The murder of Freddie Farah
Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida · 1974
Overview
Freddie Farah, 34, was shot in the head on May 22, 1974 while working the counter of the Grand Park Food Store, the grocery he owned on Kings Road in Jacksonville, Florida. A teenage gunman had carried a box of cake mix, a can of frosting and a soda to the counter, announced a hold-up and fired once when Farah moved, then ran without taking anything. Technicians lifted fingerprints from the cake mix and frosting and a partial palm print from the soda can, but nobody on file matched them, and a 1998 search of the federal fingerprint database found nothing either. In December 2016 the sheriff's cold-case detectives resubmitted the prints through the upgraded system and got a hit on Johnie Lewis Miller, who had been 17 in 1974 and had since become the New Orleans French Quarter human statue known as Uncle Louie. The fourteen-year-old customer who had watched the shooting was found, aged 57, and identified the sequence of events. Miller was arrested in the French Quarter on May 16, 2017. When the witness died suddenly in December 2017, a month before her deposition, prosecutors offered a plea in exchange for a face-to-face meeting with Farah's family. Miller pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on April 25, 2018, was sentenced to the 344 days he had served, and returned to New Orleans.
How it was solved
The case was solved by the same fingerprints that were lifted in 1974. The gunman had carried three items through the store with his bare hands and left them on the counter; technicians recovered fingerprints from the cake mix box and the frosting can and a partial palm print from the soda can. In 1974 a latent print could only be compared by hand against cards already on file, and no card matched. In 1998, at the urging of Farah's son, the prints were entered into the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System without result. In December 2016, after the son happened to meet the cold-case sergeant at a restaurant, two cold-case detectives pulled the file and resubmitted the prints through the much-improved system, which returned a match to Johnie Lewis Miller on December 28, 2016. The sheriff compared the change to televisions going from black-and-white to colour to high definition. A print on a can proved only that Miller had handled it, so the detectives traced the one surviving eyewitness, the fourteen-year-old who had been standing at the counter, and she recalled the gunman placing the items on the counter before he drew the gun. Miller's palm prints were not on file anywhere, so New Orleans police helped obtain a full set. He was arrested on May 16, 2017, denied being in the store, refused extradition and was returned to Jacksonville under a governor's warrant in July 2017. The witness died unexpectedly in December 2017, which made her statements inadmissible and left nobody who could tie the prints on the counter to the shooting. The state attorney offered a plea to second-degree murder and time served in exchange for a guilty plea and a meeting at which Miller answered the family's questions; he told them he had found the gun in a vacant lot, was a regular customer, had panicked when Farah lunged, and had thrown the gun onto a train.
Sources
- Oldest cold case solved with arrest in decades old murder, JSO says (May 24, 2017)
“He said Miller's prints were lifted from the items he left on the counter when he ran out of the store after the shooting, but it wasn't until the case was reviewed again, beginning in December 2016, that the prints were connected to Miller through the technological improvements in the database.”
- Jacksonville cold case killer released after pleading guilty (April 26, 2018)
“Her testimony was the only thing that could link Miller's prints to the murder. It was essential to the case.”
- Jacksonville detectives open up after cold case killer freed (April 27, 2018)
“He was identified through latent prints. We had evidence at the scene. There were prints taken back in 1974. Most of the items I re-submitted tested again with today's current technology.”
- Shot him and ran, teen witnesses said of gunman in 1974 Jacksonville slaying (May 25, 2018)
“It looked like Mr. Fred moved his hand and the man shot him. The man was holding the gun with both hands.”
- Mother, son find relief with arrest in 43-year-old murder (June 7, 2017)
“And I told her, until they tell me to stop asking and quit coming around, that I would continue to ask.”
- Son of man slain in 1974: Chance for justice long time coming (July 27, 2017)
“There was no match at the time, but on Dec. 28, 2016, the fingerprints came back as a match for Miller, and he was eventually arrested in New Orleans in May.”
- Son waits 43 years to see father's accused killer in court (August 17, 2017)
“The wheels of justice turn slow, very slow. But they do turn.”
- Uncle Louie pleads guilty in Florida cold case murder, is released from jail (April 25, 2018)
“Those items were a box of cake mix, an opened soda and a can of cake frosting, according to records provided by the 4th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office.”
- Fingerprints on kitchen items led to arrest of New Orleans' Uncle Louie in 1974 Florida murder (May 22, 2017)
“Investigators also recovered a partial palm print from a soft drink can left on Farah's store's counter. But Miller did not have palm prints on file with any local, state or national agency, the police account said.”
- French Quarter human statue Uncle Louie jailed in connection with deadly 1974 robbery in Florida (May 19, 2017)
“Witnesses said that Farah's killer immediately ran out of the store, leaving behind all of the store's cash and goods.”
- Witness to suspected killing by New Orleans performer Uncle Louie: We've got some closure now (May 20, 2017)
“The man lived his life, but Fred didn't get a chance to live his life.”
- Legal hurdles pave way to surprising end to murder case for French Quarter's Uncle Louie (April 25, 2018)
“Investigators ran fingerprints recovered from the items on the counter for possible matches in 1974 and 1998. Both of those tries came up empty.”
- Grateful: Released despite guilty plea in Florida murder, Uncle Louie returns to New Orleans (May 17, 2018)
“Everything is back to being a regular statue, a professional time-waster. That's what being a mime is.”
- Suspect in 1974 murder pleads guilty, family of slain father reacts (April 25, 2018)
“He was very remorseful. If he didn't tell me he was sorry 50 times, he probably said it 100 times.”
- They Agreed to Meet Their Mother's Killer. Then Tragedy Struck Again. (July 21, 2020)
“One day, when he was 17, he found a gun in a vacant lot. He went to Freddie's store, where he was a regular, grabbed the cake mix and frosting from a shelf, and shakily raised the handgun.”
- Cold Case Spotlight: Freddie Farah (April 17, 2017, updated May 2017)
“On May 16, 2017 the New Orleans Police Department arrested Johnie Miller, 60, on an out of state warrant for second-degree murder and attempted armed robbery in the 43-year-old cold case of Fuad Freddie Farah.”
- French Quarter street performer suspected killer in 43-year-old cold case (August 12, 2017)
“It took the victim's son running into the cold case sergeant at a restaurant to trigger pulling the file to see if there was any physical evidence that hadn't been tested or could be retested due to updated technology.”