Army specialist Ivette Davila was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole Tuesday for the 2008 murder of husband-and-wife soldiers and the kidnapping of their baby.
Staff Sgt. Timothy Miller, son of Tami Gray of Gardnerville, was a 1998 graduate of Douglas High School. Gray is raising their daughter Kassidy, 3.
On Tuesday, the family of Timothy Miller thanked military prosecutors for their efforts to have Davila sentenced on Tuesday.
Reno resident Greg Taflinger, Miller's brother, said the closing arguments by prosecutors were amazing.
"They pushed through to the end and got the result that we really wanted to see," Taflinger said. "They worked hard and they were wonderful. We couldn't have made it without them."
Taflinger said the military treated the family of Timothy and Randi Miller well during Davila's court-martial.
"The military was extravagant to the family," he said. "We are thankful to our prosecutors, who pushed the closing arguments. They were absolutely amazing. They really brought justice and dignity back to us and our
family."
He said the conclusion of the court-martial will allow family members to start living the rest of their lives.
"We were released with today with happy smiles," he said. "We were happy to take this time to bring justice for Tim and Randi, and now we can continue on with our lives and continue raising our little girl, Kassidy."
Davila could have received the death penalty during the court-martial hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State. But on Monday Davila admitted to shooting the couple and taking their baby. Under a plea deal, Davila would not face the death penalty.
Timothy Miller joined the military straight out of high school. He became an operating room specialist and served in the Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where he met Randi, and then served in South Korea before being stationed at Fort Lewis in 2003.
Sgt. Randi Miller, from New Hampshire, graduated from George Washington University and became a lab technician for the Army. The couple married, moved to Washington, then went to Iraq.
In 2006, Timothy and Randi Miller served in the 47th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq. Timothy Miller earned the Army Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal for his service.
On March 3, 2008, the Army posthumously promoted Miller to staff sergeant, a status that will be reflected on all military documents and his burial marker.
The night of the shooting, prosecutors said, Davila met the Millers at a Tacoma nightclub and went back to their home, where she shot Randi Miller twice in the head, then shot Timothy Miller four times as he showered.
Court papers say she took the baby with her to a home improvement store where Davila bought muriatic acid and poured it on the bodies in the bathtub "to get rid of them."
Returning to the barracks with the baby, Davila told another soldier she had "hurt people bad."
At a hearing last year Davila's lawyers raised doubts about her mental competency. They said she reported hearing strange voices and seeing flashes of light.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.