Detectives: Man lured to shooter's house by ex-girlfriend

Mark Manyik called an El Paso County sheriff’s detective Friday night, threatening to kill his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend with a “12 gauge.”

The detective missed the call. That voicemail went unheard.

A day later, Robert Miles, 55, lay dead in a hospital, shot in the stomach in what investigators say was an elaborate plan by Manyik and his girlfriend to frame Miles’ death as a burglary gone bad.

Details of Miles’ death were released in court documents Tuesday, a day after Manyik, 48, and his girlfriend, Traci Adams, 47, were jailed on suspicion of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated robbery and tampering with physical evidence.

They are being held in the El Paso County jail without bail.

Deputies found Miles on the ground outside Manyik’s house in the 15000 block of North Ellicott Highway about 7:40 p.m. after a reported “burglary in progress,” according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.

But what Manyik and Adams told deputies from the start didn’t add up.

Manyik said he heard the front door open while loading his guns “for what he considered to be an inevitable confrontation” with Miles, according to an arrest affidavit.

Manyik told deputies he fired out of fear that Miles would hurt Adams, who was showering at the time.

Miles once threatened him with a table leg, Manyik told deputies, and he thought Miles broke Adams’ nose in April. Manyik added that he possibly found Miles footprints on his property Friday, the affidavit said.

Deputies were tipped on Sunday by one of Miles’ friends, who said she heard Miles talking to Adams on the phone on Saturday. Lalauna Sandage told deputies that Miles was worried he was being lured into an attack, but went to Calhan anyway, the affidavit said.

Though Adams insisted she didn’t call Miles before the shooting, phone records showed otherwise. She made 16 calls to him that night, the affidavit said.

When shown the phone records Monday, Adams admitted to luring Miles to his death because she was afraid Manyik would break up with her.

She confessed to telling Miles to “just walk into the residence,” the affidavit said, and she intentionally left the front door unlocked.

To hide evidence of calls, she took Miles’ phone while he was still alive and moving and later threw it away on an eastern El Paso County road, the affidavit said.

The plan appears to have been hatched Friday when Adams heard Manyik say he would “do something” to Miles, though he didn’t go into detail, the affidavit said.

Manyik left a voicemail on detective Patrick Gattenby’s phone Friday threatening to shoot Miles in the “belly” with a shotgun, the affidavit said.

Gattenby investigated a domestic violence incident between Miles and Adams that allegedly happened in April, the affidavit said. That investigation began in September, but Adams didn’t cooperate.

Gattenby was off Friday and notified detective Cliff Porter on Monday morning that he missed the voicemail, which was left on his desk phone, said Sgt. Mike Schaller, sheriff’s spokesman.

Shortly after hearing the message Monday, deputies called Manyik, who, along with Adams, agreed to meet investigators.

Adams, in particular, welcomed the detectives’ offer.

She was “happy,” the affidavit said, since she could “get the story out word for word, because last time we talked we hadn’t gotten’ a chance to get our stories together.”

—

Contact Jakob Rodgers: 476-1654

Twitter: @jakobrodgers

Facebook: Jakob Rodgers