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A North Ogden woman named a person of interest in a teenage girl's death will have a preliminary hearing next month on unrelated charges of prescription fraud.
Dea Millerberg, 38, waived her right to a preliminary hearing on charges that she exposed her baby to methamphetamine during a Wednesday appearance in Ogden's 2nd District court.
Prosecutors have said both Dea Millerberg and her husband, 36-year-old Eric Millerberg, may have been involved in the death of 16-year-old Alexis Rasmussen. She disappeared Sept. 10 while baby-sitting for the couple, but no charges have yet been filed in that case.
Her death is still being investigated and prosecutors awaiting autopsy results from the state Medical Examiner's Office, as well as results of evidence testing at the State Crime Lab, said Weber County Attorney Dee Smith Wednesday.
Rasmussen's body was found Oct. 18, buried in a shallow grave near the Weber River in Morgan County.
Defense attorney Michael Bouwhuis has said that prosecutors have told him that charges, ranging from desecration of a corpse to murder, could be filed against both the Millerbergs.
"She's stressed, understandably, not knowing," Bouwhuis said Wednesday. "Obviously, she's facing potentially very serious charges, but not knowing what those charges might be is a very stressful situation to go through."
He says they've been given "no time frame" as to when those charges might be filed.
Search warrants indicate the Millerbergs paid the teen with drugs for baby-sitting services, that Eric Millerberg asked two people to help get rid of something the night the girl went missing, and that investigators found traces of blood in the couple's home.
The Millerbergs have not been formally named as suspects and no charges have been filed in the girl's death.
The couple was arrested in early October for different reasons — Eric Millerberg for violating his probation and Dea Millerberg for alleged prescription fraud. A preliminary hearing on that case is set for Dec. 21.
The charge of exposing a child to drugs was filed on Nov. 15, after a hair test on one of Dea Millerberg's two young children was allegedly positive for methamphetamine.