Amish mother indicted by grand jury in ‘spiritual delusion’ drowning death of 4-year-old son

TUSCARAWAS COUNTY, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) - A Tuscarawas County Grand Jury has indicted an Amish mother accused of drowning her young son.

Ruth Miller, 40, was indicted on a total of seven counts:

• One count of aggravated murder for her four-year-old son
• One count of murder for her four-year-old son
• One count of felonious assault for her four-year-old son
• One count of child endangering for her 15-year-old daughter
• Three counts of domestic violence for the 15-year-old daughter and twin 18-year-old sons

The Millersburg woman is currently behind bars at the Tuscarawas County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 8 in front of Judge Michael J. Ernest.

Tuscarawas County Prosecuting Attorney Ryan Styer said Miller, if convicted, faces a minimum of life in prison with parole after 20 years and a maximum of life in prison without parole.

According to Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell, Miller drowned her 4-year-old son, Vincen, at Atwood Lake during a “spiritual delusion” last month.

Campbell said Ruth and her husband, Marcus Miller, 45, brought their family from Holmes County to Atwood Lake the weekend of Aug. 23.

At around 1 a.m. on that Saturday, the husband and wife, who believed God was speaking to them, went to the dock and jumped in the water, the sheriff said.

According to Campbell, they believed they were carrying out tasks to try and prove their faith to God.

Once they returned to the campgrounds, Marcus Miller reportedly told Ruth Miller he was going back to the lake. Then, later that morning, Ruth Miller placed Vincen on a golf cart, returned to the dock and drowned him, Campbell said.

The sheriff said Ruth Miller’s actions continued that morning when she drove the golf cart into the lake again at about 10:30 a.m., but this time with her 15-year-old daughter and 18-year-old twin sons on board.

The trio was able to get out of the water on their own and were not injured.

Campbell said it was the crash of the golf cart into the lake that prompted a response by rangers and deputies who ultimately uncovered the deaths.

First responders treated Ruth Miller at the scene, but they said she was allegedly making concerning statements, and authorities learned Vincen and Marcus Miller were missing.

As deputies questioned her, Campbell said the mother spoke about placing her son in the water, “to give him to God.”

Crews searched numerous locations that weekend and found Vincen’s body in the lake near the dock on Saturday and Marcus Miller’s body in the same area the next day on Aug. 24.