When the ground gave way beneath a Lyford Cay construction site last Wednesday, 38-year-old carpenter Deanko Miller lost his life alongside one other colleague, leaving behind a grieving family that is now calling for a thorough investigation into workplace safety failures at the project. Miller had worked for SMG Construction for close to six years, and in the wake of the tragedy, his sister Deante Miller says he had raised red flags about unsafe working conditions long before the collapse.
Deante Miller, a veteran former combat medic with ties to law enforcement, has chosen to withhold specific details of her brother’s safety concerns while an official investigation is ongoing, but she stressed that all relevant information will be turned over to investigating authorities. For her, this incident is far more than a private family tragedy—it is a critical wake-up call for construction safety standards across The Bahamas.
The family’s core demand is clear: investigators must determine whether proper safety protocols were followed at the site, and whether the ground was sufficiently assessed for stability before work began. Deante Miller has called for outside expertise from bodies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to help lead the probe, arguing that preventable on-the-job deaths cannot be allowed to continue. “You go to work and lose your life—that doesn’t make sense,” she said.
The tragedy has carried a particularly heavy weight for the Miller family. Deanko Miller left behind two young children, ages five and seven. The morning after the collapse, Deante Miller—who was celebrating her birthday—traveled with other family members to identify Deanko’s body at the morgue. She described losing her brother as traumatic and unimaginable, and recounted the confusion and delay the family experienced in learning the full details of his death.
Initially, the mother of Deanko’s children, who was listed as his emergency contact, was only informed of his death with no context about the collapse. The family was first directed to report to a local police station, and it took hours before they confirmed Deanko was the worker killed. “I knew that something was wrong when I called the police station and they said that they didn’t have anybody in custody,” Deante Miller recalled. “I thought maybe it might have been just an altercation on the job, maybe a fight, something unusual. It was only later that we confirmed he had passed.”
Publicly released video of rescue efforts to pull the trapped workers from the collapsed soil has added to the family’s pain. Deante Miller said the family first saw the graphic footage on the evening news, and it was devastating to watch. Compounding their grief are new questions about the speed and effectiveness of the emergency response, after the family heard unconfirmed reports that Deanko may have still been alive and breathing in the immediate aftermath of the collapse.
Drawing on her experience as a combat medic, Deante Miller questioned why first responders did not arrive faster to the scene. To date, the family says they have received no outreach or support from SMG Construction, the company behind the project. When reached for comment by media, SMG Construction declined to issue any statement on the tragedy.
For the Miller family, the immediate priority is getting clear answers about what led to Deanko’s death. “We really just need to know what happened around the circumstances,” Deante Miller said. “If SMG is going to reach out to his immediate family members, I think that would be very helpful for the case, and just taking it one step at a time.”
Deante also shared details of her final conversation with her brother the night before the accident. The pair spoke about their grandmother and her well-known sense of humor, before Deanko signed off with a jarring comment that has lingered with her since: “I’ll see you tomorrow evening, well, if I live.” It was the first time he had ever said anything like that to her, she said.
Deanko’s father, Wayde Miller, remembered his oldest son as a kind, family-focused man who doted on his two young children. “Me and him was pretty close,” Wayde said. “He’s my oldest son, my oldest child. I’m saddened the way his life was taken.” Wayde was out on his boat when the accident happened, and could not be reached immediately because of phone service issues. The last time he saw his son was at a family funeral for Deanko’s nephew several weeks before, where they spent hours together and took photos. “That’s a big chip off the block gone,” Wayde said. “So we just got to stay strong and keep him in our hearts and memory.”
Deanko’s aunt, Linda Wallace, said she last spoke to her nephew two days before the collapse. He had called to check on her after she lost her son two months prior, and they spoke together about how much he missed his late cousin.