Mother pleads not guilty by reason of insanity to murder of her son
NEW PHILADELPHIA – The woman accused of drowning her 4-year-old son and driving her other kids into the water on a golf cart at Atwood Lake is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to murder and other charges. 40-year-old Ruth Miller of Millersburg is represented by Cleveland attorney Ian Friedman, who filed notice of the insanity plea Monday before her first appearance in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court that afternoon. He described Miller as a victim of a mental health episode.
“I don’t think this is an issue of whodunnit,” he said. “That’s just one part of it. That’s the act. The big question is this case is the why. Why it was done. That’s what this whole case is going to be about – the why. How did this happen.”
She is being held in the Tuscarawas County Jail without bail. There will be a bond hearing on September 25th, and Friedman says he will ask for a bond to be set so Miller can be released. He says he will call on family members, sheriff’s officials and mental health professionals at that hearing.
Miller was indicted last week on charges of murder, aggravated murder, felonious assault, endangering children and domestic violence. Tuscarawas County Sherrif Orvis Campbell has said she was experiencing a mental health crisis leading to spiritual delusions when she threw her son into Atwood Lake on August 23rd and described it as an offering to God. Campbell says her husband also drowned at the lake that day accidentally as he attempted to swim to a sand bar to test his faith. The family is Amish, and court officials asked that family members requested not to be photographed or filmed in the courtroom.