October 19, 1999
Murder trial under way
By Jefferson Wolfe
Staff Writer
The trial of a Tiffin man accused of murder began Monday with the prosecution saying the defendant suffocated an 18-year-old Sycamore woman near the river and the body was left there for two days before being found by police.
Matthew A. Miller, 23, was indicted on the special felony aggravated murder and third-degree felonies abduction and tampering with evidence.
Miller is accused of murdering Taah Cooper, whose body was found behind Fourth Street along the Sandusky River the day before Thanksgiving 1998.
Seneca County Prosecutor Kenneth Egbert Jr., said the evidence will show Miller restrained Cooper and suffocated her with her leather coat. He said the evidence also will show Miller covered the body with leaves and branches.
"This is a circumstantial evidence case," Egbert said. There were no witnesses who saw Miller kill Cooper, he said.
Cooper was Miller's ex-girlfriend, Egbert said, and they had lived together in an apartment on East Perry Street. The relationship ended in early November 1998, he said.
Egbert said testimony will show that Miller heard a rumor from a friend the day of Cooper's death that Cooper was telling people Miller gave her a sexually-transmitted disease.
In response to this, he said, Miller became enraged and told a friend he could "float her down the river" and that he could "make people disappear."
Egbert said his case will show that Miller met Cooper downtown, walked her to the river and carried out his plan to kill her.
Defense attorney Gene Murray said an autopsy on Cooper's body did not reveal any sexually-transmitted diseases. He said this was not a motive for the killing, and, further, that evidence will show that Cooper was not spreading rumors.
Egbert said he will present witnesses that will testify about things Miller said after the murder that indicate Miller's guilt.
Miller went to Springfield with a friend, Egbert said. That friend will testify that Miller admitted he was with Cooper the night of her death, and that he might have killed her, Egbert said.
Further, Egbert said, Miller also knew things about the crime scene that only the killer would know and he described those details to others.
The prosecution's case has flaws, Murray said, "not just minor flaws, but major flaws."
He said the case was built on "Elvis sightings," and people spreading rumors.
Police hounded Miller for seven months, keeping track of him and repeatedly interviewing him, Murray said.
Many of the people who will testify about things Miller said before and after Cooper's death did so months later, he said. These people may have had agendas of their own, he said.
"The evidence will show that Matt Miller is no murderer," Murray said. "The evidence will show the state of Ohio charged the wrong person."
Two witnesses testified Monday, retired Tiffin firefighter Ed Nusbaum, who discovered the body under a pile of leaves, and Tiffin Police Capt. Frank Iannantuono, who was one of the first officers on the scene after police received Nusbaum's report.