Man suspected in Ogden teen's death stabbed in prison

Man suspected in Ogden teen's death stabbed in prison


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

DRAPER — A North Ogden man awaiting trial in the death his 16-year-old baby sitter was stabbed Monday at the Utah State Prison.

Eric Millerberg, 36, suffered non-life-threatening injuries after being stabbed during "some sort of altercation" in his cell just before 5 p.m., according to Utah Department of Corrections spokesman Steve Gehrke.

Millerberg's cellmate is being treated as a suspect, as he was the only person with access to the man when he was stabbed, Gehrke said.

During the altercation, Millerberg was stabbed several times in his upper body with a shiv — a piece of metal sharpened into a point. He was treated at a local hospital and was in stable condition Tuesday night, Gehrke said. A motive for the stabbing was unknown Tuesday, he said.

Millerberg is awaiting trial in the September 2011 death of Alexis Rasmussen. He has been charged with child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and unlawful sexual activity with a minor, and abuse and desecration of a human body, both third-degree felonies.

Millerberg's attorneys have requested money from Weber County to pay for an expert witness. During a preliminary hearing June 26, 2nd District Court Judge Scott Hadley said he will wait to set a trial date until attorneys know how long the trial will last.

Gehrke said it's too early to tell whether the crimes Millerberg is charged with played a role in the stabbing. Millerberg and his cellmate are both members of the same gang, he said.

If the cellmate is found responsible for the stabbing, he could face criminal charges, as well as internal punishments such as restrictive housing or reduced privileges, Gehrke said.

The Unified Police Department is investigating the incident. Millerberg's wife, Dea Millerberg, is facing a single charge of desecration of a human body, a third-degree felony, in connection with Rasmussen's death. She was a key witness against her husband at the man's preliminary hearing, testifying that he injected Rasmussen with heroin and methamphetamine the night she died.

The North Ogden teen originally was a baby sitter for the couple and later started visiting their house to smoke and drink, Dea Millerberg said.

On Sept. 10, 2011, Rasmussen went to the couple's home to baby-sit and ended up using heroin and methamphetamine with the couple. She stopped responding and died, Dea Millerberg said.

The couple then buried her in an isolated area of Morgan County, police said. Her body was discovered a month later.

Contributing: Paul Nelson

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Whitney Evans

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast