Alexis Rasmussen was a 16-year-old from North Ogden, Utah, who died on September 10, 2011, at the home of Eric and Dea Millerberg, a couple she thought she was babysitting for. The Alexis Rasmussen and Millerberg case ended with Eric Millerberg convicted of child abuse homicide and sentenced to five years to life in prison after injecting Alexis with heroin and methamphetamine, and Dea Millerberg pleading guilty to related felonies and serving roughly four years before her early release in 2018.
The Night Alexis Died
What was presented to Alexis’s family as babysitting was, according to Dea Millerberg’s later testimony, a night of drug use with the couple. Search warrants alleged the Millerbergs had “long supplied Rasmussen drugs in exchange for baby-sitting.”1ABC 7 Chicago. Man Accused of Killing Baby Sitter With Drugs
Dea, who was granted use immunity and testified against her husband, said Eric Millerberg injected Alexis three times over the course of the night. Once with heroin, twice with methamphetamine, including one injection directly into her neck. The three also attempted sexual activity but were too intoxicated to follow through, she said. After the third injection Alexis complained of feeling cold and shaky, took a bath, and was put in the couple’s bed. When the Millerbergs came back from stepping outside, she was not breathing. Dea, a licensed nurse, said she tried CPR and could not revive her.2Salt Lake Tribune. Millerberg Convicted of Child Abuse Homicide
The couple placed Alexis’s body in a footlocker, put it in the trunk of their car, and drove to a remote spot in Morgan County to dispose of it.3Fox 8 Live. Man Accused of Killing Baby Sitter With Drugs
Assistant medical examiner Joseph White testified at trial that Alexis had seven times the lethal amount of methamphetamine in her system, along with high levels of morphine and amphetamines.4CBS News. Utah Man Guilty of Teen Babysitter’s Drug and Sex Fueled Murder Prosecutors also presented evidence that Millerberg had sex with Alexis on multiple occasions before her death and told fellow inmates he had been “partying with teenage girls.”
How Investigators Found Her
Alexis had gone to the Millerbergs’ home at 3228 North 900 East in North Ogden on the evening of September 10, 2011.5KSL. Millerbergs Called People of Interest in Murder Investigation Surveillance video showed Dea Millerberg and Alexis picking up a prescription at a Walgreens in Layton at 10:20 p.m. She exchanged 10 to 15 text messages with her mother, Dawn Miera, the last around 11:30 p.m. The Millerbergs told investigators Alexis had left the house around that time to meet a friend, but the boy she had been texting said he never saw her that night.66abc. Missing Teen’s Body Found in Utah
When Alexis did not come home the next morning, Dawn Miera went to the Millerberg residence looking for her. For weeks Alexis was treated as a missing person. Roughly a month after the disappearance, a man named Eric “Peanut” Smith contacted police and admitted he had helped move a decomposing body farther off a road in rural Morgan County.7Deseret News. Eric Millerberg Injected 16-Year-Old Alexis Rasmussen, Then Put Her in Garbage Bag, Prosecutor Says Smith led officers to the site, and on October 18, 2011, Alexis’s remains were recovered in a wooded area near the Weber River close to the Taggart exit of Interstate 84.66abc. Missing Teen’s Body Found in Utah Her body had been placed in a garbage bag and was so badly decomposed that a full autopsy was not possible, but toxicology testing on remaining muscle tissue revealed large quantities of methamphetamine and metabolites of heroin.
On October 25, 2011, Weber County Attorney Dee Smith named both Millerbergs as persons of interest in the death, which had been classified as a homicide. Investigators had searched their home multiple times and seized at least two vehicles.5KSL. Millerbergs Called People of Interest in Murder Investigation
Eric Millerberg’s Conviction and Sentence
Eric Millerberg, 38 when charged, was indicted in Weber County’s 2nd District Court on four counts: child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a third-degree felony; and abuse and desecration of a human body, a third-degree felony. He pleaded not guilty.7Deseret News. Eric Millerberg Injected 16-Year-Old Alexis Rasmussen, Then Put Her in Garbage Bag, Prosecutor Says
His public defender, Randall Marshall, attacked Dea Millerberg’s credibility in closing arguments, contending that she shared responsibility for Alexis’s death and that Eric should not bear sole culpability. He tried to use computer records showing Eric logged into a community college website to suggest Dea, not Eric, had administered the fatal injections.
The three-day jury trial ended on February 14, 2014, with Millerberg convicted on all four counts.4CBS News. Utah Man Guilty of Teen Babysitter’s Drug and Sex Fueled Murder On March 18, 2014, Judge Scott Hadley imposed consecutive sentences: five years to life for child abuse homicide, one to 15 years for obstruction of justice, and zero to five years each for sexual misconduct with a minor and desecration of a body.8CBS News. Utah Man Gets Life Sentence for Teenage Babysitter’s Drug-Fueled Death
Millerberg remains in the Utah prison system serving a sentence of at least six years to life.9Deseret News. Court Denies New Trial for Utah Man in Babysitter’s Overdose Death
Dea Millerberg’s Plea and Release
Dea Millerberg, 40, was initially charged with desecration of a human body and child endangerment. In June 2014 she entered a plea deal, pleading guilty to three third-degree felonies: obstructing justice, desecration of a human body, and illegally acquiring prescription drugs.10Deseret News. Dea Millerberg Takes Plea Deal in Death of Baby Sitter The agreement required her to testify against her husband, which she had already done under use immunity earlier that year.
On August 12, 2014, she was sentenced to three concurrent terms of zero to five years in prison.11Standard-Examiner. North Ogden Woman Who Helped Dispose of Babysitter’s Body Gets Out of Prison Early In February 2015 the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole ordered her to serve her full sentence, and in February 2017 the board again denied her request for release.9Deseret News. Court Denies New Trial for Utah Man in Babysitter’s Overdose Death She was released on October 16, 2018, ahead of her scheduled parole date of April 2019, after completing a residential substance abuse treatment program and vocational courses in culinary arts and business technology. In total she served about four years and two months.
The Failed Appeal
Eric Millerberg appealed to the Utah Court of Appeals, arguing through appellate attorney Samuel Newton that his public defender had provided ineffective assistance. Three claims were raised: that Marshall failed to adequately pursue a change of venue despite extensive pretrial media coverage, that he failed to present computer log records that could have served as an alibi, and that he failed to move for a directed verdict on the sufficiency of the evidence.12Standard-Examiner. North Ogden Man Convicted in Babysitter’s Overdose Death Loses Court Appeal
On February 23, 2018, the appellate court rejected all three arguments and affirmed the convictions. It found that Marshall had “actively investigate[d] potential sources of bias during jury selection” and that Newton failed to show any actual juror was biased by pretrial publicity. As for the computer records, the court noted they showed Millerberg was logged into a community college website for 46 minutes but did not indicate when he logged in, and were “not inconsistent with Dea’s testimony or Millerberg’s own statements to police.”12Standard-Examiner. North Ogden Man Convicted in Babysitter’s Overdose Death Loses Court Appeal The court also noted that Millerberg had admitted to a jail cellmate that he injected Alexis with drugs.
Who Alexis Was
One week after her daughter’s body was found, Dawn Miera spoke publicly about trusting the Millerbergs. “My biggest mistake was expecting her to be like me or the moms I know,” she said.13Deseret News. I Had Most Horrible Feeling, Mom Said of Meeting Man Investigated in Her Daughter’s Death She recalled running into Dea Millerberg at a store two weeks after Alexis went missing, and that Dea “didn’t ask a single question about the missing girl.”
Family members described Alexis as funny, vivacious, and brilliant, and said she wanted to become a nurse. Her aunt, Deidre Axelsen, called her “an integral part of our family.”14Salt Lake Tribune. Family Press Conference for Alexis Rasmussen