Manitou Springs graduate killed in Connecticut crash remembered for persistence, generosity

Abbey Soukup, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Updated ·2 min read

Feb. 24—Friends and family are mourning the death of 23-year-old Bramm Miller, a Manitou Springs High School graduate and Navy seaman apprentice, who died recently in a single-vehicle crash.

Miller died Feb. 18 in Waterford, Conn., along with Dylan Richey, 24, of Monument. The driver, 21-year-old Robert Sewell from Broomfield, is expected to survive.

Miller graduated in 2018 from Manitou Springs High School, where he played football and baseball. One of his favorite pastimes was hiking the Manitou Incline.

"He would always take a sweaty picture when he reached the top and call me to tell me how fast he did it," said Rylee Scroggs, Miller's girlfriend of more than two years.

Miller had long dreamed of following in his mother's footsteps in the Navy. Last May that dream came true, when he left for basic training at Naval Station Great Lakes near Chicago.

"Some obstacles stood in his way, but he was persistent and finally made it," Scroggs said. "He wanted a career that he was proud of, that would support his family and his future."

Miller graduated from basic training in August as part of the Honor Guard, surrounded by loved ones. He was then sent to the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn., where he was training to be a submarine sonar technician.

"I always asked where he wanted to be stationed, and he said that he fell in love with Groton, and it's where he wanted to stay," Scroggs said.

Miller's mother, Amanda Lahourcade, and Scroggs pointed to his generosity, recalling a time when Miller helped a homeless person get reunited with his dog, which was about to be euthanized at a local shelter.

"He paid the humane society's fee, and even held the dog for a few days while he waited for the dog to be picked up," Lahourcade said.

The family has set up a GoFundMe to cover family travel expenses to a memorial service in Connecticut, as well as a service to be held in Colorado at a later date.

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