A Long Island couple pleaded guilty on Monday in connection with a fire that killed two sisters at a vacation home in the Hamptons in 2022.
Peter Miller, 56, and Pamela Miller, 55, pleaded guilty in the deaths of Jillian Wiener, 21, and Lindsay Wiener, 19, at a house fire in Noyack on Aug. 3, 2022, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
The Southampton home had 29 code violations, according to investigators, including multiple problems with smoke detectors.
“We take all matters involving housing regulations very seriously, as they are crucial for public safety,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a press release. “If you have a rental home, you have a duty to make sure that it is safe.”
The Wiener sisters, along with their parents and brother, rented the Millers’ home for their family vacation that August while visiting from Maryland. On the night of Aug. 2, they attempted to use a grill in an outdoor kitchen attached to the main house, according to authorities.
When the grill didn’t appear to work, they closed it and cooked inside. But later that night, the home caught fire. The Wiener parents were awakened around 3:30 a.m. to the sound of shattered glass, investigators said.
The family scrambled to escape the blaze. The parents were able to burst out on the first floor, where they were sleeping, while Zachary Wiener, 23, jumped out of a second-story window. But the sisters could not escape. Their father, Lew Wiener, attempted to run back for them but was stopped by the intense blaze.
Firefighters responded and eventually transported Jillian and Lindsay to a local hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
Peter Miller pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal negligent homicide, and Pamela Miller pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment. Their sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 7.