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| Frazier Glenn Cross (aka Glenn Miller) |
Frazier Glenn Cross has long been a controversial figure in southwest Missouri. He blanketed southwest Missouri in the 2000's with a newspaper he operated that spewed hate filled rants against Jews and people of color.
Cross/Miller, who lives in between Aurora and Marionville, is the former head of the KKK and is known throughout the Ozarks as Glenn Miller. He faces three counts of murder after he allegedly opened fire at a Jewish community center and a Jewish run assisted living center near Kansas City on the eve of Passover.
It appears federal murder charges will be filed against the 73 year-old man as federal prosecutors say they are pursuing the matter as a religiously motivated "hate crime."
Those charges would apply if the murders Cross/Miller is accused of were motivated by the victims' "race, color, religion or national origin."
The Jewish community center was a hub of activity on Sunday as rehearsals ls for a performance of "To Kill A Mockingbird" were scheduled and auditions for "KC Superstar", an American Idol type competition to find the best high school singer in the Kansas City area, were set to begin.
Sixty nine year-old William Corporon had driving his fourteen year-old grandson, Reat Underwood, to the center to audition for the singing competition. They died after they were ambushed in the parking. They were both Methodist.
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| William Corporon and Reat Underwood |
Two other people that Cross/Miller shot at were not injured.
After shooting Corporon and Underwood, Cross/Miller then went to the Village Shalom senior living facility, where he shot and killed Terri Hastings LaManno who was going to visit her mother. She was Catholic.
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| Terri LaMano |
Last week the Anti-Defamation League said it warned of the increased possibility of violent attacks against community centers in the coming weeks, "which coincide both with the Passover holiday and Hitler's birthday on April 20, a day around which in the United States has historically been marked by extremist acts of violence and terrorism."
Police in Overland Park say Miller is the founder and former Grand Dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Patriot Party. Both organizations operated as paramilitary groups in the 1980s, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups.
The Center, which has kept tabs on Cross/Miller for several years, says he spent time in federal prison for plotting to kill the founder of the center and for planning various robberies.
In 2010, Cross/Miller ran for the U.S. Senate for Missouri as a write in candidate. He released several hate filled commercials in Missouri that the Missouri Broadcasters Association found offensive. The FCC sided with the Missouri Broadcasters Association and said broadcast media outlets did not have to run the ads.
After Cross/Miller was arrested on Sunday (04-13-14) he was shouting "Heil Hitler" in the back of a patrol car. The FBI and other agencies are scouring Cross/Miller's compound near Aurora for additional evidence.
Federal authorities will not confirm if Cross/Miller was in the Witness Protection Program. However, records suggest that he was given a new social security number and relocated after he spent time in prison and agreed to testify against associates in paramilitary and white supremacist movements.
The 1987 sentencing memorandum recommended that Miller enter witness protection, according to Chris Shields, a domestic terrorism researcher.
In Cross/Miller's 1999 autobiography, "A White Man Speaks Out," he wrote. "I was to plead guilty to one count of felony possession of a hand grenade and answer all questions posed to me by authorities. In return, they would recommend a 5-year prison sentence, immunity from any further prosecution by either state or federal authorities, and entrance in to the Federal Witness Protection Program which included the financial support of my family while I served my sentence."
Cross/Miller was in fear for his life following his release in 1990. In 1988 he testified at a sedition trial in Fort Smith, Arkansas in which 14 white supremacists were accused of plotting to kill a federal judge and an FBI agent. All of the accused were acquitted.
After he was released from prison, Miller first moved to Iowa before relocating to Missouri.
Cross/Miller's son, Jesse Miller, was involved in a shootout with police that led to his death on March 28, 2008. Jesse Miller was involved in an accident with Joseph Rich near Marionville. When Rich stopped, Miller gunned him down. Jesse Miller then shot Marionville police officer Andy Clark, who returned fire killing Miller. Clark suffered a shoulder wound in the shootout.
President Obama addressed the situation saying, “While we do not know all of the details surrounding today’s shooting, the initial reports are heartbreaking.
If Miller is convicted of a hate crime, under federal law, prosecutors could pursue the death penalty.
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