commentary by Patrick H. Moore
Eric Millerberg of North Ogden, Utah was/is a white supremacist and a member of the Silent Aryan Warriors. He was on parole for burglary and firearm charges last winter when, with his wife, Dea Millerberg, acting as an accomplice, he engaged in 3-way sex with his wife and their 16-year-old babysitter, Alexis Rasmussen, and injected the babysitter with lethal amounts of heroin and methamphetamine which led to her death. Once the girl had expired, the Millerbergs tried to hide the evidence by dumping Alexis in an isolated area of Morgan County, Utah. The child’s body was found five weeks later.
In March of this year, Eric Millerberg, after being convicted at trial of child abuse homicide, obstruction of justice, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and abuse or desecration of a human body, was sentenced to 6 years to life in prison for the key role he played in Alexis’s death.
Without a doubt, Eric’s conviction was facilitated by his wife Dea – who signed a plea deal – testifying against him.
Emiley Morgan of the Deseret News writes:
The key testimony in the trial came from Millerberg’s wife, Dea, who said it was Eric Millerberg who injected methamphetamine and heroin into the teenager’s body. Alexis baby-sat for the couple, but her friend also testified that she and Alexis would go to them for drugs and alcohol.
The Millerbergs prepared drugs for the three of them, and they injected methamphetamine and heroin, smoked marijuana, drank alcohol and engaged in sexual activity the night Alexis died.
After Alexis took a bath at the Millerberg home, Dea Millerberg said the girl reported being really cold and shaking. Millerberg, a former nurse, didn’t think much of the girl’s symptoms at the time. But when Alexis became unresponsive later in the night, she tried to resuscitate her, but to no avail.
It was after that when the Millerbergs tried to cover themselves by hiding Alexis’ body.
At Millerberg’s hearing, while sentencing the 38-year-old to six years to life, the maximum sentence allowed, Second District Judge Scott Hadley stated:
“This homicide it is not a typical one, if there is such a thing. Intentionally injecting a young lady with dangerous drugs multiple times … it’s just beyond reckless.”
“(Alexis) was simply an immature victim that you took advantage of after you injected her with drugs. Frankly, the conduct that bothers me the most was the conduct after, that things could have been done to make it less horrendous than it was, but they weren’t.”
At his sentencing, Eric Millerberg said he was sorry for the loss to Alexis’ family, but he refused to take total responsibility for her death:
“I’m willing to shoulder the responsibility for the role I played and the things that I have done,” he said. “There’s no way it’s all mine.”
During the trial and at Millerberg’s sentencing, there appeared to be a common assumption that Dea Millerberg had gotten a “sweetheart” plea deal, and very likely was going to do little, if any jail or prison time.
This turned out, however, to be a false assumption.
The CRIMESIDER STAFF writes:
A Utah woman accused of helping her husband dump their teenage baby sitter’s body in the woods after a night of sex and drugs has been sentenced to up to five years in prison.
A state judge sentenced 41-year-old Dea Millerberg in an emotional hearing on Thursday. Calling the crime heinous and depraved, Judge W. Brent West said he would have leveled a harsher sentence if not for a plea deal prosecutors agreed to in exchange for Millerberg’s testimony against her husband.
“She lost all her common sense, and was not in a position to help Alexis when she needed her the most,” said West as Millerberg burst into racking sobs.
In her plea agreement, Dea Millerberg’s pled to one count of desecration of a human body, one count of illegally obtaining prescription drugs and one count of obstructing justice (hiding the body).
Each of these counts of conviction carries an indeterminate sentence of 0 to 5 years and they will be served concurrently in Utah State Prison. What this means realistically is that Dea could be out in a year of two.
Although many observers will undoubtedly believe Dea is getting off far too easily, the fact of the matter is 1) Rasmussen’s death was not ruled a homicide; and 2) if Dea Millerberg had not testified that her husband injected the girl with heroin and methamphetamine, prosecutors might not have been able to convict him.
“He was the one who was most responsible for this act,” Weber County Attorney Dee Smith said.
Dea Millerberg’s attorney, Michael Bouwhuis, had asked the judge for probation. He stated that Dea had been off drugs for three years since Rasmussen’s death and recently regained custody of her children. Bouwhuis explained that Dea had an unstable mother, started drinking at 13 and later turned to drugs herself. In addition, according to Bouwhuis, Dea was abused by Eric Millerberg as well as by a previous husband.
In the courtroom, a tearful Dea Millerberg turned to the victim’s mother, Dawn Miera, and apologized to her.
“I just want to say that I am appalled and disgusted by what I’ve done.”
Ms. Miera appears to have handled this immensely difficult situation with considerable grace stating that she was satisfied with the sentence and ready to put the case behind her.
“I go back over and over again, thinking what I could have done to make things different, and I wonder if she does the same,” said Miera of Millerberg. “I do know Lexie was trying to find herself and she found Dea.”
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What is troubling to me is why in the world did Alexis Rasmussen, who was young, attractive and presumably of at least normal intelligence “try to find herself” by having group sex and injecting narcotics with a hardened white supremacist and his reportedly abused wife?
It is, of course, not at all unusual for teenage boys and girls to experiment with drugs, and the vast majority of them manage to pull through without too much difficulty. But smoking a little marijuana is a far cry from shooting meth and heroin. And then when you add 3-way-sex while in a state of serious intoxication with a couple who were old enough to be her parents, it gets very dark indeed.
Why did Alexis feel the need to do this? Why was she so reckless? What was missing from her life? These questions may never be answered but whatever the gaping emptiness in her life may have been, there is no doubt that it cost her dearly…
Click here to view our previous post on this troubling case:
Killing the Babysitter with Sex and Drugs Utah Style