A Quiet Life on the Dairy Farm
When Jane Miller thinks about her sister, Ann Kline, she doesn’t think about the pain that surrounds her death. She chooses, instead, to remember her life.
Memories of Ann take Jane back to the Northern Pennsylvania dairy farm where they grew up with their two other siblings. Jane says the four of them were very close, and recalled summers spent riding in the back of their father’s truck exploring backroads, swimming in ponds, and riding their bikes.
“We didn’t have a lot of money, you know, but it never seemed like we were poor,” Jane told Dateline. “We didn’t realize it, you know? It was a good life.” She described living on the farm as a “quiet life,” which, decades later, she remembers fondly.
Ann was the first born, and six years older than Jane, who described her older sister as smart, kind, driven, and a lively young woman. “We had a lot of fun growing up,” she told Dateline.
Jane shared a story typical of her memories of her sister from childhood. She said that one of Ann’s old cows — which Ann planned on parading at the state fair — had a hump on its back. She said Ann put her on top of the cow and tried to use her weight to flatten the cow’s back. “She was hoping that it would make the hump go down. And, it didn’t. It didn’t work,” she said, laughing. “I don’t think that poor cow ever made it to go to the fair.”
This is the way that Jane chooses to remember Ann — playful and full of life. “I try not to think about the circumstances of her death,” she told Dateline.
It has been that way since 1973. But now, 51 later, Jane is speaking publicly about her sister’s murder for the first time — hoping for justice.
The Murder of Ann Kline
It was January 18, 1973.
Ann Kline was working as a math teacher at Lockyear College in Evansville, Indiana, where she had moved with her husband, Bob Kline, after he got a job there in the late 1960s.
Evansville Police Department Detective Dillon Powers, the current lead investigator in Ann’s case, told Dateline that a small fire inside the school about a week prior had caused a few classes — including Ann’s — to temporarily move to the basement of the Old Vanderburgh County Courthouse, which was across the street from the college.
According to Det. Powers, one of Ann’s students came into her classroom in the courthouse basement sometime around 3 p.m. regarding a grade on an assignment. He also worked as a custodian in the courthouse. “She told him that she wasn’t finished grading [the assignment] yet,” Det. Powers told Dateline. “He left her classroom, and a few minutes later he heard screaming.”
According to Det. Powers, the student originally “brushed off” the screaming. “He thought that it may have been children playing,” the detective told Dateline.
He told police he headed back downstairs to the basement a few minutes later.
There, he found Ann Kline’s body lying in the hallway outside her temporary classroom.
The 26-year-old had been murdered.
“She was stabbed nineteen times, actually, with the fatal stab wound being the one that pierced her heart,” Det. Powers told Dateline. “[The stabs] were primarily in the chest area. I think she had one on her arm and one — if not more — to her face.”
In 2013, NBC affiliate 14 News quoted the former lead detective in Ann’s case, Evansville Police Department Detective Tony Mahew, as saying “‘the suspect was at the courthouse the day it happened, and was supposed to meet with Ann Kline that day. From the thousands of interviews I’ve done over the years, I’m very positive this person did this. 100%.’” The person Mahew was referring to was not named.
According to the article, Det. Mayhew added that he was hoping to turn the case over to the prosecutor’s office within the next few months.
When speaking to Dateline in 2024, Det. Powers declined to comment on whether authorities believe Ann Kline was supposed to meet with someone on the day that she was murdered.
“There have been a few [people] that have surfaced as persons of interest,” he told Dateline. “They were met with dead ends or ruled out for various reasons.” There have been no suspects named in the murder. Authorities do believe it’s likely that Ann knew her killer. “It doesn’t appear that she was robbed. She still had her purse. She still had all her personal belongings with her,” Det. Powers said. “That, you know, tells us that this may have been someone that knew her — and there being a motive.”
The detective told Dateline that there was something unusual about Ann’s body. “She didn’t have as many defense wounds as you might expect [for] the number of times that she was stabbed,” he said. “[That] tells me that there could’ve been two people. Maybe one person held her down, perhaps — maybe not. It’s just puzzling. I mean, it is possible that one person could’ve done this, but not — it doesn’t seem super likely.”
Detective Powers also told Dateline that the Evansville Police Department never found the knife that was used in the murder. He declined to answer whether there was evidence of more than one weapon being used.
“The thought of the terror she must’ve went through — it breaks my heart,” Ann’s sister Jane Miller told Dateline.
Jane was away at nursing school when Ann was killed. “I got a letter from her that week,” she said. “She was talking about, uh, that she thought maybe she was gonna take some time off from teaching. They wanted to start a family.” According to Jane, Ann had been married to her husband, Bob Kline, for a few years by that time.
Detective Powers confirmed to Dateline that Bob Kline was ruled out as a suspect by the Evansville Police Department. “I know he was examined for blood, and he worked a number of miles away,” he said.
This letter was the last Jane heard from her sister. “I think I had just mailed a return letter that day,” she told Dateline, referring to the day Ann was murdered.
Jane also remembered something Ann did the night before she was murdered. “Ann called — and I’m not sure why she called — she called Bob’s mother the night before she was killed,” Jane told Dateline. “And I always kind of wished that call had gone to my mom.”
Ann’s father and mother died in 2012 and 2016, respectively, without seeing justice served in their daughter’s murder. “I wish [Ann’s case] could’ve been solved before my parents died,” Jane said. “It was very hard [our parents], when she was killed.” In memory of Ann, the family had her name engraved on one of the stained glass windows at their church.
Jane still attends that church today. She told Dateline that she and her two other siblings commemorate Ann’s life every year. “My sister and brother and I split the cost of putting flowers on the altar in October, cause her birthday was in October,” she told Dateline.
Today, Jane lives on her grandparents’ old farm in Northern Pennsylvania. Her brother lives on their parents’ old farm, and her sister lives down the road. Jane told Dateline that she and her siblings jokingly refer to the area where they live as the “Miller Compound.” She said that Ann lives on in their hearts.
Although the memory of Ann is a joyful one — reminding Jane of the quaint, idyllic childhood she shared with her older sister — the thought of the older woman she never became is painful. “I wonder what she would have been like if she got older,” Jane told Dateline. “Would [Ann and Bob have] had kids? What would have they been like?”
Jane also wonders if the family will ever get justice. “I worry now that the person that did it may die before we get any answers,” she said.
Detective Powers told Dateline that Ann’s case remains open and is being actively investigated. “I’m always hopeful that any case can be solved,” he told Dateline.
Anyone with information about Ann’s murder is asked to contact the Evansville Police Department Adult Investigations Unit at (812) 436-7979.