American fugitive caught island-hopping in Thailand

Kelly Lynn Miller, 36, was detained in Thailand on Tuesday. She is pictured here in an undated photo. (Hoover Police)

An American fugitive who fled the country in 2009 to avoid going to prison over a fatal car crash reportedly has been captured on an island in Thailand that is popular with tourists.

Kelly Lynn Miller, 36, was detained by tourist police in Koh Lanta on Tuesday, Phuketwan.com reports.

Authorities said Miller threw away her passport and other identification and spent years bouncing between three Thai islands.

She gave birth to a son in a small clinic in Samui island and it is believed that relatives from the U.S. sent her money to help her survive, Phuketwan.com reports.

The website reported that American authorities learned about her whereabouts and were tracking her for a month before police moved in to arrest her.

Authorities say Miller met the American father of her child in Thailand, but did not tell him that she was a fugitive. The father is a legal resident.

Miller is now in custody of police in Phuket City and is likely to face charges of overstaying in Thailand. She also is expected to be sent back to the U.S. at the earliest opportunity, along with the boy, Phuketwan.com reports.

In 2004, when Miller was 26, she was charged with drunken driving in the death of a tractor-trailer driver on Interstate 459 in Hoover, Ala., according to AL.com. The driver, Donald Goodwin, from Florida, parked his truck in an emergency lane and was checking his tires when he was struck and killed.

Two years later, a Jefferson County grand jury indicted Miller on vehicular homicide charges, according to Alabama court records. The case was set for a jury trial in 2007, but Miller pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. She fled the state before reporting and was labeled a fugitive in 2010, AL.com reports.

Goodwin’s sister, Brenda Bagwell, told MyFoxAl.com the announcement of Miller’s arrest in Thailand was the “best news I could have got” concerning her brother.

"She knew what she did that night. She knew when she left she was so messed up and then she didn't even care when she killed him," Bagwell said.