On a summer day in Manhattan, 30-year-old Rosetta Ewell’s life was tragically cut short. On July 24, 2015, after dropping off her two-year-old daughter at a daycare center in a Harlem building, she was ambushed and fatally shot. The male assailant, who had been lying in wait, confronted her near the elevator and shot her three times. Her body was later discovered in a pool of blood in the tenth-floor hallway.
The suspect was quickly identified as her 32-year-old estranged boyfriend,
Eugene Miller. Video footage captured him fleeing the scene of the crime. Investigators revealed a history of domestic violence between the couple and that Ewell had ended the relationship due to Miller's criminal lifestyle. He was described as a member of the Bloods gang with a significant criminal record, including ten prior arrests. The motive for the murder was believed to be Miller's anger over Ewell's refusal to reconcile with him. He had reportedly been stalking and harassing her in the time leading up to the shooting.
After a three-month manhunt, Eugene Miller was apprehended in his aunt's Bronx home and charged with the murder of Rosetta Ewell and criminal use of a firearm. During the trial, prosecutors detailed how Miller had waited in the hallway for Ewell that morning. The court heard that the daycare staff and even the children, including the couple's own daughter, were close enough to hear the gunshots. In June 2017, a jury found Miller guilty of second-degree murder. The judge, highlighting the immense suffering caused by his actions, sentenced him to 25 years to life in prison.
