison about 10 days before.

The charges said Walters raped Miller, but McCulloch said officials do not know if that was the motive for entering her home. Officials made no mention of anything being taken.

The prosecutor said a neighbor provided information that led to Walters' arrest.

Miller, who retired from the newspaper in June, was found dead about 6 p.m. Friday, after friends and relatives became concerned at not being able to reach her.

Miller had been at the Post nearly 30 years as a copy editor, St. Charles bureau chief, suburban editor, assistant metro editor and Lifestyle editor. Since retirement, she had been working with journalism students at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park.