Emerald Wardle’s parents confront killer Jordan Miller over horror murder

Lauren FerriNCA NewsWire
Camera IconJordan Brodie Miller was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Emerald Wardle. Supplied Credit: Supplied

The heartbroken parents of a young woman who was killed by her boyfriend after he descended into psychosis and believed she was a “life-sucking demon” have confronted the killer in court.

Emerald Wardle, 18, was killed in the home she shared with her boyfriend, Jordan Brodie Miller, in Metford in the NSW Hunter region after he suffered from a psychotic episode in June 2022.

The 22-year-old pleaded not guilty to his girlfriend’s murder and faced a three-week trial in June in the NSW Supreme Court, where a jury found him guilty and convicted him.

Miller has always admitted killing his girlfriend but argued he was suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness, assumed to be schizophrenia.

Camera IconJordan Brodie Miller was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Emerald Wardle. Supplied Credit: Supplied
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However, the jury agreed with prosecutors that his descent into psychosis was caused solely by drug use, with the court being told he used cannabis for several years and LSD on at least 30 occasions.

The jury also rejected the defence he did not intend to kill Ms Wardle but “another being” was responsible, which was not human.

He faced the Supreme Court on Thursday for a sentence hearing, where Ms Wardle’s parents read powerful victim impact statements to the court.

The teenager’s mother, Tania Simshauser, described June 20, 2020, as the “worst day of her life” and said she couldn’t understand how “something like this” had happened to her daughter.

“I remember getting the call to see her and formally identify her … it is the day my life changed forever and broke my soul,” she told the court through tears.

“I will never be the same again.”

Ms Simshauser said the days were darker without her daughter and “the sun doesn’t shine the same”.

“Emerald has paid the ultimate price … the young man she loved most took her life,” she said.

Through tears, Ms Simshauser told the court how her daughter had “trusted a monster” and now she would never get to live out her “hopes and dreams”.

“I constantly heard my daughter being referred to as a demon in the trial … she became my very best friend, she was the absolute love of my life,” she said.

Ms Wardle’s devastated father also read a statement to the court, crying as he said he had lost “daddy’s little girl”.

Camera IconPolice at the scene of Ms Wardle’s murder at Metford. Peter Lorimer Credit: Supplied

“I would never get the chance to walk her down the aisle, she will never have a full life,” Mr Wardle said.

“I would lie awake thinking of how I always promised her I would protect her and never let anything happen to her … losing my little princess has changed my life forever.”

Ms Wardle’s body was found strangled to death in the ensuite of their home in the early hours of June 20 after Miller rang triple-0 and told them he killed a demon that was “sucking the life out of him”.

The trial was told Miller told police he felt he was “in a matrix” and the only way he could escape was either killing himself or Ms Wardle.

Defence barrister Peter Krisenthal told the court that Miller had not been intoxicated at the time of the offending.

The court was told the university student had taken LSD on June 9, 11 days before the murder.

“There was evidence he had used drugs for a period of time,” Mr Krisenthal said.

“Never did it have any adverse effects, he didn’t know of the possibility of developing a psychotic condition.”

Mr Krisenthal told the court that Miller had a “positive upbringing” and a loving family, did well in school and attended uni.

He said Miller had strong prospects of rehabilitation and was unlikely to reoffend.

“This is a very serious offence, this is a tragic matter from every single aspect … the young lady has lost her life, and a young man who had a bright future faces a significant future in imprisonment,” the barrister said.

Miller will appear in court in October for sentencing.

Originally published as Emerald Wardle’s parents confront killer Jordan Miller over horror murder

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