Owners of Noyac rental house plead guilty to charges related to tragic fire

Long Island Morning Edition

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A married couple whose Noyac rental house didn’t have working smoke detectors when it caught on fire, killing a pair of sisters from Maryland who were vacationing with their family in 2022, pleaded guilty yesterday to charges related to the fire, the Suffolk district attorney’s office said. Nicole Fuller reports in NEWSDAY that Peter Miller, 56, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminally negligent homicide and Pamela Miller, 55, pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment in connection with the fire that killed Lindsay Wiener, 19, and Jillian Wiener, 21, of Potomac, Maryland, prosecutors said.

"First and foremost, our hearts go out to the Wiener family, who lost these young women in this tragic fire. Such a loss is unimaginable, and our community mourns with them," Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement Monday. "We take all matters involving housing regulations very seriously, as they are crucial for public safety. If you have a rental home, you have a duty to make sure that it is safe."

Lindsay Wiener had just finished her freshman year at Tulane University, focusing on marketing and Jewish studies. Jillian Wiener was a rising senior at the University of Michigan who had just "finished a semester studying abroad, studying ocean conservation," according to a 2022 lawsuit filed by the parents against the Millers and other entities.

The origin of the Aug. 3, 2022, fire was an outdoor kitchen, which the Millers constructed on their own without a permit and without an electrical inspection, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the Millers advertised the rental home as being equipped with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on multiple popular vacation rental sites, but a post-fire electrical inspection report revealed they were not connected properly and there was not adequate fire detection throughout the home.

Miller is to be sentenced to three years probation and must serve 200 hours of community service. Pamela Miller must perform 100 hours of community service, preferably before her sentencing date of November 7, Horowitz said.

T.E. McMorrow reports on 27east.com that the two young women, who were both college students, Jillian Wiener, 21, and Lindsay Wiener, 19, both of Potomac, Maryland, found themselves trapped behind a wall of flames on the second floor of the house at 3 Spring Lane in Noyac.

Pamela and Peter Miller, who currently reside in Westhampton, were eventually charged with 29 counts apiece for various code infractions by the Town of Southampton. The charges alleged that there were multiple nonworking smoke alarms in the house, as well as illegal construction of an outdoor kitchen connected to the house and accused the Millers of illegally renting out the house for short-term rentals. The Millers both admitted to being guilty of those charges Monday as part of entering guilty pleas.

The Southampton case is currently still open, as is the federal lawsuit brought by the Weiner family against the Millers for their role in the death of their two daughters.

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There are few places in the world where one feels safer than on the south fork of eastern Long Island. However, local police are urging residents to be sure not to leave keys or fobs in their vehicles when parked overnight after three cars were stolen from homes in Southampton Village this past Sunday night. Two of the three vehicles have already been recovered, Southampton Village Police say — one thanks to the manufacturer’s tracking service — but all were taken after their owners had left the keys in them and the doors unlocked. As reported on 27east.com, all three thefts occurred in Southampton Village’s estate section, and police said there were other reports of unlocked cars being rummaged through in the neighborhoods off Hill Street. One of the vehicles, a Range Rover SUV was abandoned by the thieves a short distance from where it was stolen. Another, a Hyundai SUV, was recovered through accessing the Hyundai Genesis app location finder. The third vehicle, a black Audi Q5 SUV, has not yet been located. Vehicle thefts have been a scourge on the South Fork in recent years, driven largely by the habits of leaving fobs in vehicles — which, unlike actual keys, do not have to be located and in hand for a would-be thief to start the ignition. Certain high-end European SUVs, like the Q5, have been frequent targets of thieves because the vehicles have a feature that automatically folds in the side view mirrors when the key fob is removed from the vehicle – creating a dead giveaway as to when the fob is still inside. Police are investigating the most recent thefts.