The woman who was charged with killing Broadway star Ruthie Ann Miles’ 4-year-old daughter and another young child was found dead on Tuesday, November 6, a spokesperson for the New York City Police Department confirms to Us Weekly. She was 44.
Police told the Associated Press that Dorothy Bruns died from an apparent suicide in her Staten Island home. Pills and a note were reportedly found nearby. A medical examiner is scheduled to determine the cause of death.
In early March, Bruns suffered a seizure while stopped at a red light in Brooklyn, New York. She lost control of her car and fatally struck two young children: Miles’ daughter, Abigail, and a family friend’s 1-year-old son, Joshua Lew.
Miles, who was seven months pregnant at the time of the accident, and Lew’s mother, Lauren, were both injured. The actress, 35, announced two months later that she and her husband, Jonathan Blumenstein, had lost their unborn baby, whom they planned to name Sophia Rosemary.
“The pain suffered by Ruthie and Jonathan is nearly impossible to fathom,” the family’s attorney, Ben Rabinowitz, said in a statement to the New York Daily News in May. “As you might imagine, they are overwhelmed by the sadness of the deaths of their children.”
Bruns was arrested and charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault in May. She faced 15 years in jail for the incident, and had been scheduled to appear in court on November 20.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
