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Authorities are investigating a chilling case in Washington after a landlord is accused of murdering his 71-year-old tenant and concealing the body in a barrel on his property.
The suspect, 67-year-old Ricky Dean Miller, was taken into custody following a tip-off from a family member who reported that Miller confessed to the crime and disclosed the location of the hidden body, as detailed by the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.
On December 16, law enforcement officers arrived at Miller’s property in Woodland. After securing a search warrant, they made the grim discovery of Dennis Eugene Schmitt’s remains inside a barrel, authorities confirmed.
According to police, Miller had been serving as Schmitt’s landlord, with both men residing in separate dwellings on the same property.
An autopsy concluded that Schmitt succumbed to multiple blunt force injuries to the head, and his body showed signs of strangulation, officials reported.
Miller was arrested and booked into Cowlitz County Jail on second-degree murder and unlawful disposal of human remains charges.
“It was nuts because we are in the middle of nowhere. We didn’t think anything like that would ever happen,” neighbor Emma Withers told KPTV.
“I just wanna know what drove him to do it… but I also don’t want to because they are our neighbors,” Withers said.
The Cowlitz County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.