This story originally appeared in the August 4, 2018 edition of the Ames Tribune.

AMES, IOWA — Kristene Feldhaus didn’t know much about her dad.

As she grew up in Ames, her dad left her, her mother and the state, rather than face charges of allegedly robbing a bank in Story County. For more than 30 years, she had no idea where her dad was, or even if he was still alive.

But after getting her DNA tested, and despite hurdles from local law enforcement, Feldhaus found out her dad, James Wray Miller, died trying to save the lives of people drowning in the Sacramento River more than three decades ago.

A Robbery In Randall

Miller had a long rap sheet developing from the time he turned 18. According to various newspaper accounts, he was caught with marijuana at the State Fairgrounds and on two occasions struck police officers and ran from custody.

But his most major alleged crime had to do with a bank robbery at the former Randall-Story State Bank in 1986.

According to case files, FBI officers arrested Miller in connection to the robbery on Aug. 13 of that year. He was released by a federal court in Cedar Rapids on his own recognizance.

The case file later states that Miller forged one of his parents’ checks for $600 on Dec. 5 of that year. The next day, he had an argument with them and left.

Feldhaus said she doesn’t have enough details to know if her father ran because he did rob the bank, or for some other reason.

She was three years old when he disappeared.

“For 30 years, the whole family pretty much had no idea where dad went to,” she said. “There was never any communication, no phone calls, nothing.”

Feldhaus said her dad got “glowing reviews” from her peers when he was sober, but he was a severe alcoholic known to start brawls while drinking.

He also knew how to hitchhike, and was known to hitchhike to California to see his brother, a Marine stationed there.

A Drawbridge Accident in Sacramento

According to an archived story from the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, a drawbridge operator was drunk on the job on Sept. 9, 1987, when he raised the bridge for an oncoming boat on the Sacramento River. He didn’t activate stoplights for oncoming traffic, and a truck plummeted into the river.

The driver, Patti Fink, 51, was an Alcoholics Anonymous counselor. She drowned in the incident. At the time, authorities couldn’t identify the man she was transporting in her car, but a woman riding in the truckbed was rescued.

According to a statement from the Yolo County coroner’s office released this week, divers recovered a body weeks later of a “transient” believed to have jumped into the river to help the people trapped in the vehicle.

Feldhaus said the transient’s body had an ID on it for Daniel Joseph Reed, and authorities cremated the body.

Reed’s family heard about the incident and called Daniel, who confirmed he was very much alive. They alerted the Yolo County Coroner’s Office about the botched identification, but not before the ashes took another adventure.