The family of a Dallas Uber driver, allegedly murdered by his passenger, is speaking out about the beloved military veteran who "never met a stranger."
“For us, I think it’s still setting in. It still doesn’t feel real,” said the victim’s sister Melody Russell. “Unprovoked. Premeditated hatred and we just can’t understand it.”
Nothing about Joshua Miller’s final moments makes sense, so his family is focusing on what does come easy: how Miller lived his life.
“He wanted everyone to feel comfortable and laugh and smile and remember him,” she said. “We don’t want people to focus on just the hate, and it was horrible. But we want people to focus on what an amazing person was taken from us.”
Miller was 33 years old, a Navy veteran who loved his family and cat. He loved to play the ukulele and his job as a rideshare driver for Uber. The company confirmed Miller had been an Uber driver since 2015.
“He literally learned to play the ukulele, piano, harmonica all for his Uber riders,” Russell said. “He wanted them to feel joy. If he was driving someone and they said, ‘It’s my birthday,’ he was like, 'Man, I’m going to write a song for you right here on the spot.’"
In a cruel twist, his life would be taken on the job.
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Miller was brutally attacked inside his car and run over several times by a customer, police said.
Miller had just picked up an Amazon Fulfillment Center employee Friday at about 11 a.m., according to the probable cause affidavit.
His suspected murderer, Joshua Scott, is in jail. Scott is charged with capital murder and is being held on a $2 million bond. A motive is not yet known.
Scott does not have a past criminal record in Dallas County, according to online records.
Russell said Miller, who is biologically is her cousin, but both were raised as siblings, was always well prepared to stay safe on the job.
“He didn’t inherently see bad in people,” she said. “He was one of those people who just saw the good and thought everything would be OK.”
Asked what justice would look like, Russell responded, “we personally don’t think even the death penalty is justice.”
However, there is comfort in one grim detail released by police.
Miller’s personal car dash camera captured the vicious attack and led to Scott’s arrest.
“To know that the precautions Josh took to make himself safe is what is keeping everybody else safe from this monster, I guess that’s our only solace right now,” she said. "[Josh] just wanted to bring life and joy and that’s what we need to focus on. He was so joyful and so full of life and his last seconds were horrible, but the rest of his life, he’s going to leave a hole in a lot of people’s hearts.”
A spokesperson for Uber released the following statement Tuesday:
“What’s been reported is horrifying and our hearts go out to the family and loved ones of Joshua Miller. We’re grateful the suspect has been caught and thank the Dallas Police Department for their diligence with this investigation.”
Donations are being accepted on a Facebook fundraiser page for Miller's funeral arrangements and other expenses.
