The yellow rubber casing was darkened with dirt. The screen was cracked. Brown stains had hardened between the buttons and along the ridges of the case. The device’s green indicator light still blinked. It was on, still recording coordinates.
The brown substance was not mud.
It was blood.
Too much blood to be explained by the superficial abrasions on Tiffany’s hands.
She was transported to Cody Regional Medical Center in Wyoming. On August 22, she regained consciousness. Two police officers guarded her hospital room while reporters crowded the corridor outside.
Detective Mark Golden of the Park County Sheriff’s Office and Special Agent Sarah Vance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the first interview. It lasted nearly 4 hours.
Tiffany recounted what she described as a nightmare.
On August 13, 2016, at approximately 4:30 p.m., she and her husband, 31-year-old architect Richard Miller, had crossed into Gardiner, Montana, near the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park. At 5:15 p.m., they checked into the Elk Antler Lodge Motel. The motel administrator later described them as calm, smiling, excited tourists.
On August 14 at 7:40 a.m., surveillance footage showed Richard filling their silver Ford Explorer with gas and purchasing two large coffees and a six-pack of water. At 8:45 a.m., their SUV arrived at the Slough Creek Trail parking lot in the Lamar Valley.
In the visitor log, Richard wrote the date, departure time of 9:00 a.m., party of 2, destination campsite 2 ES1, and planned return date of August 16, 2016.
According to Tiffany, the fatal mistake occurred on August 15 around noon. Richard had wanted to photograph an unnamed creek off the official Slough Creek Trail. They ventured approximately 1 mile into the forest when they smelled smoke.
In a hidden clearing, they discovered what she described as an illegal camp—dirty tarp structures, animal bones, scattered garbage. Before they could retreat, a white man in his 50s or 60s with a gray beard and “crazy eyes” emerged, holding a hunting rifle with a scope. He wore worn military camouflage.
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