Murder charges filed against parents of Ogden 3-year-old; new details revealed in court documents

Miller Costello (right) and Brenda Emile. Photo: Weber County

OGDEN, Utah, July 11, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — A couple has been formally charged with aggravated murder in the July 6 abuse death of their 3-year-old daughter in Ogden.

Miller Costello, 25, and Brenda Emile, 22, each face the first-degree felony charge, according to court documents. Costello and Emile originally were booked into the Weber County Jail on suspicion of child abuse homicide in the death of Angelina Costello.

Police responding to a 911 call arrived at the family’s residence to find Angelina already dead and in the early stages of rigor mortis, the probable cause statement says.

Warning: The statement shared additional disturbing details of the child’s short life, revealed below.

The toddler’s body was covered in burns, cuts and bruises, which Emile admitted to trying to hide by applying makeup, the statement says.

“Officers on scene immediately recognized the child victim had bruising, contusions, lacerations, burns, open sores and abrasions all over her face, hands, legs, head and neck,” the statement says.

A Medical Examiner’s Office investigator who examined the body found a large burn on the child’s chest, and bruises, cuts and smaller burns on her back and legs, the statement says. Some injuries appeared to be new, and others were partially healed.

Officers also noted Angelina appeared to be “extremely malnourished.” A search of Costello and Emile’s cellphones revealed photos and videos going back 18 months and documenting the child’s injuries and declining health. Videos also showed the suspects “taunting the child victim with food by presenting it to her and then removing it from her and disciplining her,” the statement says.

Costello told investigators he knew that Emile was withholding food from the child, and that Angelina needed medical care, but did not seek it for her.

Costello told investigators he and Emile have ties to a transient Gypsy community, and he makes a living buying scrap metal at auctions across the country, and made $150,000 last month. The couple had been in Ogden about a week, police have said.

Costello said that often, when he arrived home after work, he would notice new injuries to Angelina, which Emile would explain as the results of accidents or altercations with the child’s siblings, he said.

Emile repeated that story with police, telling them she knew Angelina was falling and being hit by her siblings, but did not attempt to prevent the injuries. Emile told officers she didn’t take Angelina for medical care for fear police would investigate and the children would be taken from her custody.

Emile and Costello’s other children, one older and one younger than Angelina, were taken into protective custody.

The death investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Ogden Police Detective Larry Lewis at 801-629-8438 or email [email protected].

5 COMMENTS

  1. Every time I read something like this I die a little inside. To say they are monsters is not even close. To harm a defenseless child is the ultimate crime. To think of the suffering she endured in her short life is beyond heartless. It is cruel beyond measure and I hope her sweet little soul can finally be at peace. Free of torture and pain. Torture by the hands of those who are meant to protect her, to shield her from pain and abuse. Her parents. I hope they receive the death penalty. They are not worthy of life.

  2. WHEN I HERE A STORY LIKE THIS I JUST WANT TO CRY. I CANT BELIEVE PARENTS WOULD DO THIS TO THERE OWN CHILD ALL I CAN SAY FOR THE MOTHER IS SHE MUST Have HAD An EASY TIME HAVEING KIDS BECAUSE IF SHE WOULD HAVE HAD PAIN LIKE I DID THERE NO WAY SHE WOULD EVEN THINK ABOUT HURTING OR KILLING I WAS SO THANKFUL EVERY PUSH WAS A RELIFE I NEW IT WOULDNT BELONG BEFORE I COULD HOLD AND PROTECT THEM I WORRIED THE WHOLE TIME ABOUT THERE HEALTH PRAYING EVERY THIN WOULD BE OK WITH THEM AND I NEW ONCE I HAD THEM IN MY ARMS I WOULDNT NEVER LET NO ONE HURT THEM I THINK THATS CALLED LOVE WHAT THIS MOTHER HAD WAS NOT LOVE OR THE FATHER OR HE WOULDNT HAVE LET THIS GO ON SO LONG WITHOUT SAYING NOTHING TO THE POLICE OR SOMEONE DEATH IS TO GOOD FOR THESE PEOPLE IT WOULD BE TO FAST AND THEY WOULDNT SUFFER LIKE THAT BABY ANGEL DID I SAY PUNISH THEM LET THEM FEEL SOMETHING SO THEY CAN THINK ABOUT WHAT THEY HAVE DONE

  3. What’s just as bad is that people mind their own business and do nothing to help these poor defenseless babies… breaks my heart what the world is becoming

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