Better technology comes through for Farah family in 1974 Jacksonville cold case

Fingerprints found on a box of cake mix and a can of frosting prompted police to arrest the well-known French Quarter "human statue.

May 24, 2017

Bobby Farah was a child when his father was shot and killed on May 22, 1974, in an attempted armed robbery at his Jacksonville grocery store.

As the decades rolled by, the son, three sisters and Freddie Farah's widow waited and wondered if the killer would ever be found.

hat wait officially ended Wednesday morning when Sheriff Mike Williams confirmed what the murder arrest of iconic New Orleans street performer Johnie Lewis Miller, known as "Uncle Louie." The Times-Union and Jacksonville.com have been detailing the arrest and progress made in the case since Friday.

Standing next to the sheriff and flanked on the other side by the cold case squad that reopened the case, Farah's son thanked them for the arrest 43 year's after his father died. He said the family was relieved to learn of the arrest, never thinking this day would come.

"To be honest with you, I wasn't totally shocked," the son said at the news conference. "But I just always had this feeling that someone was out there that was responsible and I wanted to find out who that person was."

Fingerprints found on a box of cake mix and a can of frosting prompted police to arrest the well-known French Quarter "human statue." Miller, 60, remains behind bars in a New Orleans jail nearly a week after police picked him up on an out-of-state warrant accusing him of murder and attempted armed robbery in the May 22, 1974, shooting of the 34-year-old Farah.

The Times-Union will be updating with the new details.