Family hoping for justice 40 years after young girl's murder

It's a parent’s worse nightmare, waking up to your child gone from their bed, and found dead in a river five days later.

Forty years later, the family of 5-year old Tiffany Miller is still hoping there's justice.

"My daughter was 5 years old, she did not deserve to die like that," said Gail Rivera.

An autopsy revealed she drowned. Even though there was no evidence of trauma or sexual assault, the coroner ruled it a homicide.

In 2002, Target 11 interviewed former New Kensington Police Chief Jim Chambers, who is now dead, but worked the case for years.

"I know she didn't walk into that river," said Jim Chambers in 2002. "I always figured somehow someway someone killed her and put her in that river."

No one has ever been arrested or charged with the crime.

Rivera said it's been rough.

"It's been hard, I turned to drugs for a long time. I'm like 20 years clean now," she said.

Rivera said her mother was in the basement doing laundry. Her brothers were asleep in the bedroom upstairs.

She fell asleep on the couch after putting Tiffany to bed upstairs.

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"They walked past me up the steps, and past my brothers," said Rivera.

Rivera believes her daughter was taken by someone out of the home. She doesn’t think that she walked out on her own.

Rivera told Channel 11 she and the girl’s father were no longer in a relationship, and they were initially questioned by police.

"I almost had a nervous breakdown because they were trying to say I had something to do with it," said Rivera.

"Did you have anything to do with it?" asked Earle.

"No, that was my flesh and blood," said Rivera. "Why would I hurt my own daughter?"

Family and friends of Tiffany were in shock and still remember the day they heard the news.

"I remember the day like it was yesterday – my mom coming in and telling me they found her," said friend Aaron Moore.

Moore lived in the same apartment complex, and he's now working on naming a park after Tiffany.

"It's going to be a little kids’ park, it should be named in memory of Tiffany Miller, and that's a way to keep her memory alive," said Moore.

New Kensington Councilman Dante Ciconni showed us the site of the proposed park and what it will look like.

"I think the important thing here is to remember her life and to honor her, and it's a small offering of closure to the family," said Ciconni. " I'm sure it's not anything to what they want.”

Rivera is thankful her daughter's memory will live on. She only hopes one day the killer will be found.

"If you are watching, God is going to send you straight to hell for that because you took one of his children," said Rivera. "You took my baby away from me for no reason; whoever you are if you are looking, you are going to get caught eventually ‘cause you are going to slip.”

Cox Media Group