Woman accused of controlling and abusing man found dead along Gaston County highway

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Nearly two years after Glen Miller was found dead along Highway 321 in Gaston County, prosecutors said new evidence shows he endured severe abuse, including being forced to live in a tent and being threatened with a hammer by a woman he trusted. 

Prosecutors believe Miller had some diminished mental capacity. He was estranged from his family, and police found evidence on a Shirley Dukes’ phone of abuse.

Dukes cried as she pled her case in court Tuesday.

“I did not lie about anything. I told them everything I knew,” she said.

Prosecutors said she kept Miller under her thumb before a driver found his body wrapped up and tossed onto some rocks in February 2024 on Highway 321 near Dallas.

“Essentially, taken control of Mr. Miller’s life,” prosector Sean Baetjer said.

Dukes made Miller live in a tent in the backyard of her Gastonia apartment, prosecutors said.

Police said they found videos of Miller on her cellphone at the home.

“(Dukes) made him apologize for being disgusting and ungrateful to her,” the prosecutor said.

Dukes and Miller were from Ohio, and she wanted people seeing the video to know that, prosecutors said.

“Telling everyone back in her old neighborhood to look what she is doing,” Baetjer said.

He said Dukes deleted the most disturbing video.

However, investigators were able to recover video they said showed Miller scrubbing the bathroom floor with Dukes standing over him with a hammer.

“She was telling him he better to do a good job, or she would hit him with the hammer again,” the Baetjar said.

They said his clothes in the videos are the same clothes they found on his body that was dumped along the highway. He also had the same gash on his head.

“He still had at the time of his death and maybe caused his death,” the prosecutor said.

Dukes called several people the evening after the videos were recorded, including a friend whose fingerprints were found on the tape used to wrap Miller’s body, police said.

“Your honor, everything that was said about me, it’s not true,” Dukes said. “It’s not true, your honor.”

It was clear prosecutors suspect Dukes killed Miller, but they only have enough information to charge her with assault with a deadly weapon.

The man whose fingerprints were found with the body was charged with concealing a dead body.

VIDEO: Homicide detectives identify body found along Gaston County highway

Homicide detectives identify body found along Gaston County highway

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