Disturbing bodycam footage shows Amish mother Ruth Miller eerily telling police she gave her 4-year-old son “to God” and that the “end is close” after drowning him in an Ohio lake.
Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call on Aug. 23 at the Atwood Lake campgrounds regarding a golf cart that had been driven into the water with a woman and three children.
Body cam footage obtained by Court TV shows Miller, 40, at the scene being escorted by her two adult sons towards a parking lot, where she tells two deputies that she’s not “crazy” for throwing her son in the lake.
“I threw him in the lake and I gave him to God,” a detached-sounding Miller admits to the officers.
“He’s sweet, and I love him. But, I gave him to God. People are going to tell me I am crazy. But He is real and He loves you. He really does love you.”
She then frantically tells one of the deputies, while putting her hand on his arm, that she “doubted” God so many times and it’s her responsibility to spread the news that he’s “coming very soon.”
“Prepare your hearts. The end is near. And I’m definitely supposed to tell you that He loves you. Okay?” Miller says.
Another deputy then asks the mom who exactly she threw in the water.
“I gave my son to God,” she replies.
The officer follows up by asking about her husband, Marcus J. Miller’s, whereabouts — to which she tells him he went on a walk earlier that morning and will “never come back,” because God told her a “fish swallowed” him in the lake.
As more deputies respond to the scene, she tells them they can find her husband inside the fish at the bottom of the lake.
As one officer pushes back to get her husband’s exact whereabouts, Miller tells them to bring in the “best” divers they have to find him, and that her 4-year-old son is “with God.”
A paramedic then escorted Miller away from the officers.
The footage shows her kneeling to pray alongside the medic.
Divers later found the bodies of her husband and 4-year-old son completely submerged at the bottom of the lake later that day, Sheriff Orvis Campbell told reporters at a news conference.
The mom of four and her husband were experiencing what was described as “spiritual delusion” when they believed God was speaking to them and were taking part in a “test of faith” by jumping in the lake and swimming out as far as he could, Campbell said.
After returning to the campground with his wife following their swim, Marcus Miller told her he was going back to the lake.
He was seen alive by the water at 6:30 a.m., a witness told police.
Miller would later tell detectives her husband was distraught over failing his task “because he didn’t have enough faith,” prompting him to attempt it again alone.
Police said that about two hours after Marcus Miller went back to the water, Ruth placed her 4-year-old son in a golf cart and was driving recklessly around the campground.
She then forced him into the water.
Immediately following the incident, she drove the golf cart into the lake with three of her other children, including her 15-year-old daughter and 18-year-old twin sons.
They are now in the care of other family members, according to authorities.
Miller has been charged with two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of domestic violence, and one count of child endangerment, according to court records.
Following the tragic chain of events, Miller was initially taken to a secure hospital, but was transferred to the Tuscarawas County Jail.
Miller pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity at her arraignment on Monday in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court.
Miller’s attorney, Ian N. Friedman, told People Magazine last week that he is “confident” the mother’s defense can prove her “severe mental ailment” led to her conduct.
“I expect that this case will center around whether Ruth should be found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. We are confident that she will be,” he said.
Her bond hearing has been set for Sept. 25 at 1 p.m.
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