Tallahassee, Florida · Thomas County, Georgia
Lori Paige, a 12-year-old Tallahassee girl, was last seen on June 2, 2023. Her father, Andrew Wiley, reported her missing the next day — and the case was labeled “missing and runaway juvenile.” Nearly two years later, her remains were found in a Georgia field within 100 feet of a location logged by her father’s own phone. Wiley was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in April 2025. Roughly three months later, he died in custody — and with him, the criminal case.
Hill of Justice’s coverage focuses on what this case exposes: how a “runaway” label can quietly kill an investigation’s urgency, and what it costs when it does.
Established Lori’s missing-person poster classified her as a “missing and runaway juvenile.” Hill of Justice analysis: the runaway label shifts blame to the child, drains urgency from detectives and community alike, and is disproportionately applied to missing Black girls even without evidence of voluntary departure. Tallahassee’s police chief later acknowledged the term proved problematic — the department no longer classifies missing children that way.
Established The case sat until February 2024, when investigators re-examined old leads and noted inconsistencies in the father’s statements — leading to search warrants and the evidence that broke the case. Established Per court records cited in coverage: Lori’s blood in the carpet of Wiley’s car, a cut-out carpet section, a cleaner marketed as capable of removing blood, destroyed electronics, a one-way ticket from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico purchased around the time investigators believe her body was dumped, and phone searches including remote areas of Alabama and Georgia, area bodies of water, and “where do police look to find missing kids.” Phone location data tracked a route from his home through Tallahassee and Jefferson County into Thomas County, Georgia.
Established On April 5, 2025, after a prescribed burn opened terrain in rural Thomas County, a secondary search recovered partial remains — two small bones — within about 100 feet of the location logged by Wiley’s phone. DNA confirmed they were Lori’s. Wiley, 36, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, nearly two years after reporting his daughter missing.
Established In late June 2025, the Leon County Sheriff’s Office announced Wiley died of natural causes in custody; the preliminary finding was a pulmonary embolism, with a full autopsy standard for any in-custody death. Established State Attorney Jack Campbell stated his office believed a sexual assault — possibly a pregnancy — was the motive, citing searches for Plan B and an STD test kit. Established With Wiley’s death, the criminal case abated: the indictment is dismissed, and he remains forever accused, never convicted. Hill of Justice’s legal breakdown: American criminal law cannot try the dead — abatement is absolute, and no trial in absentia applies to a deceased defendant.
— Lori Paige, 12, last seen June 2, 2023; reported missing by her father June 3, 2023.
— Case classified "missing and runaway juvenile" on her poster.
— February 2024: re-examined leads and statement inconsistencies produced search warrants.
— Court-record evidence per coverage: blood in the car's carpet, cut-out carpet section, blood-capable cleaner, destroyed electronics, one-way Jacksonville→Puerto Rico ticket, incriminating phone searches, and phone-location data tracing the route into Thomas County, GA.
— April 5, 2025: partial remains found after a prescribed burn, ~100 ft from the phone-logged location; DNA-confirmed.
— April 2025: Andrew Wiley, 36, arrested; charged with second-degree murder; held without bond.
— June 2025: State Attorney Jack Campbell announced suspected sexual assault as motive, citing Plan B and STD-kit searches.
— Late June 2025: Wiley died in custody (preliminary: pulmonary embolism, natural causes per Leon County Sheriff's Office). Criminal case abated.
— The full manner and circumstances of Lori's death (the condition of the recovered remains sharply limited forensic determinations).
— Why the investigation lost urgency between June 2023 and February 2024 — apathy, resourcing, or something else.
— The complete findings of the in-custody death autopsy.
Online theories that Wiley was "silenced" in custody: Hill of Justice's analysis walked through why an in-custody conspiracy is possible-but-improbable — it would require coordination spanning jail staff and the medical examiner, against parties who wanted him tried. The full autopsy is the answer to this question, and transparency there matters precisely because of these theories.
Wiley's devices were central despite his attempt to destroy them. Recovered data included searches for remote areas of Alabama and Georgia, area bodies of water, driving directions, "Apalachicola National Forest dead body," and "where do police look to find missing kids" — plus location data logging a route from his home into Thomas County, ending at a field off Mitchell Road. Her remains were found within about 100 feet of that logged point.
The recovered remains — two small bones located after a prescribed burn — were DNA-matched to Lori. Their condition sharply limited what forensics could establish about how she died; HOJ's discussion addressed strangulation indicators raised in the case while stressing the limits of the evidence. The delay in locating remains is itself an evidentiary cost: a fuller recovery earlier would have meant more answers, and possibly stronger charges.
Hill of Justice's central critique: the first hours were surrendered to the "runaway" assumption. The analysis lays out what a serious missing-child response looks like — immediate canvass of friends and hangouts, camera checks, scent-dog deployment while trails are fresh, early voluntary-consent searches and polygraph offers to eliminate the closest adults, and the willingness to ask the hard question directly. The chief's acknowledgment of "lessons to be learned" — and the department's abandonment of the runaway label — is the record of that failure. Credit in the coverage goes to Lori's teacher, whose persistent advocacy kept the case alive.
Jurisdiction: although the body was moved across the state line into Georgia, prosecution belonged where the killing occurred — the analysis explains that bodies are moved to separate the scene from the suspect, which is why finding the kill site matters.
Abatement by death: with the accused dead, criminal proceedings terminate; the indictment is dismissed; there is no trial in absentia for the deceased. The charge had already been shaped by the delay — second-degree rather than first — because manner-of-death evidence degraded with time.
Criminal case closed by abatement following Wiley's in-custody death. Community efforts continue toward scholarships, memorials, and child-protection advocacy in Lori's name. This file updates if the full custody-death autopsy or further records are released.
