Arrest made in 2002 cold case 

cbreaux@kentsmith.biz

Over twenty years ago, a 49-year-old woman named Sharon Mills who was reported missing in Dothan was found dead in a ditch in Holmes County by a prison road crew.

On Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, her husband Dwight Morgan Mills, 69, was arrested by the Dothan Police Department and members of the  United States Marshal Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force for alleged murder and abuse of a corpse in relation to the case.

The arrest came after the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office shared records related to the incident with the DPD.

“The autopsy was done. The doctor could not give us a cause of death at that time,” Holmes County Sheriff John Tate said. “She was reported missing in Dothan on December 30, 2001. It was about six weeks there from when she was reported that she was found.”

A news release said the “investigation stalled” after “all leads had been exhausted in the case,” prior to the arrest.

“In a periodic review of the old case file, new information on the case was uncovered, which led  investigators to reinvestigate all aspects of the case,” the DPD’s statement said. “With fresh eyes, current investigators  worked new and old leads, tips, and processed several pieces of evidence to solve the case. As a  result, investigators developed enough information to obtain a warrant of arrest for Dwight Mills in connection with the murder of Sharon Mills.”

The DPD thanked HCSO, Florida  Department of Law Enforcement, and the United States Marshals Service for “their assistance in  the investigation and arrest.”

Tate said the area Sharon Mills’ body was found is “just north of Bonifay.”

“It’s a commonly traveled road,” Tate said. “She was just off the edge of the road there in a ditch.”

Tate said he does not expect to be extensively involved further in the case since it is being handled by DPD.

“They have jurisdiction, as far as the homicide goes,” Tate said. “It depends on what information they have, whether our state attorney down here will pick up on anything, as far as dumping the corpse in a ditch.”

Families tend to want to get answers after a loved one is killed, Tate said.

“It’s a common thing to want to know, if someone dies, why and how,” he said. “Hopefully Dothan coming forward with this arrest will answer some of those questions for the family.”