
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 14, 1991                   TAG: 9104140249
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D9   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Short

MAN GETS LIFE FOR `SAVAGE' SLAYING OF 8-YEAR-OLD GIRL

A man who beat and stomped to death an 8-year-old girl was sentenced to the maximum of life in prison by a judge who called the killing the most savage murder to come before her.

Robert A. Miller, 25, pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder in the Sept. 17 slaying of Destiny Souza. The child's body was found by her mother at the bottom of the basement stairs in her home. Miller had recently lived at the Souza home with his girlfriend, Destiny's aunt.

Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Johanna Fitzpatrick said Miller had no reason for killing the child, and that made the murder "even more frightening."

Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said it took the medical examiner three typewritten pages to list all the injuries Miller inflicted.

Miller, who will be eligible for parole in 13 years, apologized to Katie Souza, the victim's mother.

by CNB