An accused murderer's wife took the stand on Monday to describe how her husband injected their babysitter with a mix of illegal drugs before witnessing the 16-year-old girl's death.
Dea Millerberg, 39, recounted the terror she and husband Eric Millerberg, 36, experienced on the mid-September night in 2011 when Alexis Rasmussen allegedly died in their Utah home.
She said that on the night Rasmussen passed away -- sometime late Sept. 10 or early Sept. 11 -- her husband injected the girl with heroin and methamphetamine. Millerberg say that Rasmussen began "freaking out" and took a bath to warm her body and relax, ABC4 reported.
Rasmussen went to rest on the Millerberg's bed, where the couple found her unresponsive approximately 30 minutes later.
"We decided police were not going to be called," Dea Millerberg said, according to KSL. "I dressed her, wrapped her in a blanket. I had a foot locker-type box [we put her in] and put her in the trunk of the car."
The Millerbergs left their 6-year-old daughter at home, put their infant in the car, and went to dispose of the babysitter's body.
"It really was a panic," she said, according to ABC4. "The idea of it was, we will lose our kids and go to jail, and there was nothing we could do to bring her back."
Prosecutors have characterized the Millerbergs' relationship with Rasmussen as drug-fueled and highly disturbing.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, "At first, the Millerbergs paid Alexis and a friend in Xanax for their services, according to testimony. But eventually the girl began asking about methamphetamine -- another drug the Millerbergs used. Dea Millerberg said her husband showed Alexis how to smoke it using a light bulb."
When authorities eventually found Rasmussen near the Weber River in Morgan County, her body was so badly decomposed that a full autopsy could not be performed, the Associated Press reported.
Dea Millerberg was given immunity that will keep prosecutors from using her testimony against her, but Smith said she would not be given "a walk" on her own cases, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Eric Millerberg is charged with child abuse, homicide, unlawful sexual activity with a minor and obstructing justice. He is currently detained in Utah State Prison.
Dea Millberberg faces unrelated prescription drug fraud and child endangerment charges.
Both Millerbergs are charged with desecration of a corpse.
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