District Attorney Marion Ryan called it an “unspeakable tragedy”
7:30am, April 18, 2021 — A jogger encounters a young African American female hanging from a tree adjacent to a popular walking path at 34 West Main Street in Hopkinton, MA. The path borders Icehouse Pond, located in the Berry Acres Conservation Area. The decedent is identified as Mikayla Miller, age 16. She was a student at Hopkinton High School. Mikayla lived with her mother, Calvina Strothers, in the Freedom Way apartment complex nearby.
A subsequent press release by District Attorney Marion Ryan on May 4th, more than two weeks after her body was discovered, reveals that Mikayla’s backpack was found nearby, along with her computer and cell phone. Health data on her phone indicated that she had walked 1,316 steps during the hour preceding her death. This is the approximate distance from her home to the site of her death. Phone records indicate she called another female before leaving her home. There were no signs of struggle.
DA Ryan also noted that Hopkinton police had responded to an altercation involving Mikayla on the previous day. On April 17, at approximately 4pm, Mikayla had been involved in an altercation with four persons at the public clubhouse in her building complex on Freedom Way in Hopkinton. According to DA Ryan, two males and two females confronted Mikayla in the clubhouse while a third female remained in a vehicle parked outside the building.
According to publicly available information, the Hopkinton Police Department Public Police Log records a 911 call placed at 4:21pm from a person being harassed by a male party on Freedom Way. According to the log, Officers Aaron O’Neil and Jessica C. Ferreira responded to the call. The log indicates that officers “checked & spoke with” the parties involved.
According to DA Ryan, when Mikayla returned home, her mother called the Hopkinton Police to report that her daughter “had been jumped” by a group of white assailants — two young men, and two young women. This call took place at 7:20pm. During the subsequent police interview at the family’s residence, Mikayla reported that she had been pushed and punched in the face by one of the males and one of the females. Officers noted blood on her lip consistent with the assault described. Following the attack, Mikayla reported to police that she and the four individuals remained at the clubhouse for another 20 minutes.
At 7:43pm Hopkinton police went the Hopkinton residence of one of the females named in Mikayla’s interview. According to DA Ryan, police took a statement from her and the other female present in the home. It is unclear whether both females at the Hopkinton residence were present in the clubhouse during the assault. It is possible that one of the young women interviewed by officers at the Hopkinton residence was the third female party waiting in a car outside the building. No arrests were made.
Following the interview with the two females, Hopkinton Police returned to the clubhouse to assess damages described in the statements. The following morning, they returned a third time, to collect video surveillance tapes for evidence. More recently, a NBC10 Boston news report revealed that Hopkinton Police had been unable to retrieve key video evidence because the video surveillance system at the Freedom Way clubhouse had been malfunctioning for several weeks.
Further details of DA Ryan’s May 4 press conference disclosed that Mikayla was last seen by her mother between 9:30–9:45pm . Phone records indicate that she called a different female — other than one of the three females noted during the assault — at 9pm. Mikayla’s body was discovered the following day by a jogger at 7:45am. She was hanging from a tree branch by a black leather belt on a popular trail near Icehouse Pond at 34 West Main Street.
Police have since discovered, through interviews and forensic data, that the location of both females interviewed by Hopkinton Police, from 8:43pm to 5:48am, is known. According to DA Ryan, this information does not involve 34 West Main Street.
Both males, and the third female — described as a family member, possibly a sister — traveled west along I-90 after meeting with Mikayla. EZ-Pass tolling data indicates that their vehicle entered the highway system at 8:08pm. The DA described the occupants of the vehicle as “not from Hopkinton”. At 8:58pm the same vehicle exited I-90 at Charleton. At 9:06pm the occupants of the vehicle were observed eating Wendy’s takeout in the parking lot. The third female is subsequently described by DA Ryan as being at home by unnamed witnesses for the remainder of the evening.
Without further identification of an alibi for the two male suspects — beyond having take out at Wendy’s around 9pm — DA Ryan has left a gaping hole in her assertion that the location of all parties involved in the altercation with Mikayla are known. According to Google maps, it takes approximately 34 minutes to drive from the Wendy’s in Sturbridge to the scene of the crime. Any member of the party in the vehicle could have easily returned to Hopkinton shortly before 10pm.
In fact, if DA Ryan’s assertion that Mikayla was last seen by her mother, at home, between 9:30 and 9:45pm is accurate, then it’s entirely possible that Mikayla, and the occupants of the vehicle that traveled to Sturbridge, could have crossed paths on West Main Street near the exit from 495 South just before 10pm. If the distance recorded by her cell phone is accurate — 1,316 steps, or approximately a half mile — it would take 8 to 10 minutes for Mikayla to arrive at the site where she was found. These rough timelines offer the possibility that Mikayla may have come in contact with some of her assailants a second time.
A timeline constructed of three consecutive entries in the Hopkinton Police Department Public Police Log is also quite troubling. Mikayla may have never walked the entire distance from her home on Freedom Way to the Icehouse Pond on West Main Street.
On April 18, at 12:02am, the Hopkinton Police Department Public Police Log records a large gathering of 40–50 cars in a parking lot on Parkwood Drive. It is unclear whether this event is related to Mikayla Miller’s death, but the proximity of the parking lot to the decedent’s home, the tree from which she was found hanging, and the time of day ascribed to her disappearance and death, certainly warrants further investigation.
Did Mikayla attend a high school party informally arranged in a parking lot near her home on Saturday night? Were people drinking? Did news of her encounter with the white teenagers who assaulted her precede her arrival? Did one, or all members of the group who drove to Wendy’s in Sturbridge, return to Hopkinton to attend the party? The police report simply states that “all left the area”.
The second entry records two disabled motor vehicles on West Main Street at 1:15am. Officer Ryan T. Polselli responded. Dispatcher remarks indicate that the incident was cleared — “parties are on their way”. In light of the events surrounding Mikayla’s death, this incident needs to be revisited by Hopkinton Police. The unusual coincidence of two disabled vehicles coming to the attention to the police on the very same street described by DA Ryan as the discovery site of Mikayla’s dead body must be investigated.
The third incident occurred at 1:49am. Described as suspicious activity, the public police log records a response to a call describing what sounded like glass breaking and two subjects outside. Officer Aaron O’Neil and Sergeant William Burchard reported a female party smashing plates on Main Street at 1:49am. Mikayla’s body was found on West Main Street, a continuance of Main Street, approximately 6 hours later.
Clearly, the District Attorney and the Hopkinton Police have their hands full. Mikayla’s lifeless body was discovered about a mile from the start line of the fabled Boston Marathon. The explosive nature of a modern day lynching, and its possible coverup, in a northern blue state like Massachusetts, contains enough dry powder to be heard around the world.
A final note: Mikayla’s mother, Calvina Strothers, and Monica Cannon-Grant, a Boston-based civil rights advocate, have been tirelessly campaigning for a special investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mikayla’s death since late April. Clearly, the documented assault of a 16 year old Black girl by 5 white teenagers just hours prior to her death merits concern. Readers can support a full investigation of Mikayla’s suspicious death at this GoFundMe address: https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-investigate-my-daughters-death?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer
I would also advise anyone interested in this story to read the work of fellow diarist Nancy Groutsis. She has been tirelessly advocating for a broader investigation of this highly suspicious death. Kudos to Nancy for sticking with the story despite dozens of negative comments and personal attacks from a Hopkinton resident.
Print Resources:
April 16–20, 2021: Hopkinton Police Department Public Police Log: Link
April 20, 2021: https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/news/2021/04/20/das-office-says-hopkinton-teens-death-not-considered-suspicious/7299302002/
May 4, 2021: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/05/04/metro/black-teenage-girl-was-found-dead-hopkinton-her-family-seeks-answers-rumors-outrage-mount/
May 5, 2021: https://patch.com/massachusetts/holliston-hopkinton/mikayla-miller-autopsy-make-take-months
May 9, 2021: https://hopkintonindependent.com/mikayla-miller-update-more-details-about-investigation-revealed/
Video Resources:
May 4, 2021: Middlesex County DA Ryan’s Press Conference: Link
May 4, 2021: WGBH/Greater Boston: Jim Braude interviews Monica Cannon-Grant and DA Marion Ryan. Link
May 4, 2021: Hopkinton Select Board convenes emergency meeting to discusses death of Mikayla Miller and how to prepare for BLM rally in Hopkinton on May 6, 2021. Video also includes debriefing and Q&A with DA Ryan. Link