Rochester Murder Charges: Suspect Strangled Victim, Moved Body
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- The woman charged in a Rochester murder case moved the victim after strangling him with a belt.
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That’s according to the criminal complaint in the case, which was filed in Olmsted County Court on Friday. The alleged homicide occurred sometime between the night of June 14 and morning of June 15.
A passerby reported finding the victim’s body in Mayo West Park in downtown Rochester.
On Friday, the Rochester Police Department identified the victim as 28-year-old Marcus Martin and the woman accused of killing him as 25-year-old Ruth Miller.
Both Martin and Miller were homeless in Rochester, according to Rochester Police Department Communications Coordinator Amanda Grayson.
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On June 26, the charges say Miller wanted to speak with police about Martin’s death. She told police Martin wanted her to kill him and said she strangled him with a belt, stole his phone, wallet and vape, then took Martin’s property to the Rochester Public Library.
Miller then showed police Martin’s items at the library and led officers to an area where she said she disposed of the belt and a backpack she used to store Martin’s items in under the 4th St. Southeast bridge in downtown Rochester. Nothing was found under the bridge, the complaint says.
Officers then took Miller to the Law Enforcement Center and she repeated the same account of the events. Investigators, who did not have the results of Martin’s autopsy, decided not to apprehend Miller, according to the court document.
On Aug. 28, the Southern Minnesota Medical Examiner’s Office determined Martin died of strangulation, the court document says.
Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement also found evidence that Martin did not die at the location where his body was found by a passerby on the morning of June 15, the complaint says.
Miller was taken into custody in Chaska on Thursday. She was charged Friday with second-degree murder, interference with a dead body and felony theft.
The judge presiding over the case set Miller’s bail at $1 million without conditions. She is due back in court on September 11.
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