374: Tim Carpenter - Grave Robber, Stolen Artifacts and Burial Remains

FBI Case File Review

Jerri Williams

True Crime, Interviews, Fiction, History, Fbi, Government, Truecrime

4.6 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2025

⏱️ 101 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Retired agent and former FBI art crime team leader Tim Carpenter reviews his case where 5,000 illegally collected cultural artifacts and two thousand human burial remains were seized from the Midwestern home of grave robber Don Miller. Many of the pieces in Miller’s illicit collection of over 42,000 items were looted from sacred burial and cultural heritage sites around the world. Tim and his team repatriated these items of historical and cultural significance back to Native American and other indigenous communities from which they were stolen. Tim, the author of The Grave Robber, a book about the meticulous work involved in the FBI’s investigation, served in the FBI for twenty years.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It never occurs to these folks that when you go up and dig up an indigenous grave site,
0:05.8	you know, a native site, perhaps they don't want you to take their things.
0:09.4	These things were buried in the ground for a reason, right?
0:11.9	These grave goods were buried spiritually for their loved ones to take with them into the spirit
0:17.7	world.
0:18.2	So it's not okay that you come and take them out of the ground and
0:21.1	take them home. I don't care that you're trying to preserve them. That's not what they were intended.
0:25.5	And that's that morality piece that seems to be missing a lot in the mindset of Don and like-minded folks.
0:30.8	It is not up to you to come along and dig these things up and just take them home.
0:38.3	Welcome to episode 374 of FBI case file review with Jerry Williams.
0:46.7	I'm a retired agent on a mission to show you who the FBI is and what the FBI does through my books, my blog, and my podcast
0:56.1	case reviews with former colleagues. Today, we get to speak to retired agent and former FBI
1:03.2	art crime team leader Tim Carpenter, who served in the FBI for 20 years. In this episode,
1:14.3	Tim reviews his case where 5,000 illegally collected cultural artifacts and 2,000 human burial remains were seized by the FBI
1:22.1	from the Indiana home of grave robber Don Miller. Many of the pieces in Miller's illicit collection of over 42,000 items
1:32.3	were looted from sacred burial and cultural heritage sites around the world. Tim Carpenter is the author of
1:41.0	the grave robber, a part true crime narrative, part procedural, that recounts a behind-the-scenes
1:48.6	look at the meticulous work involved in the FBI's investigation of Don Miller, detailing the complex
1:55.5	challenges of recovering stolen cultural artifacts and the legal and moral dilemmas of repatriating them to their rightful communities.
2:05.7	During Tim Carpenter's bureau career, he specialized in counterterrorism, major theft, and art crime investigations.
2:13.5	He led one of the FBI's most sensitive counterterrorism operations, earning the FBI
2:19.9	director's award. Tim joined the art crime team and participated in numerous high-profile
	...

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