Prosecutors filed charges against the Amish mother who told authorities she was “testing her faith” after throwing her 4-year-old son into an Ohio lake, leading to his death.
Ruth R. Miller, 40, of Millersburg, Ohio was charged with two counts of aggravated murder in the boy’s death. Authorities said that “spiritual delusions” led Miller to throw the boy into a Ohio lake, and stated that she told investigators she believed she was acting at the direction of God when she allegedly killed her son Vincent at Atwood Lake in Ohio early Saturday.
The charges stem from days of investigation after authorities initially believed they were responding to an accident. Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office Orvis Campbell told reporters that rangers initially received calls around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday that a woman and three teenagers were in a golf cart that flipped into the water. Witnesses told officials that people yelled at the woman driving to hit the brakes, but the cart eventually hit a stone wall and the cart flipped both mother and her children into the water. Miller’s 15-year-old and daughter and twin 18-year-old sons, who were in the cart, were able to get out of the water safely on their own.
However, Campbell said it soon became evident that Miller had intentionally driven into the water with her children based on concerning comments she made after the incident. Capt. Adam Fisher, the lead investigator with the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office, later said that Miller repeatedly said in interviews with police that she threw the boy off the dock and into the water to give him to God.
The woman’s husband, Marcus J. Miller, 45, had apparently drowned while attempting to swim to an offshore sandbank hours earlier in another test of faith. Their other children were also directed to perform water-based trials of their belief but survived, Campbell said. Miller told investigators that around 6 a.m. that morning, she and her husband jumped into the lake “because God was speaking to them and telling them to do things, things to prove their worthiness to God.” Her husband allegedly returned into the lake after they were done because he felt he hadn’t performed well in his task.
Due to her erratic statements, Campbell said that Miller was taken to a hospital to be evaluated: “We’re aware of some issues, especially the mother, but also the father. But there were never any discussions of harming anyone. They had some religious beliefs. What we recognize is this: She was clearly in a mental crisis. And it just simply manifested itself in what we call a spiritual delusion.”
Campbell later said that the couple’s surviving children were “extremely confused and upset”, adding that “their mindset was that whatever their mother and father says is the way it is. They don’t question anything. So when they were told to jump in the lake, they jump in the lake.”
Philadelphia Municipal Court online records indicate Ruth Miller was also charged with domestic violence and child endangerment regarding the older children. In addition to the two charges of aggravated murder, court records show Miller is facing two charges of domestic violence and a charge of child endangerment. Miller could face life in prison if convicted on the aggravated murder charges.
The Tuscarawas County Prosecutor’s Office told NBC affiliate WKYC that Miller was served a complaint but remained in the hospital as of Wednesday. The office also explained that the two aggravated murder counts are in Vincen’s death as she allegedly acted with “prior calculation and design.”
Family members and the Millers’ church said in a statement that the deaths “do not reflect our teachings or beliefs but are instead a result of a mental illness. The ministry and extended family had been walking with them through their challenges, and they had also received professional help in the past.” The family lived in Holmes County, Ohio, which has a large Amish community.
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