After 2 Sisters Die In Fire, Hamptons Rental Owners Plead Guilty: DA

NOYAC, NY — Two years after a devastating fire ripped though a Noyac vacation rental, killing two sisters who were vacationing with their family, the owners of the home pleaded guilty, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

On Monday, Tierney announced that Peter Miller, 56, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminally negligent homicide, and Pamela Miller, 55, pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment, as a result of a fatal fire that occurred at the Miller’s rental home, where sisters Lindsay Wiener, 19, and Jillian Wiener, 21, of Maryland, were vacationing with their family in 2022.

Both sisters died in the fire, Tierney said.

According to court documents and the defendants’ admissions during their guilty plea allocutions, on August 2, 2022, a Maryland couple and their three children, including Lindsay and Jillian, were vacationing at the Miller’s home located in Noyac, which was advertised for rental.

That evening, the family attempted to use an outdoor charcoal grill located in an outdoor kitchen that was attached to the main house, the DA said.

When the food did not cook, the family removed the food from the grill, closed the lid, and cooked the food in the indoor kitchen, Tierney said. The family ate dinner and then, at approximately 11:30 p.m., they went to sleep, the DA said.

A few hours later, on August 3, 2022, at about 3:30 a.m., the mother and father woke up to the sound of glass shattering, the DA said.

When they left their bedroom to investigate, they saw fire in the kitchen and screamed for their children to get out of the house, Tierney said. The couple escaped, but their father, Lew Wiener,
re-entered the home to locate his children, the DA said.

The heat conditions forced him out of the house and left him with burns on his feet.

The couple’s son opened his bedroom door, but overwhelmed by the heat and smoke conditions, and could not locate his sisters, the DA said.

After realizing the fire had trapped him in his bedroom, the son jumped from a second story window to escape, Tierney said.

The Sag Harbor Fire Department was the first of several fire agencies to arrive to the scene, Tierney said. Fire chiefs observed fire in the kitchen, thick black smoke, and intense heat, officials said.

Firefighters gained access to a second-story bedroom; they located the girls on the second floor, Tierney said.

Both young women were transported to Southampton Hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries, the DA said.

The surviving family members and responding fire personnel reported that no fire alarms were
heard at any point, the DA said.

Investigators determined that the origin of the fire was the outdoor kitchen, which the Millers constructed on their own without a permit, and without an electrical inspection, Tierney said.

The outdoor kitchen was mostly made of wood with low-hanging wood ceilings that sat above the
charcoal grill and gas stove; the bottom grill vents of the charcoal grill were completely blocked
by an attached counter, and the electrical circuits that the outdoor kitchen shared with the indoor
kitchen were overloaded and improperly wired, the DA said.

The Millers advertised the rental home in Noyac on multiple popular vacation rental sites; their
listing indicated that the home was equipped with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, Tierney said. However, an electrical inspection report revealed that they were not connected properly, and there was not adequate fire detection throughout the home, the DA said.

The smoke detector in one of the second-floor bedrooms was de-energized by the fire due to overloaded electrical circuits, and no battery back-up existed; the smoke detector in another second-floor bedroom, where Lindsay and Jillian stayed, was also de-energized during the fire an did not have a functioning battery back-up, Tierney said.

The smoke detector in the master bedroom, where the sisters’ parents stayed, was disconnected from the electrical system and did not have a battery back-up; the master bedroom and the hallway outside of it were determined not to have had adequate fire detection at the time of the fire, the DA said.

According to the DA, the Millers were charged with 29 code violations including:

- Failing to apply for and obtain a rental permit prior to renting;

- Having a transient rental when prohibited by law;

- Having a transient rental with tenants contrary to the certificate of occupancy in place;

- Constructing an outdoor kitchen without a building permit, occupying/allowing a
deck/pool without a certificate of occupancy;

- Failing to assure single/multi station smoke detectors on the wall outside of the second
floor bedrooms;

- Failing to assure the smoke alarm in the second-floor east bedroom was connected
properly;

- Failing to assure that the smoke detector in the second-floor east bedroom had a battery
back-up;

- Failing to assure that the smoke alarm in the hallway outside of the first-floor bedroom was
connected properly;

- Failing to assure that the smoke alarm in the hallway outside of the first-floor bedroom had
a battery back-up;

- Failing to assure that the smoke alarm in the garage was properly connected to a power
source;

- Failing to assure a carbon monoxide detector was installed outside of the second floor
bedrooms;

- Failing to assure a carbon monoxide detector was installed outside of the first floor
bedroom;

- Installing an electrical outlet without a proper electrical box which created an electrical
shock/fire hazard whereas it was directly on siding; and

- Installing an electrical outlet on a counter in the outdoor kitchen without a proper electrical
box, creating a shock/fire hazard, whereas it was directly on siding.

The Millers were prosecuted for the code violations in Southampton Town Justice Court.

On August 22, Peter and Pamela Miller were arrested after surrendering at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, Tierney said. On Monday, Peter Miller pleaded guilty to two counts of criminally negligent homicide, Class E felonies, before Acting Supreme Court Justice Richard I. Horowitz, the DA said. Also on Monday, Pamela Miller pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment, a Class A misdemeanor, before Justice Horowitz, Tierney said.

The Millers are due back in court on November 7, and are being represented by Edward
Burke Jr., who said he had no comment at this time.

"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," said Tierney. "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."

The vacation was meant to be a special time for the Wieners, as their father Lew had cancer, he told Patch; he died this April, according to his obituary.