Don Miller Collection

Object or Group Name

Case Summary

In October 2013, Special Agent Tim Carpenter of the FBI’s Art Theft Program received an anonymous tip about a large private collection of looted artifacts held by Don Miller, resident of Rush County, Indiana.

In April 2014, the FBI’s Art Crime Team, assisted by archaeologists, anthropologists, and Tribal representatives, conducted a six-day recovery operation at Miller’s home. Approximately 7,000 objects and human remains were removed based on evidence of illicit excavation or violation of state, federal, or international law, while about 35,000 other objects were left in place due to insufficient evidence of illegality. The FBI estimated Miller’s collection contained more than 42,000 objects in total, making the case the largest single cultural property recovery in Bureau history.

Miller died the following year, in 2015, at age 91 and was never charged with a crime.

Among the 42,000 items were Native American artifacts, human remains, and objects from South America, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. The seized material included 2,500-year-old Chinese jewelry, a dugout canoe from the Amazon, dinosaur eggs, a fossilized crocodile skull, Ming Dynasty vases, shrunken heads, Tibetan "Kapala" (skull cups), Aztec figurines, and Celtic axes.

Miller, often described by friends and news outlets as an “amateur archaeologist,” had spent decades traveling the United States and abroad, removing artifacts from archaeological sites and purchasing items overseas. He openly wrote about these activities in articles for the Central States Archaeological Journal, including “Fun on a Sunday Afternoon” (1958) and “Indiana Collectors Go on Vacation” (1960), where he described both his looting of Native American sites as well as his racist views on Indigenous peoples. Miller was also known to hunt for cultural objects while traveling in the military, on mission trips (such as in Haiti), and on vacation.

A significant portion of the collection consisted of human remains taken from Indigenous burial sites across the United States and Mexico. Thousands of bones were recovered, but osteological analysis revealed that Miller had often combined pieces from different individuals (e.g., skulls, mandibles, and teeth) into composite displays described as “Frankenstein-like” that he would show to guests invited to his private collection. These factors have made it impossible to determine precisely how many individuals were represented in the collection, but according to the FBI, the about 2000 bones likely represent approximately 400-500 individuals.

Following osteological analysis, about 30 sets of human remains were culturally affiliated with the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA Nation) of North Dakota and reburied. Another 138 unidentified remains were reburied by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi in a mass grave in Indiana.

The task of repatriating the seized artifacts required a huge, coordinated effort over several years. The FBI Art Crime Team created an invitation-only website containing information about Miller's collection in the hopes of collaborating with global experts, such as those at the United Nations, to identify items and aid in the repatriation process. The FBI team also collaborated with Prof Dr Holly Cusack-McVeigh from Indiana University Indianapolis and her students to identify, catalog, and repatriate objects from the Miller collection.

In 2018, the FBI worked with the Colombian government and their Minister of Culture, Carmen Vasquez, to return 29 pre-Colombian objects from the Tayrona, Sinu, and Quimbaya cultures. Another 11 Colombian objects were repatriated through the Colombian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

In December 2018, two mammoth tusks are repatriated to Ottawa, Canada.

In 2019, 361 objects, including jewelry and vases, were returned to China after an exchange ceremony at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, IN. This marked the single largest repatriation from the US to China.

In April 2019, two clay sculptures from the Mesoamerican classical period were returned to Mexico.

In February 2020, 479 artifacts (including wooden duho, axes, and beaded necklaces) are repatriated to the Republic of Haiti, the single largest repatriation from the US to that country.

September 2020, the US Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu Erin McKee facilitated the return of 133 cultural artifacts to the PNG National Museum and Gallery.

In 2022, 3 stone axes were returned to the Peruvian government.

In November 2022, 450 ancestral remains were returned to South Dakota by delegations from the Oglala Sioux Nation and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi (Indiana and Michigan).

In December 2022, 21 pre-Colombian Taino objects were transferred to the Dominican Government.

The FBI also facilitated more returns to Native American tribes, Indigenous Canadian groups, Peru, Spain, Cambodia, and Iraq, in total representing about 15% of the objects seized from Miller's home.

As of 2025, nearly 96% of the seized objects have been returned, with only a small number remaining due to an inability to determine their cultural affiliation. According to Tim Carpenter, these will likely be housed in the FBI's museum collection.