Haven woman's death ruled homicide
The young Schuylkill Haven woman found dead Jan. 6 in her home died of fentanyl poisoning, Schuylkill County Coroner David Moylan III said Monday.
'I'm ruling it as death at the hands of another human being, which is homicide,' Moylan said of the death of Haley Mills, 25.
According to toxicology results returned from NMS Labs, Horsham, Mills had fentanyl and other drugs in her system, he said.
Dr. Wayne Ross, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, agreed with Moylan's conclusion, he said.
'The fentanyl was in a lethal range,' he said, without being specific.
The toxicology results also showed methamphetamine, amphetamine and alcohol were in Mills' system, but in lower concentrations, said Moylan, who informed Mill's mother of the findings via Zoom Monday.
Initial autopsy results had indicated the cause of death was diabetic ketoacidosis, and authorities did not suspect foul play had a role in the young woman's death. However, police emphasized those results were preliminary, and the investigation is ongoing.
Police suspect Mills had been dead for 48 hours when a friend found her in her living room at 20 Parkway.
State police had said her death appeared to be 'definitely suspicious' and signs of a struggle appeared to be evident and that the victim being found on the stairs appears to be 'consistent with a struggle.'
A search warrant of the victim's property approved by Magisterial District Judge David Plachko Monday seeks items that could be helpful in the investigation.
State police Trooper Kody Rittenbaugh said a friend of Mills, Hugo Noel, was the last person to see the victim alive. Noel told police he spent all day New Year's day with Mills. He left her Jan. 2 between 5 and 6 p.m., but said she was OK.
He told police he went to her house at 2 p.m. Jan. 6 at the request of family members. He found Mills unresponsive on the stairwell and called police.
Money was found strewn about the living room, and Mills was wearing only a sweatshirt.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Schuylkill Haven State Police at 570-754-4600.
Meanwhile, A GoFundMe page, 'Help Haley rest in peace,' seeks $4,000 to defray funeral costs. So far, $1,595 has been raised.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Southern California mother deported after immigration hearing
Loved ones are heartbroken after a Southern California mother was detained and deported after a routine immigration hearing. Maria Valeriano Perez, 52, is a mother of three children who has lived in the U.S. for 35 years. She had been working as a custodian in Ventura County for years. Her family said she attended an immigration appointment on June 4 and, instead of receiving an update on her case, she was immediately handcuffed and taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She was transported to a federal detention center in downtown L.A. and was eventually deported to Oaxaca, Mexico. Maria's daughter, Erika Perez, said she was not only in shock over her mother's detainment, but also by the reportedly heartbreaking conditions her mother had witnessed. 'She told me about women inside banging doors, begging for food,' Erika told KTLA's Sandra Mitchell. 'They were so hungry that they would pretend they were drinking [and eating.]' Erika said her mother described the detention facility conditions as bleak — a place where men, women and children were crowded into a single room for processing. 'The women would crawl under benches and start crying just to escape the nightmare that they were going through,' Erika said. Kamilla Ponce, whose uncle was also detained by ICE, said he was not provided with much information during the process. 'They didn't even ask if they had papers or if they were documented or had proof of ID, they just rounded them all up,' Ponce said. Her uncle, Rodolfo Ponce Flores, was taken into custody during a raid in the Garment District in downtown L.A. on June 6. She said in just a few days, he had been moved to at least three different facilities across three different counties in SoCal. 'We tried to go see him, but they said, 'No,'' Ponce said. 'They were not letting anybody in, not even the lawyers.' Although Erika said her mother has accepted her fate that she may never gain U.S. citizenship, it doesn't change the effect her absence will have on her friends, loved ones and community members. 'She told me to take care of my siblings and that it's going to be okay,' Erika said of her last conversation with her mother before she was deported. 'I'm just devastated. She's gone now. She left me alone to raise my two other siblings.' Under a new policy from the Trump Administration, Maria would not be able to apply for re-admission into the U.S. for another 10 years. A GoFundMe page to help the Perez family can be found here. A campaign to help Ponce's uncle can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Minneapolis mother witnesses tragic murder-suicide involving 2-year-old
The Brief Just after midnight Monday, 2-year-old Kinsley was shot and killed by her father. He then turned the gun on himself. Kinsley's mother, Trisha Prinsen, says her boyfriend struggled with mental health, but Sunday had a crisis and behavior she had never seen before. Prinsen says she and her daughter were held hostage in their own home, unable to call for help before the shooting. MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A Minneapolis mother is dealing with tragedy after her 2-year-old daughter was shot and killed by her father, who then turned the gun on himself. What we know Police were called to the family's home on the 2900 block of Colfax Avenue North just after midnight Monday. They arrived to find the 2-year-old girl and her father both deceased. Trisha Prinsen says she and her daughter were not allowed to leave the home, and essentially held hostage. Her boyfriend was armed and having a mental crisis. She was able to text two friends to call police, but nothing happened. She did not know you can text 911 for help. What they're saying Trisha Prinsen says although she is angry and sad, her daughter loved her father very much, and that she loved him too. Prinsen says, "I still love him. It's gonna take me a while to forgive him but I still love him." At the height of the crisis, Kinsley went to hug her father, and that's when he shot her and turned the gun on himself. This happened right in front of Prinsen. "Really he just went into a mental psychosis thought people were living under the house, people were watching him. I can't explain it. I couldn't understand where his thinking had gone, he had never been like this before." Prinsen said. Prinsen went onto say, "I'll never be able to take away the images losing her, watching him do that in front of me. I'll never be able to take those images out of my head." Big picture view Prinsen hopes by sharing her story, it will help to raise mental health awareness. She hopes if someone is going through a crisis, or a loved one is struggling they will go get help. She also wants to spread the word that you can text 911, as she didn't know that and it may have helped to prevent such a horrible tragedy. What you can do Trisha is hoping to get help for funeral expenses through a GoFundMe.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
No charging decision made yet in case related to viral video
Jun. 10—ROCHESTER — The Rochester City Attorney's Office has not made a charging decision for the case involving Shiloh Hendrix, a woman caught on video using a racial slur at a Rochester park. According to City Attorney Michael Spindler-Krage, the office has no updates to report yet, as of Monday, June 9. The viral video's case was referred to the city attorney's office on May 5 after the Rochester Police Department completed its investigation. The original video, which was posted on April 28, depicted a man confronting the woman for calling a Black child a racial slur at a Soldiers Field Park playground. Though the original video was deleted, social media influencers had reposted the video with their own commentary. One user's repost on TikTok has since garnered 14.2 million views and 1.3 million likes. The woman in the video identified herself as Shiloh Hendrix in a crowdfunding campaign, asking the public to help her family relocate after their personal information was leaked. As of Tuesday, June 10, Hendrix's campaign has raised more than $790,000. In response to her fundraising efforts, the Rochester branch of the NAACP created a GoFundMe to raise $340,000 for the child in the video and his family. Days after the video was posted, a town hall and protests were held to encourage the city attorney's office to press charges against Hendrix. At the time, Spindler-Krage said it would be premature to estimate when a final decision would be made but that his office would release its decision publicly. The Rochester branch of the NAACP urged the city attorney's office and Olmsted County Attorney's Office "to act with urgency, seriousness, thoroughness, and expediency." The statement listed seven Minnesota criminal statutes the organization believes would apply to the case. The case marks the second completed investigation into a high-profile incident involving race in Rochester over the last year. On April 14, 2024, a racial slur was spelled out using plastic cups in the chain-link fence on the pedestrian bridge over East Circle Drive. The Rochester Police Department identified the four teenagers responsible for the act and referred the case to the Olmsted County Attorney's Office on June 3, 2024. Three days later, former County Attorney Mark Ostrem said his office would not file charges. While the incident was offensive, Ostrem wrote at the time, it has protection under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In August 2024, a state representative found racist graffiti painted on her shed, a swastika on a window of her home, and paint over all but one of the surveillance cameras around her house. The investigation has not been completed.
