Kyle Miller Dies in Tragic Accident

Well-known East Bay woodworker Kyle Miller was found dead yesterday morning inside his 1989 Mercedes, which was partially submerged off the Sugar Dock facility on the south side of Richmond’s Santa Fe Channel.

After entering the gated facility at an unknown hour, the car apparently struck a concrete piling that was laid horizontally along the edge of the wharf, causing it to topple into the channel, with the Mercedes evidently following it into shoaling waist-deep water. When the upside-down vehicle was eventually lifted out, Miller’s body was found lying against the headliner — not restrained by a seat belt. The windows were all rolled up.

For the past seven years, Miller lived aboard his Chris Craft motor cruiser at the Sugar Dock, where he occasionally acted as caretaker when the facility’s owners, Bill and Grace Bodle, were out of town. Among other Bay Area employers, Miller had worked for designer Tom Wylie and naval architect Andy Davis. He had a keen interest in music, and reportedly rehearsed with a group of friends regularly. Miller is said to have been in his mid-40s. 

Bill Bodle was the first to notice the vehicle, at about 8:15 a.m. yesterday. He immediately called 911, which resulted in a huge response: as many at 10 Richmond police squad cars, five fire department vehicles, and eventually a large Coast Guard vessel, whose rapid approach to the scene generated such a large wake that it unfortunately dislodged the wreck from the shallows, and allowed it to slip into deeper water, partially beneath a berthed sailboat. After some jurisdictional wrangling between the various agencies, a robot was deployed to assess the situation, followed by a fire department-affiliated diver. A large crane eventually pulled the wreck onto the wharf.

According to various media reports, police do not suspect foul play or suicide. However, it’s yet unknown if factors other than driver error contributed to the tragic accident.