State police have arrested a mother who is accused of murdering her child during an incident in September.
Earlier this month, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said the child that died following a crash and search along Route 9 was actually killed.
State police responded to the report of a crash on Route 9 South in Cromwell near exit 25 around 5:20 p.m. on Sept. 11. When they arrived, they found one of the vehicles involved was unoccupied, according to state police.
Witnesses told troopers a woman got out of the vehicle with a young child and went down an embankment next to Route 9 North.
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An arrest warrant details the events leading up to the child's death. Investigators said the mother was intentionally speeding right before the crash, and took steps to convince the driver she crashed into not to notify police of the crash.
The mother, Devoni Miller, of Cromwell, hung up the phone when the driver dialed 911, saying, "You can't call 911, I can't go back there, they are going to take me back there," the warrant states.
After the crash, Miller was allegedly only wearing undergarments and appeared to be calm and uninjured, according to police. When asked where her clothes were, she told officers, "I had to get rid of it." According to the warrant, the mother told authorities that her toddler was floating in the river, saying the two were swimming.
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Miller told Cromwell officers that she's "not crazy, just a little depressed," and that she should be taken to jail. Witnesses that were interviewed as a part of the investigation told authorities that Miller had been acting strange and erratic since her child's birthday, and appeared to be "completely disinterested and emotionless," the warrant states.
In a conversation, a witness said Miller stated she was "running and hiding from the police and demons" after her child's death. Police also learned that Miller had taken a sudden interest in reading the Bible, and would quote scriptures, according to the warrant.
When police tried to interview her, she would not answer questions and insisted she get her belongings back, authorities said.
The Chief Medical Examiner's Office determined that the child, identified as 2-year-old Deroyal Miller, was killed and died by drowning. A fire official told authorities that water levels were higher than normal at the time of the incident due to recent rainfall.
After two hours of searching, first responders spotted a woman walking along Route 9 North who matched the witness description of the driver of the unoccupied vehicle. A short time later, first responders found an unresponsive child in a rocky area of the Connecticut River, according to state police. The toddler was rushed to the hospital and was pronounced dead.
A report conducted shows that Miller "intended to cause the death of the victim, thereby resulting in death," according to police.
Cromwell police said they arrested the child's mother on Thursday. She faces additional charges including risk of injury to a child, reckless endangerment, evading responsibility, interfering with an emergency call and reckless driving.
Miller was taken into custody by state police on an active arrest warrant after posting bail in Cromwell. She is now being held on a $1 million bond and is in Department of Corrections custody.
She has a Dec. 22 court date. The investigation remains ongoing.
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