MINERSVILLE, Beaver County, Utah, Nov. 9, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A Minersville woman was charged Monday with aggravated murder and conspiracy in connection with her husband’s Sept. 26 shooting death.
Victoria Elyse Woerth, 28, faces charges of:
- Aggravated murder, a first degree felony
- Criminal solicitation, a first-degree felony
- Conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, a second-degree felony
Already charged in the death of 38-year-old Shane Michael Davis is suspect Mike Allen Miller, 25, who was arrested for first-degree murder on the day Davis was fatally shot, and who admitted to the shooting.
A second charge, conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, was added to Miller’s case on Tuesday.
Beaver County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a Minersville residence at about 2:30 a.m. Miller’s probable cause statement says. Upon arrival, deputies found a 38-year-old man on the garage’s concrete floor, “slumped over and bleeding from an obvious wound in his back, near his left shoulder blade,” the statement says.
“The male was semi responsive and had told several medical staff that he did not shoot himself,” the statement says, noting no firearm was found at the scene. “The male victim was transported to the Beaver Valley Hospital by ambulance. I was told after arriving at the hospital, the male died from his injuries.”
Others living at the home informed deputies that Miller had been arguing with Davis and did own a 9mm pistol. At about 7:45 a.m. Sunday, officers were notified that Miller was parked a few blocks away in a blue Dodge Neon. Miller exited the vehicle at the deputies’ request.
“Miller also made statements to us that he had shot the male victim in self defense. Miller told us that the pistol was on the passenger front seat of the vehicle. Miller was taken into custody and transported to the Beaver County Jail without incident.”
In an interview later, “Miller admitted that he had shot the male victim (Davis), noting that he thought he was protecting other residents in the home. Miller admitted that he did not initially feel any remorse for his actions. Miller also told me that the victim was closing a door and possibly holding onto the wrist of his spouse, at the time of the shooting. Miller also told us that he was not going to allow the male victim to go into his own residence.
“After interviewing Miller, it was found that there was no immediate threat of serious bodily injury or death involving this incident. Miller admitted that there were other options that he could have used other than deadly force against the male victim.”
Detectives tipped
Within days of the shooting, Beaver County Sheriff’s detectives say they were given a tip to check out Woerth’s Snapchat account for messages allegedly between her and her husband’s shooter, Miller.
The witness, who was known to the involved parties, also told officers “he had heard Victoria telling another person in their house that the only way Mike can marry her is if Shane is dead.” The witness also told officers the Snapchat exchange said “once he is gone, we can get married.”
Woerth and Miller reportedly communicated on Snapchat through the code names rebelprincez (hers) and devil_daddy13 (his), which were confirmed to be theirs as the result from evidence gained through an electronic search warrant, investigators said.
Messages recovered between rebelprincez and devil_daddy13 also talked about different ways to to kills someone to decrease chances of being caught, and mentioned rat poison and bleach, which Miller said he had used before in non-lethal quantities “to get a point across” to a family member.
Other methods mentioned were brake failure and anything that could be attributed to suicide.
“I know how to make things look like an accident,” Miller is reported as saying under the name devil-daddy 13. “Not my first go around. And you know I’d never leave a way to get found cause I wouldn’t want myself to get taken away from you.”
“Trust me, I’ll do this, but you can’t back out of it,” devil_daddy13 said, according to the court documents.
“I wont, I’ve been contemplating it for a long time,” rebelprincez said a few lines later. “I only get scared bc(sic) of loosing(sic) you or getting caught, your(sic) my world without using I’d die myself.” A few lines latter, she added,” without u I won’t survive.”
Both Miller and Woerth are being held without bail in the Beaver County jail.
