Official: Woman Charged in NYC Crash That Killed Broadway Actress’ Kid, Unborn Baby Found Dead

The woman charged in the Brooklyn crash that killed Broadway star Ruthie Ann Miles’ young daughter and unborn child died Tuesday of an apparent suicide, a senior law enforcement official briefed on the case tells NBC 4 New York.

Dorothy Bruns, 44, was found dead in her Staten Island home sometime Tuesday afternoon, the senior law enforcement official said. Authorities say pills and a note were found nearby.

Miles was walking with her friend and their two young children in Park Slope on March 5 when Bruns allegedly blew through a red light and plowed into the group, killing both children — Miles’ daughter, Abigail, and the friend’s 1-year-old son, Joshua. Miles, who was expecting a baby girl with her husband Jonathan Blumenstein, lost the unborn baby due to injuries she suffered in the crash. The baby was due in May.

All four were found on the pavement with various injuries. Cops later learned a fifth pedestrian, a 46-year-old man, had also been hit and had been taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Bruns was later indicted in connection with the case and was arrested at her Staten Island home May 3 on a 10-count indictment charging her with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault and other crimes. She faced 15 years in jail. 

Bruns told police at the time she had medical issues — and though her license had been suspended she had not been criminally charged in the case until now. Prosecutors said she had in fact suffered a seizure at the time of the collision, and had been driving in direct defiance of a doctor’s orders following a hospitalization less than two months prior. That hospitalization stemmed from yet another car crash — that time into a parked vehicle.

Police are investigating Bruns death, the senior law enforcement official said.