Warrant: Cromwell mother acted abnormally weeks before drowning toddler
A woman reportedly had been acting strangely for weeks before police said she drowned her 2-year-old daughter in the Connecticut River, according to her arrest warrant affidavit.
Connecticut State Police on Thursday charged Devoni Miller, 24, of Cromwell, with murder and other offenses in connection with the child’s death.
Police said they believe Miller crashed her 2016 Hyundai Sonata twice — first in Cromwell, and then on Route 9 — on the evening of Sept. 11. After fleeing the second crash, Miller sped across four lanes of highway traffic and a grass median before slamming into a guardrail, police wrote in her arrest warrant affidavit.
At 5:31 p.m., police received a call from a driver saying she had pulled over when she saw the crash. Miller reportedly approached the caller, telling her, “You can’t call 911, I can’t go back there, they are going to take me back there,” according to the affidavit.
The woman told police Miller repeatedly tried to grab her cellphone and hang it up; Miller got into the back of the woman’s vehicle, reached toward the front seat and ended the 911 call, police wrote in the affidavit.
Miller then left the vehicle and took her child, Deroyal Miller, to the Connecticut River, where she placed the toddler in the water, according to the affidavit.
Authorities encountered Devoni Miller alone and in her undergarments at around 7:12 p.m. when she was walking back toward the scene of the crash, according to police. According to the affidavit, Cromwell police told state police that Miller appeared mostly calm and uninjured and, when asked what happened to her clothes, she said, “I had to get rid of it.”
Miller told police she had gone swimming with her daughter and that the toddler was “floating,” according to the affidavit. She then pointed toward the water, police said.
While speaking with Cromwell police, Miller told officers, “I’m not crazy, just a little depressed,” and told them to “just take me to jail,” according to the affidavit. Police ultimately took Devoni Miller to Middlesex Hospital “by way of an emergency committal,” it said.
Less than an hour later, fire personnel found Deroyal on a pile of rocks near the Connecticut River. Emergency personnel attempted lifesaving measures before taking her to Middlesex Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 9:23 p.m., police said in the affidavit.
A report from the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said the child had fluid in her lungs and minor blunt force trauma to her head, torso and extremities, according to the affidavit. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide through drowning.
During the investigation, police determined that, before crashing into the guardrail, Miller was “91% on the acceleration pedal,” meaning it was nearly completely depressed, the affidavit said; police believe she was going an estimated 57 mph when the vehicle made impact.
“Based on the circumstances and speed at which she was traveling before the vehicle came to final rest, and her actions afterward, Devoni Miller intended to cause the death of the victim,” state police said in the affidavit.
Cromwell police charged Miller with risk of injury to a child, second-degree reckless endangerment, evading responsibilities with injuries and reckless driving in connection with the first crash, police said. She was released after posting a $5,000 bond, Cromwell Police Chief Frederick Sifodaskalakis said in a statement Thursday.
Miller then was turned over to Connecticut State Police, which also had an active warrant for her arrest, according to Sifodaskalakis.
State police on Thursday charged Miller with murder, first-degree reckless endangerment, interfering with an emergency call, reckless driving, evading responsibility in operation to other vehicles and risk of injury to a child, police said.
She was arraigned in state Superior Court in Middletown Friday and was ordered held in lieu of a $1 million bail and will undergo a competency evaluation.
For the investigation, police also interviewed people close to Devoni Miller, who said she had recently started acting strange and appeared disinterested and emotionless, police said in the affidavit.
On the morning of the incident, Miller had been sent home early from work because she was “acting erratic and displaying violent tendencies,” a coworker told police, the affidavit said.
One person told police she feared for her own life and tried to take Deroyal away from Miller before Miller left the house on Sept. 11, though she was unable to in time, police said in the affidavit.
Another person told police that Miller left the house on Sept. 11 after saying things such as “not to be afraid of death” and talking about the “other side,” according to the affidavit.
That person visited Miller at the hospital the next morning and asked her how her daughter died, police said in the affidavit. According to the affidavit, Miller told the person her daughter was in the water with her when the child got swept under by a strong current while she was “running/hiding from the police and demons.”
Miller reportedly told that same person that she swam to the shore, but never mentioned looking for Deroyal, according to the affidavit.
Another person told police that Miller’s personality changed in the weeks leading up to the incident, the warrant said. On the day of Deroyal’s birthday, the mother acted “very distant” and didn’t interact with the family, according to this person’s interview with police summarized in the affidavit.