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Lance Miller was sentenced to 20 to 25.5 years in prison on July 21, 2025, after pleading guilty in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court to one count of voluntary manslaughter with a firearm specification and one count of kidnapping in the death of Kaitlyn Ashley Lynch. Judge Robert Winkler imposed the sentence. Ohio prison records list three years on the firearm specification plus consecutive terms on the two counts totaling 17 to 22.5 years under Ohio's indefinite sentencing law. Lynch's sister and father spoke at the hearing. Miller, 34 at sentencing, is held at Southeastern Correctional Institution, with an earliest release date listed as September 2043.

Lynch, 36, was the mother of two daughters, lived on Temple Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio's Westwood neighborhood and worked at a downtown law office. Miller, 32, of Abbott, Texas, was staying with her in August 2023. The Hamilton County Prosecutor's office described Lynch as his girlfriend. Her father said detectives told the family they had met online, the relationship was new and Miller had driven from Texas about three weeks earlier to move in with her.

At 10:52 p.m. on August 18, 2023, Miller called 911 about a problem with the lease on a vehicle registered to Lynch, saying she would not get out of her car. Cincinnati police went to her home in the 2800 block of Temple Avenue. Lynch, sitting in the car, told officers there were no problems but said she would not go back inside. Officers left because no crime was occurring. About an hour later, prosecutors say, Miller took a gun from the house and fired at the car, hitting Lynch. A friend on the phone with her heard her say, "oh my god, he's got a gun," and then heard a shot.

Police returned to find the car gone, nine .40 caliber casings, shattered glass and a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol on the front porch. A December 2023 bill of particulars said Miller shot Lynch four times, once in the head, twice in the chest and once in the abdomen. Her phone was found beside Interstate 75 near Lexington, Kentucky, at about 5:30 a.m. on August 19. Investigators tracked her BMW south and onto Interstate 40 in Tennessee. Wilson County sheriff's deputies spotted it near Nashville, and a chase across several counties ended with spike strips. Miller was arrested in Cheatham County, and Lynch was found dead in the front passenger seat. Prosecutors said it was not known when she died.

Cincinnati police charged Miller with murder and kidnapping. In Tennessee, he faced charges of felony evading arrest and abuse of a corpse. He waived extradition and was returned to Hamilton County on September 12, 2023. A grand jury indicted him on one count of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault, one count of kidnapping and one count of abduction. He pleaded not guilty on September 13, 2023, and bond was set at $3 million. His attorney said the gun "was not Lance's" and that Miller "didn't have any intention to do her any harm."

In his police interview, Miller says Lynch became belligerent and followed him, that police were called, and that she went for her purse, where he said he knew there was a gun, so he grabbed her and fired. The detective asks about the drive and whether he tried to get her help. Prosecutors disclosed in May 2025 that Miller had told detectives he and Lynch had a physical fight, that he was "tired of the abuse" and that he has mental illness.

Before the shooting, Oklahoma state police arrested Miller on July 31, 2023, after a chase through Oklahoma City. He was charged there with open container violations, DUI, endangerment while eluding police and unauthorized use of a vehicle. He was released on bond.