Topekan Stephanie Miller asked Lois Brown, 92, for $1 before stabbing her, affidavit says

Stephanie L. Miller asked 92-year-old Lois Brown for "a dollar" before stabbing her to death Aug. 13 just outside a southeast Topeka church, says the charging affidavit in the first-degree murder case against Miller, 43.

Shawnee County District Court Magistrate Judge Christopher J. Turner ordered the affidavit made public Wednesday after it was requested by The Capital-Journal, provided it contained redactions requested by the office of Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay. Those largely involved blacking out statements Miller made to police.

Shawnee County District Court Judge Jessica Heinen ordered last month that Miller undergo a competency/psychiatric evaluation in the case.

What do authorities say happened at Ebenezer Baptist Church?

The seven-page affidavit said Topeka police were called at 12:34 p.m. Aug. 13 to Ebenezer Baptist Church, 2535 S.E. Ohio Ave., where Brown had come to church alone and, as usual, sat in the back during the service.

Miller was brought to the church by a witness, whose name was redacted from the affidavit.

It said the witness told police Miller spent time in various locations, including rummaging through the kitchen in the basement, during the service.

Someone apparently went through two drawers containing kitchen utensils that were left open in the church's kitchen, the affidavit said.

At the end of the service, it said, the witness and Brown saw Miller sitting near the church's exit, where Miller normally waited for the witness when they left the church on Sundays.

"(The witness) told investigators she and Brown saw Stephanie Miller sitting and as they were walking out of the church Stephanie asked Brown for 'a dollar' twice," the affidavit said. "(The witness) told investigators she told Stephanie, 'We are not doing that' or 'No.'"

The three then left the church, where the unidentified witness said she saw and approached members of her family while Brown walked to her truck, the affidavit said.

What did Lois Brown say after she was stabbed?

"This is the last time anyone saw Miller and Brown together, but a short time later people heard Brown scream, and parishioners from the church went to her truck, and found she was suffering from the stab wound that caused her death," the affidavit said. "Although no one saw the stabbing itself, witnesses reported to investigators as they were rendering aid to Brown, she told them 'She stabbed me.' Brown did not identify who 'she' was."

Brown had been stabbed once in the chest using what appeared to be "a paring or steak type knife," the affidavit said.

It said Miller fled on foot while dropping some of her personal belongings, "as well as a dollar she said Brown gave her."

"Investigators have also located 'Facebook Live' videos on a Facebook account that belongs to Stephanie MIller which show her fleeing the area of the church," the affidavit said.

Miller, who was at times homeless, needed help for mental health problems but didn't get it, The Capital-Journal was told last month by Khalani Britt.

Britt said she and the church's pastor, the Rev. T.L. Parker, followed Miller in a vehicle and directed police to her. Britt, who helps run a ministry that helps the homeless, said she sees Miller as also being a victim.

Police arrested Miller about three blocks from the church.

Miller was being held Wednesday in the Shawnee County Jail on a $1 million bond on charges of one count each of intentional or premeditated first-degree murder, first-degree murder involving unknown circumstances and the mistreatment of an adult or elder person involving physical injury, confinement or punishment, jail records said.

Judge Heinen has scheduled a scheduling conference in the case to take place at 4 p.m. Oct. 5.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topekan asked Lois Brown, 92, for $1 before stabbing her: Affidavit