A Cowlitz County jury convicted Miller of second-degree murder in Schmitt's death.

A guilty verdict is the jury's finding. It is not the sentence. The Daily News reported Monday that Miller was convicted in the death of Dennis Eugene Schmitt. KOIN reported the counts as second-degree murder and unlawful disposal of human remains and put sentencing on Oct. 29. Until that hearing, the prison term is not set.

The Daily News of Longview reported Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, that a jury found Woodland landlord Ricky Dean Miller guilty of killing his longtime tenant and hiding the body in a 55-gallon barrel. KOIN reported he was found guilty of second-degree murder and unlawful disposal of human remains in the death of Dennis Eugene Schmitt, and that sentencing was set for Oct. 29, 2026. A verdict decides guilt on the counts tried. It does not set the years.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office, in a Dec. 23, 2025 press release, said that on Dec. 16, 2025, Cowlitz 911 received a suspicious-circumstances call in the 3600 block of Old Lewis River Road in Woodland. The reporting party said a family member, Ricky Dean Miller, 67, had said he had killed someone and that the body was hidden on his property. Deputies contacted Miller. Detectives obtained a search warrant and found Schmitt, 71, dead inside a barrel on the property. The sheriff's office said Miller was Schmitt's landlord and that the two lived in separate residences on Miller's property.

The same sheriff's release said an autopsy on Dec. 19, 2025, found multiple blunt-force injuries to Schmitt's head and evidence of strangulation. Miller was booked into Cowlitz County Jail on second-degree murder and unlawful disposal of human remains. MyNorthwest reported those same arrest facts in December 2025. An autopsy description in a press release is the medical examiner's reported findings. It is not Monday's verdict.

The Daily News reported prosecutors made their case on suspicion after a body was found on the property east of the Lewis River Golf Course. It reported that when Miller asked him to leave the home, the victim stood up, gestured for Miller to exit, and grabbed him by the shoulder, causing Miller to stumble but not fall, according to the arresting report as the paper described it. Miller told police he was frightened, struck the victim with a wooden walking stick, recalled his foot on the victim's neck and his hand covering the victim's mouth, then returned two days later, bought an orange 55-gallon barrel from a feed store in Kelso, placed the body inside, and hid the barrel behind the victim's home, the paper reported from that report. Those are statements attributed to an arrest report in Monday's coverage. They are not findings beyond the jury's guilty verdict. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.