West View boy, 15, tried twice to poison parents, police say

A West View teen faces attempted homicide charges after police said he tried to poison his parents by pouring furniture polish into their spaghetti sauce on one occasion and using pesticide on another, police records show.

Police filed charges against Jeff Miller, 15, on Friday morning — a day after police said he told a North Hills High School counselor “that he was having thoughts of wanting to hurt people” and that he’d hurt his mom and dad, a criminal complaint said.

Authorities charged him as an adult. He was taken to Allegheny County Jail after failing to post $10,000 bond, online court records showed.

The teen’s mother and father were rushed by medics to UPMC Presbyterian hospital on Wednesday night “after becoming ill after dinner,” police said. The complaint said the parents were in stable condition and “expected to recover from their injuries.”

A North Hills counselor alerted West View police shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday that “Jeff told her he felt like he hurt his mom and dad, and he was afraid he was going to try and hurt them again,” the complaint said.

Police officers brought Miller from the school to the county’s homicide unit office for questioning.

While Jeff Miller’s father was still at the hospital, detectives got permission to search his home and interview his son, according to the complaint. Miller’s grandmother was there while he was interviewed by two detectives, the complaint said. Both of them agreed to speak without an attorney.

“During the interview, Jeff admitted to poisoning both his parents,” investigators wrote in the complaint.

Miller told detectives that he previously had tried to poison his parents on Oct. 15, using “some type of white liquid” pesticide he found on a shelf in his home’s garage, the complaint said.

Then, on Wednesday night, Miller said he grabbed a bottle of Murphy’s Oil Soap off a shelf along stairs leading to the basement and put some into the spaghetti sauce his mother had been making for dinner, the complaint said.

The bottle was found and collected as evidence, and Miller “identified the bottle as the liquid he put into the spaghetti sauce,” investigators said. Officials also found in the garage a container of Bifen IT insecticide, identified as the container of white liquid referenced by Miller.

Allegheny County Police, who filed the charges, could not immediately be reached for comment. Online court records did not list an attorney for Miller, who in addition to attempted homicide faces charges of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.