A Franklin County man has been charged with first-degree murder after admitting he stabbed his quadriplegic mother-in-law to death early Saturday morning, authorities said.

James Cleveland Miller, 41, called 911 at 3:29 a.m. and said he had killed his mother-in-law in the home they shared in the 1000 block of Muddy Fork Road in the Figsboro area, about a half mile from the Henry County line, said Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt.

Responding deputies found Pamela Carmille Hall, 59, dead in her bed with several stab wounds to the chest from a long-bladed knife, Hunt said.

"He [Miller] was on the scene and readily surrendered to the first arriving officers," Hunt said. "He admitted he committed a murder to both the dispatcher and the arriving officers."

No one else was in the home at the time, Hunt said. He said he could not comment on a motive because the case is still under investigation.

He did say Hall was a quadriplegic and that Miller's wife was her caregiver.

Hall lived in a doublewide trailer with her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, said Gordon Metz, their landlord.

Metz described Hall as a pleasant and amiable person and said she became disabled more than 10 years ago after she was involved in a single-vehicle wreck. Before that, she was a long-time waitress at the Quality Inn Dutch Inn at Collinsville, he said.

Metz said that the relationship between Hall and Miller was traumatic and characterized by turmoil.

"They had some problems from time to time," he said. "What happened was not something Pam deserved."

Hall often visited her next-door neighbor, John Arrington, and spent much of her time on her porch, planting flowers or playing with her cocker spaniel, Arrington said.

"It's so sad that a person of her nature has to leave the world like that," he said.

Miller was charged with first-degree murder and unlawful stab, cut or wound in the commission of a felony.

He was being held without bond at the Western Virginia Regional Jail and is scheduled for arraignment at 8:30 a.m. Monday in Franklin County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. The case falls under domestic relations because Miller, along with his wife and family, lived with Hall.

This marks the second homicide of 2009 in a county that sometimes does not see one all year. The first was what appeared to be a murder-suicide near Smith Mountain Lake on Jan. 18.

Miller does not have a prior criminal record in Franklin or Henry counties, or in Martinsville.

News researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report.