Amish woman accused of killing her 4-year-old son by throwing him into
an Ohio lake
[August 28, 2025]
By MARK SCOLFORO
An Amish woman who told authorities she was testing her faith when she
threw her 4-year-old son into an Ohio lake was charged Wednesday with
two counts of aggravated murder in the boy's death.
Authorities said Ruth R. Miller, 40, of Millersburg, Ohio, told
investigators she believed she was acting at the direction of God when
she allegedly killed her son Vincen at Atwood Lake early Saturday.
The lead investigator with the Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office, Capt.
Adam Fisher, said Wednesday that Ruth Miller repeatedly said in
interviews with police that she threw the boy off the dock and into the
water to give him to God.
“It did not appear that the gravity of the situation had sunk in,”
Fisher said.
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, Sheriff Orvis Campbell told reporters at a news conference
Monday. Their other children, a 15-year-old girl and twin 18-year-old
boys, were also directed to perform water-based trials of their belief
but survived, Campbell said.
New Philadelphia Municipal Court online records indicate Ruth Miller was
also charged with domestic violence and child endangerment regarding the
older children. Authorities said Ruth Miller was receiving treatment at
a secure mental health facility and had not been arrested by late
Wednesday afternoon. A message seeking comment was left for her
attorney, Scott Fromson.
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.”
Campbell said Ruth Miller told investigators she believed she could walk
on water but when she tried doing so off the end of the dock, she simply
fell into the water.
“She and her husband went to this dock and they jumped in the water
because God was speaking to them and telling them to do things, things
to prove their worthiness to God,” Campbell said.
Marcus and Vincen Miller were apparently both dead when authorities were
called Saturday morning for a report of a golf cart having gone into the
lake. Campbell said Ruth Miller had driven it at a high speed into a
stone wall on the lake shore with the three older children on board. The
cart ended up fully submerged but visible, and her three children stood
on it before getting out of the water.
When a rescuer tried to get Ruth Miller out of the water, she told them
to “just pray for her,” Campbell said.
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People stand over the site where investigators say 40-year-old Ruth
Miller of Millersburg, Ohio, drove a golf cart into Atwood Lake,
Ohio Aug. 23, 2025, after she allegedly killed her 4-year-old son by
throwing him into the lake. (Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Sheriff's
Office via AP)
Park rangers heard “concerning type statements” from Ruth Miller,
the sheriff said: “There was a pretty immediate statement made that
she had given her son to the Lord.” Authorities soon realized her
husband and 4-year-old son were missing.
“She began to express more that she had thrown the child in the
water to give that child to God,” Campbell said. “But we didn't know
where in the water — it's a big lake.” He said Ruth Miller was in
mental crisis.
Searchers focused near the dock where authorities said the Millers
had apparently tried to walk on water the night before. Around 6
p.m. Saturday, a diver found Vincen on the lake bed not far from the
end of the dock. Early Sunday morning, divers found Marcus Miller's
body 53 yards (48 meters) from the dock.
The coroner said autopsies and an investigation will determine the
manner of the two deaths.
The couple's surviving children were “extremely confused" and upset,
Campbell said. “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," he said.
Amish are part of a Christian movement professing non-violence
although they have their cases of domestic violence and sexual
abuse. Advocates for abuse victims among the Amish say that although
church leaders have acknowledged the problem, they need to do more
to respond to abuse as a crime to be reported to civil authorities,
not just as a matter of church discipline.
The family lived in Holmes County, Ohio, which has a large Amish
community. They had gone to Atwood Lake, about 82 miles (132
kilometers) south of Cleveland, in a recreational vehicle as a
getaway, arriving Friday, Ruth Miller's birthday.
___
Associated Press reporter Peter Smith reported from Pittsburgh.
Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
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