Kyle police hope that the man accused of murdering a Lehman High School graduate last month will be brought back to Hays County within the next 30 days to face justice.
A capital murder warrant has been issued against 20-year-old Devonte Miller of Kyle in connection with the shooting death of 19-year-old Ben Verse, who was found dead in a vehicle in the parking lot of a closed business along Interstate 35 early on Sept. 25.
An autopsy revealed Verse had been shot more than once, Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett said.
Miller has also been named as a suspect in a shooting in San Marcos Sept. 24 in which an 18-year-old woman was struck multiple times on Mill Street but survived. The warrant in that case alleges aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Miller was arrested in Acadia Parish, Louisiana the night of Sept. 25 on charges that included evading arrest. Barnett said since the San Marcos Police warrant was the first to be issued, Miller’s continued incarceration is based on that warrant.
“We hand delivered our warrant to the Hays County Sheriff’s Office,” Barnett said. “He is going to eventually come back to Texas on the San Marcos charge, most likely picked up by a Hays County jail transport deputy and brought back … Once he returns here they will officially serve him with that arrest warrant.”
A charge of capital murder generally reflects that investigators believe the killing was committed in the course of another crime.
San Marcos Police, citing witnesses, said Miller fled the San Marcos scene in a 2010 Hyundai Genesis. Barnett said he was unaware of those reports, but that he believes the vehicle Miller was arrested in in Louisiana was the same he was driving when he allegedly killed Verse.
Verse graduated from Lehman High School in 2018. Miller had no prior criminal record in Hays County.
Barnett said that although he believes Miller will be brought back in 30 days, that’s “not set in stone.”
“Things could change that,” he said. “The charges in Louisiana are still pending on him.”
