Winfield woman arrested for homicide, accused for second time of poisoning a husband

May 29—Myrle Miller's arrest Thursday in the poisoning of her husband marks the second time she's been brought before a judge on such accusations, only this time it resulted in a homicide charge.

Following a grand jury investigation, state police charged Miller, 76, of Winfield, with first-degree homicide and related counts in the 2018 death of 77-year-old John W. Nichols. She's charged in Union County and is being held without bail in Northumberland County jail.

Then known as Myrle Rovenolt, she was acquitted in July 1988 of attempted homicide by a Montour County jury. Police alleged that she poisoned drinks with ant killer in 1986 and served them to her former husband, her first, Ronald Rovenolt.

Rovenolt became severely ill, was diagnosed with acute arsenic poisoning and suffered long-term damages to his limbs, internal organs and nervous system, according to reporting at the time by The Daily Item. His now ex-wife accused him of careless use of a powerful weed-killer.

The former couple married in 1961, and both were still in high school when they became engaged, according to a wedding announcement at the time. Miller filed for divorce one month before her 1988 arrest, The Daily Item reported, citing Northumberland County court records.

Miller is the grandmother of Corey Edkin, a 2-year-old boy who went missing from his Union County home in 1986 and hasn't been seen since. Edkin was the son of her daughter, Debbie Mowery, the former girlfriend of Charles Burgess III of Sunbury who suspiciously died in a New Jersey motel in 1999 and is the subject of a cold case homicide.

These are Miller's most serious cases brought to court but not her only arrests. Miller has several arrests and convictions in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s on charges related to thefts and bad checks, including at least one stint in state prison.

The grand jury report stemming from the Nichols homicide notes that Miller had 10 summary convictions for bad checks between 1977 and 1988 — bad checks made to Sears, Bell of Pennsylvania and PPL among others.

Miller was sentenced in 1992 under the name Myrle Plotts to serve 14 1/2-to-59 months at the Muncy prison for women for her involvement in a burglary ring in Northumberland County. That sentence included a probation revocation for a previous conviction on charges she stole two rifles from an elderly couple, also in Northumberland County, for whom she worked as an in-home nurse.

She was in prison when police charged Miller and her then-husband Jack Plotts, her second husband, with theft and related charges for allegedly stealing approximately $30,000 from the Milton Eagles Club.

The couple married in 1990, just 11 days after Miller's divorce from Rovenolt was settled, according to court records. In that arrest on attempted murder, Miller was accused of having an affair with Plotts, who was identified in court documents, according to archived reports by The Daily Item.

Police said both of the Plottses admitted to writing checks for themselves and spending the money on Christmas presents and other personal items. Jack Plotts was the club secretary. They both pleaded guilty and received probation sentences plus orders to repay the club in full — six years probation for Myrle and five years probation plus up to 23 days in jail for Jack.

The grand jury report in the Nichols homicide states that one of Miller's sons with Rovenolt said his mother would spend Jack Plotts' paychecks immediately, $700 to $1,000 "would be literally gone" but household bills often went unpaid.

Miller and Plotts moved in 2002 to 391 Lamey Road in Millmont, just 300 feet from Nichols and his then-girlfriend, Joan Madden. One house separated the Plotts and the Nichols homes, Google Maps shows.

The grand jury report states that the couples became friends within a few years. Plotts died of cancer in December 2011. That same month, Madden also died unexpectedly.

Miller eventually lost the home due to unpaid mortgage claims after it went into default on Jan. 1, 2012, according to the grand jury report. She moved in with Nichols and they married at the end of 2012, the report states. He was her third husband.

Investigators allege Miller began to defraud Nichols less than one year into their marriage, ultimately draining at least $87,000 from his bank accounts, fraudulently obtaining sole beneficiary status on at least two life insurance policies and opening loans against those policies in his name without his consent.

Sometime after Nichols' death on April 14, 2018, Miller again remarried — her fourth marriage. She now stands accused of killing her husband with her own prescription heart medications shortly after an investigation into the alleged abuse of his finances was authorized by Nichols himself. Attempts to seek comment from Miller on Friday at the Northumberland County jail were unsuccessful.

Daily Item reporter Francis Scarcella contributed to this report.