Owner of $8,000-a-week Hamptons rental home where young Maryland sisters were killed in deadly blaze on final vacation with dying dad pleads GUILTY to homicide
The owner of a $1.8 million Hamptons vacation home where two sisters died after it went up in flames has pleaded guilty to two counts of wrongful death during an emotional court hearing.
Peter Miller, 56, and his wife Pamela, 55, appeared in court on Monday dressed in matching navy blue shirts, down to the buttons and collars.
Both were charged in connection with the deadly August 2022 fire that killed 21 and 19-year-old students Jillian and Lindsay Wiener, who were on a final family vacation with their terminally ill father, mother and brother.
Miller told the court that he had done the electrical work on the house himself and had not had it checked for safety.
Peter Miller, 56, and his wife Pamela Miller, 55, confer with their attorney Edward Burke Jr. in court in Riverhead, New York.
Jillian Wiener, 21, (left) and her sister Lindsay, 19, of Potomac, Maryland, were trapped upstairs after a fire broke out in their rental home overnight
There were no smoke detectors and a barbecue in an illegal outdoor kitchen was in a wooden frame that blocked the ventilation openings, they admitted under oath.
The fire started in that kitchen. When asked about the grill, he replied, “I built it myself.”
“Do you know that you have overloaded the electricity grid?” public prosecutor Sheetal Shetty asked him.
He bit his lip and said that it was so.
The couple appeared in Suffolk County Superior Court in Riverhead, New York, on Monday, where Peter, the home’s owner, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter.
Pamela, who managed the rental property, pleaded guilty to a lesser offense: recklessly causing endangerment.
The Millers still face 58 charges in Southampton Town Justice Court related to the illegal activities that led to the fire.
This matter is expected to be resolved through a separate settlement next week.
The sisters were vacationing at the house with their parents Lewis, then 59, and Alisa, 56, and their 23-year-old brother Zachary, when the house caught fire, trapping them upstairs.
The Millers were charged by Southampton city authorities with violating several building codes, including faulty smoke detectors and illegal construction on the property.
In their half-hour depositions before pleading guilty, they both repeatedly admitted under oath that the wiring in the house was illegal and dangerous.
Peter Miller, the owner of the home, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of manslaughter, while his wife Pamela, who managed the rental, pleaded guilty to a felony count of reckless endangerment.
Pamela and Peter Miller were taken to court weeks after the fire in August 2022 after it was discovered the rental property was in breach of several building codes
The house caught fire around 3:30 a.m. on August 3, 2022, and spread quickly, without giving the two girls enough time to escape.
Alisa, Zachary, Lewis, Jillian and Lindsay Weiner. The family was on what they thought was a final family vacation, as Lewis knew he was dying of pancreatic cancer.
Peter, a restaurant owner, admitted to carrying out illegal construction and electrical work on the house he and his wife bought in 2016.
His wife admitted that she was the manager of the illegal short-term vacation home, which was rented to the victims’ families through the rental company HomeAway.
Lewis Wiener, a former federal prosecutor who knew he was dying of pancreatic cancer, paid $8,000 to rent the house for what he thought would be a final week-long family vacation in the Hamptons area known as Noyack.
He passed away in April this year at the age of 61.
The parents, who slept on the first floor of the house, were awakened at 3:30 a.m. on August 3 by the sound of breaking glass from the intense heat of the fire that left the house in a charred ruin.
They went outside and realized that their children were trapped on the second floor, where they were sleeping.
Zachary escaped the fire by crawling onto a roof and jumping off, while Lewis bravely tried to save his daughters but could not get past the flames. The first firefighters to arrive were also unable to save them.
Several fire departments from the Hamptons responded to the blaze, which took hours to bring under control.
Only after firefighters had extinguished the flames were they able to reach the two women, but it was too late.
Jillian, who was about to start her senior year at the University of Michigan, and Lindsay, a sophomore at Tulane University, were rushed to Stony Brook University Hospital, where they were both pronounced dead.
The parents and Zachary were also taken to the hospital, where they were treated and released.
Peter admitted to carrying out the illegal construction and electrical work in the house, while his wife said she knew the work had not been inspected
Neighbors of the family in Potomac, Maryland, said they are beloved in the community. Father Lewis Wiener was an attorney and president of the Washington Hebrew Congregation
Shetty asked Pamela, the property manager, if she was aware that the kitchen, grill and electrical system were illegal.
“Yes,” she replied. “I’m aware of it now. Yes. Yes. Yes.”
The verdict is scheduled for November 7.
Surviving members of the Wiener family are expected to be given the opportunity to deliver victim impact statements before Judge Richard Horowitz delivers the verdict.
The survivors are currently suing the Millers in federal court for their role in the deaths of the two young women.
They also tried to sue HomeAway, part of Vrbo, but that was dismissed by a judge last year.
In that lawsuit, the family said, “Instead of fond memories of a week-long vacation on the east side of Long Island, the Wiener family is left with a nightmare from which they cannot wake up.
‘The defendants’ greed, cutting corners and willful disregard for the safety of the building’s residents led to the deaths of Jillian Rose Wiener and her sister Lindsay Eliza Wiener.’