NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio — An Amish woman who authorities say killed her 4-year-old son last year at Atwood Lake while in the grip of a severe mental health crisis was found not guilty by reason of insanity by a Tuscarawas County judge on March 3.
Ruth Miller, 40, of Millersburg, was acquitted on charges including aggravated murder, murder and felonious assault in the death of her son, Vincen Miller. Medical experts concluded she was suffering from mental illness manifesting as spiritual delusion on Aug. 23 when she threw the 4-year-old boy off a dock where the family moored a pontoon boat, leaving him to drown. She also faced charges of child endangering and three counts of domestic violence related to her teenage children, whom she also forced into the lake that day.
The ruling was issued by Michael J. Ernest of the Tuscarawas County Court of Common Pleas following a bench trial in which Miller waived her right to a jury. She remains in the Tuscarawas County Jail until the court decides the appropriate treatment plan at a hearing on May 13.
Mental health findings
Three mental health experts independently concluded Miller was experiencing a severe mental disease at the time and did not comprehend the weight or wrongfulness of her actions. In the weeks leading up to the incident, the evaluations found she had been sleeping little and cycling through euphoric mood swings, racing thoughts and grandiose religious beliefs. At times, she described feeling as if she were “getting married all over again.”
In the days before the incident, Miller started to be consumed by ideas of tests and her expected abilities to perform them, reportedly believing she could walk on water and that God wanted her to be swallowed by a fish. At one point, according to court records, she even asked her husband, Marcus J. Miller, 45, to suffocate her. Her delusional beliefs at the lake ultimately caused her to think she was carrying out a divine command.
What happens now
Under Ohio law, a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity does not mean a defendant is released. Instead, the court must determine what treatment and supervision are necessary.
Judge Ernest ordered that Miller remain in custody while doctors from the Forensic Diagnostic Center of District Nine conduct a post-verdict evaluation to determine the least restrictive conditions that would still protect the public.
Depending on the findings, Miller could be committed to a secure psychiatric facility for treatment and supervision for a period that could last as long as the maximum sentence she would have faced if convicted.
Chaotic events lead up to deaths
Authorities said Ruth Miller was not alone in suffering from the delusions that would destroy her family. In the early morning hours of Aug. 23, she and her husband, Marcus, together began carrying out further “tests” of their faith, including swimming challenges and other acts in the water.
Investigators said family members had reportedly held an intervention for the couple the day before they embarked on their trip to Atwood Lake Campground to celebrate Ruth’s birthday, concerned about the couple’s increasingly extreme interpretations of the Bible and discussion about the end of the world. They would tell investigators they never believed the couple would harm their children.
According to investigators, Marcus told his wife around 5:30 a.m. that he felt his faith was not strong enough to complete the tasks God had given to them. To prove himself, he said he would swim out toward a distant sandbar. A witness last saw him near the dock around 6:30 a.m. His body was found the following day, Aug. 24, about 50 yards from the dock.
According to statements Ruth Miller gave investigators, after Marcus was gone, she drove to the same dock in a golf cart with her son Vincen in tow, where she would leave him in the water. Prosecutors said Miller then returned to the family’s campsite, forcing her teenage daughter onto the golf cart and into the water before repeating the same with her twin sons. Unsatisfied with their results, Miller piled them back onto the golf cart and they drove erratically through the park until careening off an embankment into shallow water near a restaurant in the busy campground area. Authorities found Miller and the children soon after, shaken but without injuries, and began their investigation.
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