Judge mulls bond of cold case murder suspect after claiming his wife fell in a hole and died

DOTHAN, Ala (WDHN) — A Dothan man charged in the 22-year-old murder of his wife wants his bond lowered after claiming his wife died in an accident.

Dwight Mills is charged with one count of murder and one count of abuse of a corpse in the 2001 murder of his wife, Sharon Mills. Her case went cold for 22 years, but in a recent review of old case files in the Dothan Police Department, investigators uncovered new leads.

After his arrest, Mills was booked on a combined $1,510,000 bond, and his attorneys want it lowered, claiming it is “unreasonable.”

Dothan Police Investigators say Mills killed his wife in Houston County before driving to Bonifay, Florida, and dumping her body in a ditch just after Christmas in 2001.

However, Mills has a different story.

During a bond hearing, it was revealed Mills is claiming he and his wife were driving to Florida to buy alcohol on a Sunday, and when they stopped for her to use the bathroom, she fell in a hole.

According to Mills, he tried to help his wife out of the hole, but she wouldn’t go with him, so he left her.

Investigators say that on the way back from Florida, Mills was involved in a traffic accident and received a DUI charge, and when officers began questioning Mills about his drinking and a red purse they found in the backseat, he began crying and told officers it was his wife’s who went missing eight days prior. Police say blood was found in Mills’ backseat along with the purse.

A Holmes County inmate cleanup crew found her body in a ditch in February 2002.

Prosecutors are fighting against a lower bond, saying Mills is a flight risk and spent the last 22 years lying about what happened to his wife.

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