Killeen man sentenced to life in prison for killing Heights woman

Heights police said that on July 31, 2021, Mitchell shot Mills and then used the firearm to beat Mills’s roommate, who survived the attack. He then robbed the house while Mills was dying.

A jury trial had been set in Mitchell’s case for Monday in the 27th Judicial District Court; instead, he pleaded guilty to three felony charges and subsequently was sentenced.

Although Mitchell was indicted on a capital murder charge, he was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser, first-degree felony charge of murder, according to the Bell County District Attorney’s Office.

Judge John Gauntt sentenced Mitchell to life behind bars on the murder charge and to 20 years in prison on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated robbery and a second-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to First Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Newell, on Monday.

Mitchell was being held in jail on Monday with no bond listed.

In an obituary from Chisolm’s Family Funeral Home, Mills was described as “larger than life.”

“She found happiness and joy in everything she did,” according to the obituary. “Her family and friends meant everything to her. The unconditional love she had for every child she met was incredible. Skyler loved to travel, see, and experience new places and people. From the time she was little she enjoyed being by the water, the ocean, the lake, the pool, it didn’t matter.”

JULY 31, 2021

Around 3:45 a.m. on July 31, 2021, police were dispatched to the 400 block of Brittney Way for a domestic disturbance call, according to a previous news release from the Harker Heights Police Department. Upon arrival, officers discovered that a woman, later identified as Mills, had been shot.

She succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:59 a.m.

A witness, the victim’s roommate, told police that the incident began when she heard a “pounding at the door,” according to an arrest affidavit. When Mills asked the man, later identified as Mitchell, what he was doing there, he shot her multiple times, the witness said.

Terrified, the roommate was dragged by Mitchell into the living room and thrown beside Mills, who was alive at that point but struggling to breathe, according to an affidavit.

Mitchell left the house briefly, giving the roommate enough time to lock the door, but police said that he broke back into the house moments later. Mitchell dragged the roommate by the hair into the bedroom and then began beating her with his firearm and kicking her.

The roommate told Mitchell where her keys were, after which he “ransacked the bedroom,” stealing the victim’s purse and firing several more shots into her body before leaving the scene.

On Aug. 11, 2021, police obtained an arrest warrant for Mitchell, and he was apprehended just over a month later by a SWAT team during a raid on Sept. 11, 2021. The roommate identified Mitchell as the man who shot and killed Mills.