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NORTH OGDEN — Police and prosecutors announced Wednesday that a tip from a confidential informant in the investigation of a missing teen has led them to human remains in rural Morgan County.
Investigators say an autopsy will be conducted Wednesday, which would positively identify whether the body is that of 16-year-old Alexis Rasmussun, who has been missing since Sept. 11, when she never returned home from a babysitting job.
Police gave very few details during a brief press conference Wednesday morning, not releasing the sex of the body, the condition of the remains or whether the body was found in a shallow grave or above ground.
Weber County Attorney Dee Smith said investigators discovered the site Tuesday afternoon after a confidential informant, whom they had talked to before, apparently gave information that "did led them to site where the remains were discovered."
There's always going to be words. Until they say it's Alexis ... nobody is giving up.
–Sarah Evans
Smith would not say who the informant was or if he or she is now considered a suspect in the case.
On Sept. 10, Alexis went to the house of Eric and Dea Millerberg, 3228 N. 900 East, to babysit their 5-year- old and 9-month-old daughters. She had tended the children in the past, said Rasmussen's mother, Dawn Miera.
Store surveillance video confirms that about 10:20 p.m. that night, Dea Millerberg and Alexis went to a Walgreens in Layton to pick up a prescription. Meira said Millerberg left again to resume her night out with Eric.
Miera said she texted "Lexi" between 10 and 15 times that night. Her last text was about 11:30 p.m. By that time, Miera said she was irritated that the Millerbergs were still out. She told Alexis that she was not mad at her but to make sure she got paid and to just spend the night at their house.
The next day, Miera said her daughter did not return any texts, and all the calls her mother made went straight to voice mail. When Miera went to the Millerberg house, she said she did not get any straight answers.
Eric Millerberg was arrested earlier for investigation of violating his parole for alleged drug use, and Dea Millerberg was arrested a couple of days later and charged with two counts of falsely obtaining a prescription, a third-degree felony.
Police have conducted searches on the Millerberg home since Rasmussen was reported missing. But police aren't saying whether the searches were conducted for the drug investigation or the missing person investigation.
Related:
Family, friends of N. Ogden teen remain hopeful
The family and friends of 16-year-old Alexis Rasmussen are holding out hope that the body found early Wednesday was not that of the Weber High School student who has been missing for over a month now.At the news conference Wednesday, North Ogden police did use the word suspects during the news conference, saying they were looking at a couple of them. They did not say whether the Millerbergs were considered "suspects."
Department of Corrections spokesman Steven Gehrke, when asked whether his department had been asked to assist in the Rasmussen investigation, said, "Adult Probation and Parole has cooperated with the investigating agencies as needed."
When contacted by the Deseret News, Randall Marshall, Eric Millerberg's attorney on his current parole violation, said he had no comment regarding the Rasmussen case.
North Ogden Police Chief Polo Afuvai said the Rasmussen case had been a "complex and difficult" one.
Smith also defended how the police had handled the investigation, saying those who believed detectives weren't treating the case seriously because they thought Rasmussen had just run away, were wrong.
"They've been working this case nonstop just following one lead after another," he said.
One aspect that has complicated the investigation are the numerous sightings of Rasmussen that members of the public have reported around the Davis and Weber county areas over the past couple of weeks. For police, Smith said, it meant early in the investigation they weren't sure what they had.
He also noted the case wasn't over.
"There's a lot of work still to be done on this case," he said.
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Written by Pat Reavy with contributions from Mike Anderson.
