FLOYD, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation and Floyd County Sheriff’s Office have charged 33-year-old Casey Frederiksen with the 2005 murder of Evelyn Miller, 5, of Floyd.
Frederiksen is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree sexual abuse, both Class A felonies.
He was the boyfriend of Evelyn’s mother, Noel Miller.
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Frederiksen was home with Evelyn and two other children while Noel Miller was working a night shift at an area nursing home on July 1, 2005. Noel Miller reported her daughter missing when she returned home about 6 a.m. that morning.
At a news conference Thursday afternoon in Floyd, authorities said the official cause of death was sharp force injuries, including wounds to the neck.
Evelyn’s body was found in the Cedar River on July 6 and, before Thursday, the cause of death was not disclosed. Authorities said Evelyn’s body was found fully clothed, but with signs of sexual assault.
Danny Slick and Randy Patrie of Charles City said Evelyn was alive when the pair visited the apartment about 2 a.m.
Slick was sentenced in February 2007 to one year and one day in prison for lying to FBI agents investigating the girl’s disappearance.
Noel Miller served two days in jail in 2007 on a charge of going armed with intent. She also lost her bid to get custody of the two young sons she had with Frederiksen, who were put in foster care shortly after Evelyn’s death.
Frederiksen went to federal prison on a child pornography charge in 2006 after investigators found about 1,650 images on his computer hard drive, some depicting young girls having sex with adult men.
In 2009, a drug indictment alleged Frederiksen, already serving a 14-year prison sentence on child pornography charges, conspired with others to manufacture methamphetamine from 2004 through June 2005. He pleaded guilty and in 2010 was sentenced to up to 10 more years in prison.
Frederiksen will remain in the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Ill., until he can be transported to Floyd County to stand trial.
Richard and Linda Christie of Waterloo, Evelyn’s paternal grandparents, were at the news conference.
“This is the happiest day in the last seven years,” said Richard Christie. “We are very thankful.”
Linda Christie called Thursday “a glorious afternoon” and thanked investigators, those who searched for Evelyn in 2005 and the media for keeping the case in front of the public.
Asked if she could forgive Frederiksen, Linda Christie said it was too early to forgive.
“He raped and killed my granddaughter.”
