Kristina Miller, a former employee of our good friends at CANBET, was one of the tragic victims in the recent bombings in Egypt.
Our sympathy goes out to the entire Miller family and all her close friends at Canbet.
Very sombering news on this day.
By JAMIE TARABAY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt -- Tony Miller kept pressing the redial button on his phone, willing his daughter to pick up as he stared at the television reporting explosions in Sharm el-Sheik, the Egyptian resort where Kristina and her English boyfriend were celebrating her birthday.
"It was horrible, I knew something was wrong. My best hope was that they were hurt and unconscious," said Miller, a Las Vegas native living in Britain. "I just never thought in a million years that Kristi would be gone."
Frantic for answers, he flew to Egypt. He was met at his Cairo hotel Monday by an official from the U.S. Embassy with the news of his daughter's death. They described her tattoos and he knew it was his daughter. She was marking her 27th birthday when the bombs hit.
Three blasts hit Sharm el-Sheik just after 1 a.m. on Saturday, killing 88 people, including at least 17 foreigners. It was not known which blast killed Kristina and her boyfriend Keri Davies.
They had spent the past five days riding horses, parasailing, swimming and dining. Earlier Friday, "she rang to tell me she was having a wonderful time and all the beautiful things she was doing," Miller told The Associated Press on Monday.
"She was telling me about all the gifts she was bringing everyone, how she was going to spend her birthday that Friday going horseback riding and then going out to dinner with her boyfriend," Miller recalled.
"I told her I loved her, she said she loved me and that she'd call me the next day."
Kristina's mother, Susan McNeely, of Peachtree City, Ga., told the Atlanta television station WGCL her daughter was not afraid to travel overseas and planned to return to the United States to spend Thanksgiving with her mother and stepfather.
"My daughter was murdered. I'm very angry. I can't blame anyone but the terrorists for this," McNeely said.
Kristina's 21-year-old sister, Stephany, said the two were close.
"It's just finally hitting me," Stephany Miller said from the family's home in Las Vegas. "She was my best friend."
The father said Kristina graduated with an associate's degree in business at Irvine Valley College in Irvine, Calif., and joined him at his firm in January. There she met Davies, a fellow worker, and the two fell in love.
Deana Tubin, who described herself as Kristi Miller's best friend, said she felt like a part of her was missing when she heard of Miller's death.
"She's the other half of me," Tubin said in an interview Monday from her Las Vegas home.
The two girls met in math class at Durango High School, from which they graduated in 1996. Miller was a cheerleader in high school, Tubin said.
They lived together for several years after high school, Tubin said, and on Tubin's 25th birthday got matching tatoos on the backs of their necks.
Miller's said aequitas, Latin for justice, and Tubin's says veritas, Latin for truth, Tubin said.
She described Miller as the kind of person who drew people to her when she walked into a room.
"She was the person who got along with everybody," Tubin said. "She was the one in high school who ate lunch with the person who nobody talked to, and she liked it. She really did."
She said she talked to Miller every day since she moved to England in January.
"I feel sorry for the people who won't ever get to know her," Tubin said.
Davies' parents said his son had celebrated his 29th birthday a few days earlier.
"We knew he had been missing and hadn't heard from him and we feared the worst," his father, Steven, said from the town of Fareham, England. "But hearing the news still rips something out of you," he told the Portsmouth News.
Davies said his son planned to travel with Kristinat to Australia as part of the company's relocation scheme.
"They were just days from emigrating. They had their futures in front of them," he said.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., expressed his condolences to Miller's family in a speech Monday on the Senate floor.
"Acts of terror, like that which took her life, are a tragedy no matter where they occur, but the loss of one of our own spreads personal sadness across Nevada and the entire country," he said.
"I personally want to extend my deepest sympathies to the victims, especially the family and friends of Kristina Miller."
Our sympathy goes out to the entire Miller family and all her close friends at Canbet.
Very sombering news on this day.
By JAMIE TARABAY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt -- Tony Miller kept pressing the redial button on his phone, willing his daughter to pick up as he stared at the television reporting explosions in Sharm el-Sheik, the Egyptian resort where Kristina and her English boyfriend were celebrating her birthday.
"It was horrible, I knew something was wrong. My best hope was that they were hurt and unconscious," said Miller, a Las Vegas native living in Britain. "I just never thought in a million years that Kristi would be gone."
Frantic for answers, he flew to Egypt. He was met at his Cairo hotel Monday by an official from the U.S. Embassy with the news of his daughter's death. They described her tattoos and he knew it was his daughter. She was marking her 27th birthday when the bombs hit.
Three blasts hit Sharm el-Sheik just after 1 a.m. on Saturday, killing 88 people, including at least 17 foreigners. It was not known which blast killed Kristina and her boyfriend Keri Davies.
They had spent the past five days riding horses, parasailing, swimming and dining. Earlier Friday, "she rang to tell me she was having a wonderful time and all the beautiful things she was doing," Miller told The Associated Press on Monday.
"She was telling me about all the gifts she was bringing everyone, how she was going to spend her birthday that Friday going horseback riding and then going out to dinner with her boyfriend," Miller recalled.
"I told her I loved her, she said she loved me and that she'd call me the next day."
Kristina's mother, Susan McNeely, of Peachtree City, Ga., told the Atlanta television station WGCL her daughter was not afraid to travel overseas and planned to return to the United States to spend Thanksgiving with her mother and stepfather.
"My daughter was murdered. I'm very angry. I can't blame anyone but the terrorists for this," McNeely said.
Kristina's 21-year-old sister, Stephany, said the two were close.
"It's just finally hitting me," Stephany Miller said from the family's home in Las Vegas. "She was my best friend."
The father said Kristina graduated with an associate's degree in business at Irvine Valley College in Irvine, Calif., and joined him at his firm in January. There she met Davies, a fellow worker, and the two fell in love.
Deana Tubin, who described herself as Kristi Miller's best friend, said she felt like a part of her was missing when she heard of Miller's death.
"She's the other half of me," Tubin said in an interview Monday from her Las Vegas home.
The two girls met in math class at Durango High School, from which they graduated in 1996. Miller was a cheerleader in high school, Tubin said.
They lived together for several years after high school, Tubin said, and on Tubin's 25th birthday got matching tatoos on the backs of their necks.
Miller's said aequitas, Latin for justice, and Tubin's says veritas, Latin for truth, Tubin said.
She described Miller as the kind of person who drew people to her when she walked into a room.
"She was the person who got along with everybody," Tubin said. "She was the one in high school who ate lunch with the person who nobody talked to, and she liked it. She really did."
She said she talked to Miller every day since she moved to England in January.
"I feel sorry for the people who won't ever get to know her," Tubin said.
Davies' parents said his son had celebrated his 29th birthday a few days earlier.
"We knew he had been missing and hadn't heard from him and we feared the worst," his father, Steven, said from the town of Fareham, England. "But hearing the news still rips something out of you," he told the Portsmouth News.
Davies said his son planned to travel with Kristinat to Australia as part of the company's relocation scheme.
"They were just days from emigrating. They had their futures in front of them," he said.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., expressed his condolences to Miller's family in a speech Monday on the Senate floor.
"Acts of terror, like that which took her life, are a tragedy no matter where they occur, but the loss of one of our own spreads personal sadness across Nevada and the entire country," he said.
"I personally want to extend my deepest sympathies to the victims, especially the family and friends of Kristina Miller."
