A 20-year-old Colorado Springs man accused of killing his mother didn’t have a history of violence, his father and a friend said.
Christopher Benjamin Weiler is being held in the El Paso County jail without bail on suspicion of first-degree murder after police found his mother, Florence Mina Miller-Weiler, 60, bludgeoned to death in her Colorado Springs home.
Her body was found about 9:30 p.m. Monday at 2525 Scorpio Drive.
Christopher Weiler was arrested about 1 a.m. Tuesday in Denver as he likely was headed to a relative’s home, police said.
Wednesday, the El Paso County coroner’s office ruled Miller-Weiler died of blunt-force trauma to the head. Police would not comment on a motive.
Miller-Weiler retired “a couple of years back” from her teaching position in Colorado Springs, said Yuram Weiler, her ex-husband and Christopher Weiler’s father.
Miller-Weiler’s death and his son’s arrest came as “quite a shock,” Yuram Weiler said. “I’m very concerned.”
The father described Christopher as a bright student who enrolled in the engineering physics program at the University of Colorado at Boulder in August 2007.
Yuram Weiler said Christopher, whom he calls by his middle name, Ben, transferred from CU-Boulder to CU-Colorado Springs.
Christopher Weiler never complained of a strained relationship with his mother, Yuram Weiler said.
The father recalled his son was a Boy Scout who achieved Eagle Scout status in November 2005.
“He’s an outstanding young man who excelled academically,” Yuram Weiler said. “I never experienced anything that would give me an indication that there would be any physical or psychological problems.”
Yuram Weiler, who lives in Denver, last saw his son in October, he said. He divorced Florence Miller-Weiler in 1990, and they had minimal contact.
Florence Miller-Weiler was a longtime teacher at West Junior High in Colorado Springs, were she taught seventh- and eighth-grade science.
Jacob Miller, 20, a student at the University of Rochester (N.Y.), met Christopher Weiler when they were 7-year-olds at a New York summer camp.
They saw each other every summer up until a couple of years ago, Miller said.
Miller knew Miller-Weiler as well and had dinner with them many times.
“He’d get angry with her, like any person who gets angry with their mom when they’re grounded or something,” Miller said. “But he never crossed over the line.”
Miller described Christopher Weiler as “wholesome.”
“I can’t believe he would ever do this.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
