A woman who died of a rubber-covered garment she was wearing in a court-ordered evacuation order died of pneumonia, authorities said Thursday.
Annette Lee Miller, 45, died of COVID-19 on Thursday, according to the state’s Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management.
Miller was arrested at a court hearing in May on charges of obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence.
She had been arrested several times on drug charges, including an arrest on Oct. 17 for possession of marijuana.
The investigation into her death remains open.
Her husband, Mark Miller, told Fox News the couple was at a hearing Thursday to request that the court allow them to wear a new suit to avoid court-imposed restrictions.
He said Miller told her husband the suits were designed to prevent COVID and had no odor.
“I asked, ‘Are you sure you’re not going to die of COIDS?'” he said.
The lawsuit against the state and county that owns the court-sanctioned evacuation order said Miller died in the courtroom, with a seatbelt around her neck.
A spokesman for the state said Miller was found in the court chambers with a large white rubber suit on her.
The state’s attorney’s office did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Miller’s husband has been charged with felony murder in the death of his wife, according the suit, which said her death was “premeditated and deliberate.”
Mark Miller was not at the hearing Thursday.
His wife’s death has been the subject of multiple investigations by the Arkansas Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.