NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio — A Tuscarawas County grand jury has indicted a Holmes County woman in the death of her young son at Atwood Lake last month.
Prosecuting Attorney Ryan Styer announced on Sept. 5 that a grand jury had returned a seven-count indictment against Ruth Miller, of Millersburg, Ohio. The charges include one count of aggravated murder and one count of murder and felonious assault, both related to the death of her 4-year-old son Vincen. She also faces child endangering charges connected to her 15-year-old daughter and three counts of domestic violence involving all three of her teenage children.
Miller, who was previously held in a secured hospital, is now in the Tuscarawas County Jail. She is scheduled to appear before Judge Michael J. Ernest in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court for arraignment at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 8.
The incident happened on Aug. 23, when deputies and Atwood Rangers responded to reports of a golf cart that had plunged into the water near a restaurant at the busy Atwood Lake Park and Campground. Several teenagers on board, including a 15-year-old girl and two 18-year-old boys, managed to escape without injury, though they were visibly shaken.
But the story of how they got there, according to Sheriff Orvis Campbell of the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office, was one of the most difficult to piece together.
When investigators arrived at the scene, the driver, 40-year-old Ruth Miller, made a disturbing statement, “that she had given her son to the Lord,” Campbell said during an Aug. 25 press conference.
“Now, keep in mind, she’s there with a 15-year-old daughter and two 18-year-old sons, and nobody knows what son she’s talking about. There’s no other child there,” he said. “And at this point, (authorities are) starting to put it together and they realize there’s a problem.”
Soon, investigators realized that Vincen and her husband, 45-year-old Marcus, were both missing.
Based on Miller’s statements, search teams combed multiple areas of the lake, including a dock where the family kept a pontoon boat. They also searched near the Atwood Park kayak launch, where witnesses had seen Miller and the teens earlier, huddled together with their heads bowed in prayer so intensely it scared onlookers.
The Amish family was spending the weekend at the lake to relax and celebrate Ruth’s birthday.
Authorities concluded that Miller was experiencing a severe mental health crisis marked by spiritual delusions. They believe she was following what she thought were divine instructions when she allegedly threw Vincen into the water from the dock. His body was found later that evening.
The following day, divers also recovered the body of Marcus Miller not far from where Vincen was discovered. According to Ruth Miller, Marcus had entered the water to swim in a demonstration of his faith. His obituary, published online Aug. 26, stated that he died in “an accidental drowning at Atwood Lake.”
If convicted, Miller faces the possibility of life in prison. Aggravated murder carries a minimum sentence of 20 years to life, with the potential for life without parole. The murder charge carries 15 years to life. Each misdemeanor count of domestic violence and child endangering is punishable by up to 180 days in jail.
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