Ohio man remains legally dead despite his recent court plea

rt.

Consider northwest Ohio man Donald Eugene Miller Jr. the walking dead - as he has been since 1994.

Miller was ruled legally dead by a court in 1994, eight years after he disappeared from his home in Arcadia. His appeal Monday in Hancock County Probate Court to rescind his “death” didn’t earn a change of status in the view of the law.

Judge Allan Davis, the same judge who ruled him dead nearly 20 years ago, said Monday nothing will change for Miller, who was informed of his status by his parents upon his return in 2005.

Miller’s request for a reversal did not fall within the three-year legal limit for challenging a death ruling, Davis said, according to The Courier.

"We've got the obvious here. A man sitting in the courtroom, he appears to be in good health," Davis said.

Miller fled the state to avoid paying child support, the judge said in court.

"I don't know where that leaves you, but you're still deceased as far as the law is concerned," Davis said.

One can be legally declared dead in absentia despite the absence of solid proof of one’s death - for instance, the existence of remains that can be attributed to the person - often after a certain period of time determined by jurisdictional law.