Ruth Miller was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the drowning death of her son. She will be treated at Heartland Behavioral Health in Massillon.
NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio — Ruth Miller, the Amish mother recently found not guilty by reason of insanity in the drowning death of her 4-year-old son at Atwood Lake last summer, has been committed to a Stark County behavioral health hospital.
Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Ernest made the ruling after a placement hearing on Friday that included testimony from several medical experts. Miller will be committed to Heartland Behavioral Healthcare in Massillon.
“It’s clear from everyone who has testified here that you do suffer from a mental illness,” Ernest told Miller, adding that the decision not only provides her with needed medical and mental help, but also ensures security for the community.
Ernest described Heartland as “a secured hospital from which individuals cannot just come and go as they please. It is a facility from which you will be confined there.”
Just precisely when Miller will begin treatment at the facility is unknown. Ernest said there is currently a waiting list to get in, but added that the court would try to expedite her case. Miller will be remanded at the Tuscarawas County Jail until a bed is ready for her at Heartland.
Moving forward, Ernest said that there will be a review hearing in approximately six months, then every two years.
“Going forward as to what will happen at those review hearings, we’ll have to wait and see. I don’t know until we have any type of feedback from those at the hospital,” he explained.
Miller previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the death of her son, Vincen Miller. Authorities have described the killing as one that stemmed from what they called Miller’s “spiritual delusion.”
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Susan Hatters-Friedman, who has examined Miller several times since her arrest, said Miller was experiencing symptoms of psychosis at the time of the Atwood Lake incident. Those symptoms included having trouble sleeping and hallucinating.
“Ruth Miller at the time was truly believing that she was getting special messages from God about tasks that she needed to do to prove her devotion,” Hatters-Friedman testified.
Experts testified that Miller did seek help leading up to the August 2025 incident from a family doctor. She was prescribed an anti-depressant, which was inadequate for her specific symptoms and ultimately escalated her mental health challenges.
“The handling of that first medication actually set up the conditions for something like this. And we see this in clinical practice routinely,” explained Dr. Daniel Buffington, a clinical pharmacology and toxicology specialist.
You can watch Friday’s placement hearing in the player below.
CASE DETAILS
On the morning of Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025, Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s deputies and Atwood park rangers responded to a report that a woman and three of her children crashed a golf cart into Atwood Lake next to Atwood Marina West.
Rescuers pulled the woman, identified as Miller, from the water. Officials said she made troubling comments about speaking with God.
“There was a pretty immediate statement made that she had given her son to the Lord,” Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell explained during a press conference after the incident.
The Miller family is part of the Holmes County Amish community and had been visiting Atwood Lake during the weekend.
Miller’s 15-year-old daughter and twin 18-year-old sons were able to get out of the water on their own — physically unharmed, but traumatized, Campbell said. Prosecutors said the child endangerment charge against Miller is related to her daughter, while the domestic violence charges involve the teen girl as well as the two sons.
After speaking with the family, crews began searching for 4-year-old Vincen and 45-year-old Marcus. Early signs pointed to possible foul play.
Investigators determined that at around 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, Ruth and Marcus Miller went out to a dock at the lake and jumped into the water because God was speaking to them.
“Things to prove their worthiness to God, to show their faith is complete, and they didn’t do very well in those. Some of them were bizarre, some of them were just swimming exercises,” Campbell explained. “The most bizarre was that God told her to allow herself to be swallowed by a fish, as bizarre as that sounds.”
Detectives later learned from Ruth Miller that when her husband got back to an RV they were camping in, he expressed disappointment in himself that he failed the tasks “because he didn’t have enough faith.”
Marcus Miller said he would go back to the lake and swim to the sandbar, a relatively long distance away from the dock. He was seen at the dock by a witness at 6:30 a.m.
Around 8 a.m., police said Ruth Miller was seen by witnesses loading her son Vincen into the golf cart.
Divers found Vincen Miller’s body at the bottom of the lake near a dock at approximately 6 p.m. that evening. The body of Marcus Miller was pulled from the water at around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 24.
Detectives do not believe that Marcus Miller was involved in the drowning of his son or with Ruth Miller’s actions with the three older children. Police said he likely drowned accidentally while swimming in an effort to prove his faith.
While Ruth Miller was hospitalized for mental health concerns, the older children were released to other family members. Campbell added that the couple’s family told detectives that they both struggled with mental health issues, particularly the mother.
“But there were never any discussions of harming anyone,” Campbell said. “They had some, you know, religious beliefs. What we recognize is this: She was clearly in a mental crisis, no doubt about it. You talk to every witness or every first responder, she was in mental crisis, and it just simply manifests itself in what we call a spiritual delusion.”
Campbell said the family had intervened as recently as Thursday (Aug. 21) after getting a “concerning call,” though there was no indication that the couple planned to harm anyone.
“This was a husband very devoted to his wife. I think they were also devoted to the Bible and that just manifested itself incorrectly,” Campbell said. “I don’t think there’s making a lot of common sense out of it. I really don’t.”
The family, in conjunction with their church, later released a statement through the sheriff’s office:
“The church and family want to thank the law enforcement and rescue personnel for all that was done during this tragic weekend.
“The family involved are members of the Old Order Amish Church. As a church of Christian faith, we believe that we are saved by grace, through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9), and the events of this past weekend 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.
“At this time, our thoughts and prayers are with the family directly affected. We stand beside them in their grief and ask that their privacy, as well as that of the broader community, be respected during this difficult time. We kindly ask that the public and media honor this by allowing space for healing.
“The extended family encourages anyone facing mental health challenges to seek professional help, as the recent events do not reflect the loving and caring family they were always known to be.”
BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE
Following the incident, the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office released body camera footage showing a conversation between Ruth Miller and deputies on the morning of Aug. 23.
“I gave him to God,” she told the deputies.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I threw him in the lake, and I gave him to God, and people are going to tell me I’m crazy, but He is real, and He loves you,” she explained.
Deputies then tried to find out where Marcus Miller was.
“He went for a walk this morning,” she replied.
“And you haven’t seen him since?”
“He didn’t ever come back,” she answered. “We went to the boat and his clothes were there, and God told me he’s in the lake and a fish swallowed him.”
THE CASE MOVES TO COURT
On Sept. 5, Miller was indicted on the following charges by a Tuscarawas County grand jury:
1 count of aggravated murder of her four-year-old son, citing prior calculation and design1 count of murder related to her son1 count of felonious assault related to her son1 count of child endangering involving her 15-year-old daughter3 counts of domestic violence affecting her 15-year-old daughter and two adult sons, ages 18
Miller pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity at her arraignment on Sept. 8.
Following a four-hour evidentiary hearing on Sept. 29, Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Ernest Ernest ordered that Miller continue to be held in the Tuscarawas County Jail for the duration of the case.
Ernest said he reached the conclusion that the prosecution presented “clear and convincing evidence” that Miller poses “a substantial risk of serious physical harm to any other person or community,” adding that there were “no release conditions that will reasonably assure the safety of that person in the community.”
In November, Ernest deemed that Miller was competent to stand trial, denying a motion by the defense to have her sanity evaluation excluded. The trial was slated to begin in March.
At the final pretrial hearing last month, Ernest granted a request by Miller’s attorney to waive her right to a jury trial and proceed to a bench trial.
Friedman said the request was based on findings submitted in court in which three separate psychiatric professionals concluded Miller had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her actions and was effectively not guilty by reason of insanity.
“It was unanimous; there were no experts that opined differently,” Friedman told the court.
Scott said the state provided about 42 pages of police reports and supplements that would show that Miller “did indeed commit the acts with which she’s accused.” However, he acknowledged the unanimous findings of the three mental status evaluations.
“Given the findings, as all three opined for various reasons that Ms. Miller did not appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct and was suffering from severe mental illness or defect at the time of the offense, given that we have decided to submit this case to you for a non-jury trial, for you to review those matters and make an appropriate finding,” Scott said.
THE VERDICT
On March 3, Ernest announced his verdict that Miller was not guilty by reason of insanity.
“That’s the only conclusion that can be reached in this case based upon the evidence that has been presented to me,” he said.
The opinions of three doctors determined Miller did have a severe mental disease, but did not have a severe mental defect. And as a result of the severe mental disease, she did not know the wrongfulness of her actions.
Attorneys on both sides spoke to reporters after the verdict.
“There was really no question that Ms. Miller conducted, did the acts with which she’s accused. The question was her mental state at the time of the offense,” said Tuscarawas County Assistant Prosecutor Fred Scott. “When you have a unanimous decision that the defendant did not understand the wrongfulness of her conduct, was in a psychotic state, the decision kind of writes itself.”
Defense attorney Ian Friedman was asked if his client had essentially gotten away with murder.
“I would say it absolutely is not getting away with murder. Ruth Miller would not have been involved in this case, had it not been for the mental disease that you heard about in the courtroom, period. And that that’s a hard stop. End of story. She is mortified by the fact that, that she was involved in that situation on August 23rd, 2025. And had she been receiving the care that was necessary at that time, none of us would be standing here right now,” he said.
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