Given to God At Atwood Lake: The Ruth Miller Case

Summary

Crime Salad Podcast Summary

Episode: Given to God At Atwood Lake: The Ruth Miller Case
Date: October 25, 2025
Hosts: Ashley and Ricky

---

Main Theme and Overview

This episode of Crime Salad explores the tragic Ruth Miller case, where an act of religious delusion within Ohio’s Amish community resulted in the death of a young child and raised complex questions about mental illness, faith, and the intersection of community norms with modern legal and psychiatric care. Ashley and Ricky guide listeners through the case’s timeline, the cultural and psychological backdrop, and broader implications around religious psychosis and the challenges of seeking help in insular communities.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting & Context: The Amish Community and Atwood Lake

• Atwood Lake is portrayed as a peaceful, generational place of recreation for Ohio families, especially Amish, “the second largest Amish population in the entire country” ([02:53]).
• The Amish are described as “a community that prides itself in peace...in resolving conflict within their own church. Not through courts or police” ([03:59]-[04:11]).
• There's a cultural “tendency to rely on prayer, confession or faith healing instead of outside intervention,” complicating access to mental health services ([04:56]).

2. The Incident: Chronology of Tragedy

• Initial Call and Discovery:
  Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a golf cart crash into the lake. They found Ruth Miller standing calmly in the water, saying “I gave him to God,” referring to her son ([07:32]).
  “Her words weren’t really panicked or defensive. They were steady” ([07:32], Ricky).

• Ruth’s Statements & Behavior:
  Ruth repeatedly expressed conviction that she had acted according to divine instructions, blending biblical stories (“God told Ruth that he’s in the lake and a fish swallowed him” - [09:04]) into her real time language and showing little emotional distress.

• Sequence of Events:

  • Early morning: Ruth and her husband Marcus participated in rituals they believed tested their faith ([15:54]-[17:03]).
  • Marcus attempted a faith-proving swim and drowned ([19:21]).
  • Ruth, still under delusion, later threw her 4-year-old son Vincent into the lake and attempted to drive her three teenage children into it in a golf cart. The teens survived ([17:03]-[18:35]).

• First Responders’ Reactions:
  Ruth’s calm spiritual focus “just disarmed people…a paramedic got down on their knees and prayed with Ruth” ([09:04]-[10:27], Ashley & Ricky).

3. Legal Process & Mental Health Considerations

• Ruth was charged with aggravated murder and related offenses. Her defense entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, asserting severe mental illness ([21:31]).

• The insanity defense in Ohio: “they had to prove that…she didn’t know the wrongfulness of their actions” ([22:22], Ashley).

• The rate of successful insanity defenses is low (“Statistically, less than 1% of felony cases ever use an insanity defense, and less than that actually succeed” - [23:57]).

• Legal and Psychiatric Challenges:
  Factors such as Ruth’s potential awareness (“she just says she doesn’t know [where her son’s body is]” - [10:53]) and statements that “people are going to tell her that she’s crazy” could indicate some level of reality assessment, potentially undermining her defense ([25:59]).

4. Psychological Analysis: Religious Psychosis vs. Faith

• The podcast discusses a 2014 study distinguishing delusional religious belief from culturally shared faith ([29:57]):

  • Delusions are rigid, not shared, and unaffected by contrary evidence.
  • Symptoms include grandiosity (chosen for a divine purpose), command hallucinations (hearing God’s voice), and control (belief that actions are directed externally).

• Ruth matches this profile: “She wasn’t deciding what to do. She actually thought that she was obeying orders from a higher power” ([32:08], Ashley).

• Relevant Biblical Parallels:
  Hosts highlight the Abraham and Isaac story (“if that voice never came to stop him, it’s terrifyingly similar to what we’re seeing here” - [34:20]), showing how Biblical language can be hijacked by delusion.

5. Broader Implications: Stigma, Tragedy, and Hope

• Stigma in religious communities often leads to silence and avoidance of mental health care ([39:17], Ashley):

  • “Sometimes it’s seen as a test or a weakness or a sign that someone strayed from God.”
  • Faith leaders, mental health professionals, and families need partnerships and better education to recognize symptoms before tragedy escalates.

• Comparable Cases:
  The hosts reference Andrea Yates (2001) and Deanna Laney (2003), both mothers suffering psychosis who killed their children under religious delusions and were found not guilty by reason of insanity ([37:13]-[38:44]).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Ruth’s Delusion:
  “She speaks with certainty of someone who believes she’s done what she was supposed to do...she’s not confessing to a crime. She’s defending a truth...”
  — Ashley ([07:47])

• On Law Enforcement’s Response:
  “Her tone, her mannerisms, the quietness of it, it just seems like it disarmed people. At one point, a paramedic got down on their knees and prayed with Ruth. It’s really strange.”
  — Ashley ([09:04])

• On the Insanity Defense:
  “Even if someone seems completely delusional, that doesn’t automatically mean they’re legally insane. If there’s any sign they understood their actions were wrong...the insanity defense, it usually just falls apart.”
  — Ricky ([23:17])

• On Religious Psychosis:
  “Healthy religious belief is shared...a delusion is rigid. It’s something only the individual experiences or believes, and no amount of reasoning or evidence can change it.”
  — Ashley ([29:57])

• Parallels to Religious Texts:
  “If you strip away the ending...it’s terrifyingly similar to what we’re seeing here. So this leads a lot of people to believe that this could be religious psychosis.”
  — Ashley ([34:20])

• Reflective Takeaway:
  “If there’s anything that we can take away from this, it’s that there’s no answers that can make it right. We just need to keep hoping and paying attention to the signs and break the stigma about reaching out for help.”
  — Ricky ([42:40])

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Setting the Scene & Amish Background: [00:31] – [05:20]
• Incident at Atwood Lake & Ruth’s Statements: [06:11] – [10:27]
• Legal Process and Mental Health Defense: [19:39] – [25:22]
• Insanity Defense Details and Challenges: [22:22] – [25:59]
• Psychological Analysis: Religious vs. Delusional Belief: [29:57] – [35:21]
• Comparative Cases (Andrea Yates, Deanna Laney): [37:13] – [38:44]
• Broader Cultural & Community Reflection: [39:17] – [42:40]

---

Conclusion & Takeaways

Ashley and Ricky affirm that Ruth Miller’s case is a tragic, unsettling example of what can happen at the intersection of religious faith, untreated mental illness, and cultural barriers to intervention. The episode balances respect for religious belief with a clear-eyed account of suffering and encourages outreach and destigmatization around mental health care—especially within insular communities. The hosts remind listeners of crisis resources and stress the importance of recognizing and addressing symptoms early.

---

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of harm or mental distress, in the US you can dial 988, or visit 988lifeline.org. International resources can be found at findahelpline.com.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign hey, Crime Salad listeners, I'm Ashley.

[B]

And I'm Ricky.

[A]

Now, before we jump into today's case, we want to take a moment to thank you, all of you, for picking up Crime Salad Merch, for sharing our episodes with other true crime fans, for supporting us on Patreon or Apple, and for leaving such kind and thoughtful reviews.

[B]

Every bit of your support helps us keep doing what we love, telling stories.

[A]

That matter so truly. Thank you. Now, let's get into this week's episode. The story we're talking about this week involves a few trigger warnings. One major warning comes with the tragic death of a child and includes themes of mental health crisis and parental violence. Listener discretion is strongly advised. Please take care of yourself while listening and and if you need to skip this episode or step away at any point, we completely understand. Tucked between the rolling hills of Tuscarawas and Carroll counties sits a place that looks like a picture of peace. Atwood Lake park is where Northeast Ohio families go to escape. It's just an easy hour's drive from Akron or Cleveland, but it's far enough that you can hear the world go quiet. It's one of the region's best spots for sailing and pleasure boating, with calm water that mirrors the sky and a wide, sandy beach that fills each summer with laughter, picnics, and the smell of sunscreen and grilled food. It's the kind of place where you can imagine generations coming back year after year, kids chasing each other along the shore, parents teaching them to swim, couples running pontoon boats to drift across the afternoon. Atwood is built on the idea that the outdoors can heal, that if you spend enough time on calm water, maybe life feels a little more manageable. But in the summer of 2025, that calm was broken on one of the lake's quietest inlets. Sheriff deputies responded to a call that would change everything, and what they found wasn't a boating accident or a missing swimmer, but an eerily calm mother standing knee deep in the water, claiming she gave her child to God.

[B]

A place known for family vacations suddenly became the center of an investigation into faith, delusion and tragedy that no one in this community could comprehend. We want it to be clear that our goal isn't to sensationalize faith or criticize religion. What we're looking at here is how belief can become delusion when alleged untreated mental health illness is involved in the story of Ruth.

[A]

It involves themes of faith, delusion and tragedy that may be disturbing to some listeners, so please use discretion before continuing. This is the Case of Ruth Miller Ruth Miller and her family were part of Ohio's Amish community, the second largest Amish population in the entire country. In 2023, estimates placed more than 84,000Amish residents across Ohio. Holmes county, where the Miller family lived, and the surrounding areas are known collectively as Ohio's Amish Country. With rolling farmland, horse drawn buggies and quiet roads where cell phones and electricity are rare and daily life centers around faith and family. The Amish trace their roots to the Anabaptist movement of the 1600s a a Christian reform movement that emphasized simplicity, humility and separation from the modern world. Over centuries, they've become known for their plain dress, rejection of most modern technology and strong sense of community. Their faith is built on obedience, forgiveness, and a literal interpretation of the Bible.

[B]

At its core, it's a community that prides itself in peace. They believe in nonviolence and turning the other cheek and in resolving conflict within their own church. Not through courts or police.

[A]

Exactly. For the Amish, confession and forgiveness are spiritual duties. But that belief system, as compassionate as it sounds, can also make it difficult when serious crimes happen inside those tight knit circles. Over the past decade, advocates for abuse victims in Amish communities have spoken out about what they call a culture of silence. They say that when domestic violence or sexual abuse happens, it's often handled internally through church discipline or community meditation, rather than being reported to civil authorities. Some church leaders have started acknowledging the issue, but advocates argue that far more needs to be done. That abuse is a crime, it's not just a sin to be forgiven.

[B]

And that part's important to understand because Ruth's story unfolded in a community where mental illness and violence are rarely discussed out allowed. There's a tendency to rely on prayer, confession or faith healing instead of outside intervention. And that can make it almost impossible for someone suffering from delusion or psychosis to get any type of real medical help.

[A]

And sometimes Amish communities can view mental health care with skepticism, preferring spiritual counsel over psychiatric treatment. It isn't that they don't believe in illness. It's that they frame it in moral or religious terms. A person showing signs of depression or mania might be described as under spiritual struggle or in need of repentance rather than someone in a medical crisis. So in Ruth's case, she started saying that God was testing her or that he was giving her commands. That language might not have raised alarms at first. To her, and maybe to those around her, that could have sounded like ordinary faith, not the beginning of something more dangerous.

[B]

So that makes you Wonder, because we've covered cases of mental breaks before, but what happens when religion becomes the language of that delusion?

[A]

Right. So let's start with what the police saw that day. It was just afternoon Sunrise on Saturday, August 23, 2025, when a call came into the Tuscarawas County Sheriff's office. A woman and her three children had crashed a golf cart into Atwood Lake near the Atwood Marina west, one of the busiest recreation spots in the park. Witnesses reported the cart had launched into the lake, and deputies and park rangers raced to the scene. The moment that they arrived, they saw a woman standing in the lake, dressed plainly. Her bonnet soaked, her face calm in a way that didn't make sense. Now, initially, the woman did not want to be rescued from the water, but asked witnesses to pray for her instead. Even so, rescuers pulled her to the shore, trying to figure out what had just happened. That woman was Ruth Miller, a mother from the Holmes County Amish community who'd been visiting Atwood Lake with her husband and their four children that weekend for her birthday. As deputies and rangers started asking questions, Ruth says something that stops them cold. Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell later described it at a press conference, saying that there was a pretty immediate statement made that she had given her son to the Lord.

[B]

And she just kept repeating it, saying, I gave him the God. Her words weren't really panicked or defensive. They were steady. The detectives on the scene asked Ruth what she meant by that, and she said, I threw him in the lake and I gave him the God.

[A]

And from here, it's clear that something horrifying started to unfold. Moments later, she added that her son is sweet and she loves him, but she gave him to God. Her tone never changes. There's again, no panic or resistance. She speaks with certainty of someone who believes she's done what she was supposed to do and that she looked at the deputies quietly and said that people are going to tell her that she's crazy, but that God is real. She already knows how it sounds to them, but in her mind, it seems like none of that matters. She's not confessing to a crime. She's defending a truth that. That she thinks that they can't see. And at one point, she reaches out and places her hand on an officer's arm, telling him that God is real and that God loves him.

[B]

An attorney interviewed by news outlets later pointed out how unusual that reaction was. He said that in almost any other case, especially one involving a suspected murder, an officer would immediately create Distance or issue a command. But here he didn't. Maybe it was because Ruth didn't feel like a threat. She was talking about God and love in the middle of a crime scene. And maybe that just threw everyone off.

[A]

Yeah. Her tone, her mannerisms, the quietness of it, it just seems like it disarmed people. At one point, one of the paramedics on the scene got down on their knees and prayed with Ruth. It's really strange. And it only grew stranger when deputies asked where her husband was, whether he was still at the lake or nearby. She told them that God had already taken him too, saying that God told Ruth that he's in the lake and a fish swallowed him. And this is a moment out of the book of Jonah in the Bible where Jonah is swallowed by a fish and is transported to the place God wants him to go.

[B]

So really she thought this was completely biblical, like literally happening in real life.

[A]

Yeah, and that's what investigators started to realize, too. Ruth didn't describe her husband as missing or dead. She said that she saw his clothes on a boat and God told her that he had been swallowed by a fish. Encouraging officers to look for him at the bottom of the lake. She said that when they find him in the fish, they will believe. Officers tried to explain to her that it was quite literally impossible. There isn't a fish big enough in the lake to swallow her husband. Ruth insists that her husband was part of a miracle from God to prove himself to those who don't believe. She told officers to get the best divers out there to find her husband because this is a miracle from God.

[B]

Now the strange part is that she's more reluctant to give details about what we now know was her four year old son that she threw into the lake. She's willingly offering up information about her husband, that he went for a walk and when he didn't come home, she went down to the lake and saw that his clothes were there, insisting that he was at the bottom of the lake. But when investigators ask if her son is at the bottom of the lake too, she just responds that he's with God.

[A]

Yeah, and that's a good point, because officers, they ask Ruth where her son's body is at and she just says she doesn't know. So police, they have to use specific words, asking her where she threw her son in the water at. This is when she points out to the doc that she threw her 4 year old son off of giving officers the information they need. And this kind of shows that she might have known at Least a little bit what she had done or the weight of what she had done if she was that reluctant to give any information about it. But throughout everything, she used every moment as an opportunity to preach and pray. Like we said earlier, she prayed on her knees with one of the paramedics, and Ruth prayed for God to show this woman the truth, despite the fact that everyone was doubting her. When she was being brought to the police car, she preached to the group arresting her, telling them about when Jesus was on the cross, saying, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Comparing it to her arrest, she urged the officers to trust because the Lord works in mysterious ways when we just want to believe in our earthly ways.

[B]

And what's weird here is that she's not praying for forgiveness for her son. She's praying for them. It's like she's trying to convert the people arresting her. She's casting herself as this martyr, the misunderstood believer punished for her obedience. And to her, the deputies are prosecutors in a biblical story that she thinks she's living out. I mean, at least in my opinion, there seems to be no separation between faith and reality anymore. It's kind of blended all into one thing for her.

[A]

Yeah, and it's weird because this is her son and doesn't shed a tear, doesn't really have any emotional impact on her. And apparently this line had been blurring for a while. So after Ruth's arrest, investigators began trying to understand what led to this. How a weekend at the lake ended with two people dead and another speaking about miracles and divine tests. The lead investigator with the Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office, Captain Adam Fisher, told reporters that during Ruth's repeated story, it did not appear that the gravity of the situation had sunk in with another. Calling it an obvious spiritual delusion. County Sheriff Orvis Campbell said that the family of Ruth and her husband had already told detectives that the two had been struggling with their mental health, especially Ruth. Campbell said that she was very clearly in a mental crisis. And upon talking to witnesses and first responders, it was a mental crisis manifesting itself in a spiritual delusion. But he emphasized that, according to family members, there had never been talk of violence or harm. In fact, just two days before the drownings on August 21, relatives reached out after getting what was described as a concerning call from the couple. The family was worried about the things Ruth was saying, and they tried to intervene, but there was still no sign that she or her husband were planning to hurt anyone.

[B]

What started as devotion to each other and their faith. It ended up twisting into something that was completely different. And detectives said it's almost impossible to find any logic in what happened whatsoever.

[A]

And that mindset obviously led up to exactly what happened in August. The holidays sneak up fast, but it's not too early to get your shopping done and actually have fun with it. Uncommon Goods makes holiday shopping stress free and joyful with thousands of one of a kind gifts you can't find anywhere else.

[B]

Okay, listen, I found the coolest thing on their site. It's like the grown up version of that old red Viewmaster that we all had as kids. Like the little click lever you see the next picture type thing. Well, you can upload your photos and you can make a custom reel just for you.

[A]

Instant nostalgia. We made one with our favorite family photos and I'm already planning to order more as gifts this year. It's such a wow gift. It's handmade, customizable and made in small batches.

[B]

That's what Uncommon Goods is all about. High quality, unique stuff, often handmade or made in the US and since most of it's from independent artists and small businesses, the best finds sell out fast.

[A]

Plus, when you shop at Uncommon Goods, you're supporting those artists and with every purchase, they give back a dollar to a nonprofit partner of your choice. They've donated more than $3 million so.

[B]

Far, so shop early, have fun, and cross some names off your list today. To get 15% off your next gift.

[A]

Go to uncommongoods.com Crimesalad that's uncommongoods.com crimesalad for 15% off.

[B]

Don't miss out on this limited time offer.

[A]

Uncommon Goods We're all out of the.

[B]

Ordinary.

[A]

Investigators determined that it started in the very early hours of Saturday morning, around 1:15am Ruth and Marcus Miller, her husband, they walked together to the dock at Atwood Lake, both of them believing that God was speaking to them, giving them instructions and tests to prove their worthiness and show that their faith was complete. Well, according to Orvis Campbell, some of them were bizarre. Some of them were just swimming exercises. The most bizarre, apparently, was that God told Ruth to allow herself to be swallowed by a fish. And ironically, this is what she said happened to her husband when the two came out of the water. Apparently Marcus told Ruth he felt like he had failed the test, that he didn't have enough faith. And when they got back to the RV they had been camping in, Ruth said her husband was quiet, disappointed and told her he hadn't proved himself to God.

[B]

And that disappointment right there could have been what pushed Ruth further into this delusion. Because if they both believed that God was grading their faith and now Marcus thought he failed, that could have made her double down on trying to succeed this time.

[A]

Around dawn, Marcus told Ruth that he planned to return to the lake, this time alone. He said that he wanted to swim from the dock all the way to the sandbar, which is a long stretch of open water. As a further test of his faith, a witness leader confirmed seeing Marcus at the dock around 6:30 that morning, the last time anyone saw him alive. And by the time Ruth returned later that morning, her husband had already drowned. Then at around 8am witnesses saw Ruth loading her 4 year old son Vinson into a golf cart near the campsite. She drove toward the marina, moving fast, described by onlookers as reckless and dangerous, heading straight for the water. She eventually reached the dock, got out and threw her son into the lake. Ruth didn't stop there though. She continued to act under the same delusional conviction that God was still giving her instructions. Her remaining children also had been tested. Ruth then allegedly forced her three older children, her 15 year old daughter and 18 year old twin sons into the lake at different times that morning. At around 10:30 that morning, Ruth loaded all three of her remaining children into a golf cart, driving it recklessly towards the lake and plunging the cart into the water. Which brings us back to that original 911 call where a witness reported a woman and her three children in the lake, the fourth already gone.

[B]

Thankfully, all three teenagers were able to get out of the cart and swim to safety. Now they weren't physically injured, but the trauma of what they've now experienced, I mean, that's gonna stick with them forever.

[A]

Oh yeah, no doubt. And by that evening, divers had returned to the Atwood Lake to begin searching for the bodies. And around 6pm divers found the body of 4 year old Vinson Miller at the bottom of the lake near the dock. That following morning, Sunday, August 24, at about 8:30am, the body of Marcus Miller was recovered from the water as well. He was found farther out into the lake near the area where he attempted to swim towards the sandbar that he told Ruth would prove his faith.

[B]

So he wasn't involved in what happened with the kids. Marcus's life, it ended before any of that even began. Detectives later determined that he had nothing to do with Vincent's death or with Ruth's choices after they believed his drowning was a tragic accident that happened while he was trying to finish his test.

[A]

While Ruth was taken into custody. She was soon transferred to a hospital for mental health treatment. Her three surviving children were released into the care of other family members. And I can't even imagine what those kids are processing right now. They essentially lost both parents in a single weekend and their four year old sibling. And that weekend was the beginning of a much larger question. What exactly was going on inside Ruth Miller's mind when she stepped onto that dock? Was she aware of what she had done? Or was she so far gone in her delusion that she truly believed that this was an act of obedience to God? We start to learn those answers to those questions as Ruth's court proceedings began. After discovering the bodies, Ruth was charged with aggravated murder, murder, and felonious assault in her son's death. She was also charged with child endangerment and domestic violence for allegedly driving the golf cart into the lake with her other children. The sheriff's office confirmed that the family belonged to the Old Order Amish Church, one of the most traditional and devout branches of Amish faith. But church leaders were quick to respond publicly, telling Scripps News, Cleveland that what happened at Atwood Lake does not reflect their teachings or beliefs. They said it was not an act of faith, but the result of mental illness. Because for the Amish, at least from the research we've done, faith is built on humility, peace, and obedience, not violence or harm. And both the church and investigators agreed that Ruth's actions came from a mental health crisis, not theology. That's the foundation her defense team built her case on. Her attorney, Michael Friedman, told reporters that they had entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, explaining that Ruth wasn't in the right state of mind to understand that what she was doing was wrong.

[B]

So in legal terms, pleading not guilty by reason of insanity means she couldn't fully grasp reality or control her actions. So they're not saying the tragedy didn't happen. They're saying her mental illness caused it and that she wasn't capable of making a rational choice in that moment.

[A]

And when Friedman was asked if Ruth expressed remorse or even talked about how she felt, then he responded that she was obviously devastated by what occurred, and they're getting to the bottom of what went wrong, mentally. Under the Ohio law, the insanity defense is defined under the state's version of the monotonin rule, one of the oldest standards in American law. And to be found not guilty by reason of insanity, a defendant has to prove that because of a severe mental disease or defect, they did not know the wrongfulness of Their actions.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. So from here, the judge needs to order a forensic evaluation of Ruth's mental condition at the time of the offense and the. And also, the judge can order an evaluation about her competency to stand trial. Psychologists and psychiatrists examine medical records, police interviews, and collateral information and then testify whether the standard is met and whether she knew the act was wrong or not.

[A]

And if a judge agrees that Ruth is not guilty by reason of insanity, the court must immediately hold another hearing to determine what happens next, Specifically, whether Ruth should be considered a person with a mental illness who needs to remain under court supervision. That decision usually means one of two things. She's either committed to a secure state psychiatric hospital for treatment or, in rare cases, released under strict conditions.

[B]

However, many people don't realize how high that bar really is. Even if someone seems completely delusional, they. That doesn't automatically mean they're legally insane. If there's any sign they understood their actions were wrong, even for a moment, that insanity defense, it usually just falls apart. Which makes me think back to that body cam footage. When officers asked Ruth, where's his body? Ruth reportedly pointed towards the doc, explaining that her son was in the water. And this could be the area of the case that's observed closely to determine whether she knew this was wrong or. Or if, you know, she was seeing this through the lens of delusion.

[A]

Yeah. And what will make this case interesting is that Statistically, less than 1% of felony cases ever use an insanity defense, and less than that actually succeed. So, from what we found with our research, for Ruth's team to make this plea stick, they'll have to prove without a shadow of a doubt that when she threw her son into the lake, she didn't just believe that she was acting on God's demand. She. She had to be so deep in psychosis that she literally couldn't understand what was wrong.

[B]

Right. And we've seen this in the research, that in cases involving children, the skepticism that the parent was 100% unaware of the consequences only grows. Jurors carry emotional weight into the room before testimony even begins. They want accountability and justice for the child, and understandably so. So when experts explain psychosis or delusion, many jurors will come back to that one impossible question, which is, how could any parent not know that this was wrong?

[A]

And we'll obviously see this unfold as her case does. But like you were saying, Ricky, there are several reasons that indicate Ruth's actions stemmed from a severe delusional state. Her statements on the body cam Footage about hearing God's voice, believing she was offering her child to him. I mean, it all points to religious psychosis.

[B]

And even when you look at her husband's drowning, the things she said about him being swallowed by a fish and then later driving her kids into the lake with a golf cart after throwing her four year old son in, it's all so strange and deeply unsettling behavior. And we know she had a history of mental health struggles and described what sounded like command hallucinations where she believed that God was telling her what to do. And all of those signs, they support an insanity defense. In that moment, she might have actually believed she was obeying a divine command, not committing a crime here.

[A]

Now, on the other hand, some may think that there are details that work against her. One being her admitting to throwing Vincent in a lake and saying that people were going to start to talk about her saying she's crazy. This could show self awareness or at least an understanding that others would see her actions as wrong. So even if her defense attorney says this case clearly fits the insanity standard, there are legal analysts who have said that the plea probably won't stick. But it's the only argument that makes sense to try in that the defense wouldn't be doing their due diligence if they didn't try that argument. But no matter how this plays out in court, the outcome won't look anything like freedom for Ruth. If Ruth is found guilty by reason of insanity, she likely won't go home. She'll be committed to a secure state psychiatric hospital, not for months, but potentially for decades. She would be under strict supervision until a panel of doctors and judges all agree that she is no longer dangerous. And in cases like this, that release may never happen. If the plea is rejected, Ruth will likely spend the rest of her life in prison while possibly without parole. With the charges she's facing now, she did have a bail hearing on September 29 where multiple law enforcement officers, they took the stand to explain how they viewed Ruth's mental health during the investigation. In the judge's assessment, he came to the conclusion that the evidence was clear and convincing, that Ruth posed a risk of serious physical harm to people in the community. He also said that there were no release conditions that would assure the safety of those around Ruth. Now, during this, the judge referred to even more evidence that Ruth had been struggling with her mental health before the incident with Vincent. He said that the bishop of Ruth's church was concerned about her mental well being, as well as her family members who had tried to intervene. The judge said that he didn't think Ruth would listen to any conditions of release. He imposed, denying her bail and having her held in the county jail during the court proceedings. And now we just have to sit and wait for the next court date to see what happens next. If you're still overpaying for wireless, it's time to say yes to saying no. At Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no bs.

[B]

Basically, they're everything that your current phone company isn't for real.

[A]

We used to open our phone bill every month and feel like we were getting tricked. Random fees, overages, processing charges. Mint said no to all of that. Now we get premium wireless for just $15 a month.

[B]

15 bucks and you still get high speed data and unlimited talk and text, all delivered on the nation's largest 5G network.

[A]

And the best part? You can keep your own phone and number. Just pop in a Mint Mobile SIM or ESIM and boom, you're switched.

[B]

We've been using Mint for months now, and the service is just as good, if not better than our old provider. It's wild how much we're saving.

[A]

Ready to say yes to saying no? Make the [e-mail] Crimesalad that's mintmobile.com Crimesalad upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 per month limited time new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speeds may slow above 35gb on unlimited plan taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

[B]

And we've been talking a lot about psychosis and specifically religious psychosis. And even though this is all just speculation, we kind of all just want to know the same thing. Like what was really going on inside Ruth's mind when this happened. I mean, to cause her to do something so awful and to really understand.

[A]

That, it helps to look at what psychologists have learned about religious delusions. There was a 2014 study published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. It examined hundreds of patients who experienced delusions with religious themes with the goal of understanding what made those delusions different from ordinary, culturally accepted religious beliefs. And that's the main question in Ruth's case. Was she mentally ill or seriously misled by her religion? And the researchers found that the difference comes down to the context and flexibility. Healthy religious belief is shared. It's symbolic and open to interpretation. A delusion is rigid. It's something that only the individual experiences or believes, and no amount of reasoning or evidence can change it. People with religious delusions Often share a few psychological traits. The first is grandiosity, or the belief that they've been chosen by God for a special purpose or divine mission. And the second is internal commands, Hearing or sensing direct instructions from a divine voice. And finally is delusions of control, Feeling that their actions, their thoughts or bodies Are being guided by an outside spiritual force. This study also found that individuals with these delusions, they tend to have symptoms like hallucinations, disorganized thinking, and are behavior. In other words, they're expressive, active, and convinced Rather than withdrawn or vacant. But with the right approach, they can respond well to therapy and medication. In simple terms, these are people whose spirituality has been hijacked by their illness. Their faith becomes the framework that their psychosis uses to make sense of reality.

[B]

And when we take all of this and hold it up against Ruth Miller's case, the parallels are basically one to one. Ruth and her husband weren't just praying or reading scripture. They believed that they were being tested by God personally. And that sounds like grandiosity to me. They thought they were proving their devotion through action, which is like a divine mission.

[A]

And I think that's what investigators meant when they said her devotion manifested incorrectly. She believed she was doing something sacred. And there were also delusions of control. In her case, on the body cam footage, Ruth kept saying that God told her, and God was speaking to her, which is kind of textbook for this kind of psychosis. She wasn't deciding what to do. She actually thought that she was obeying orders from a higher power. This study, it's really interesting. It talks about anomalous experiences which are internal voices, sensations, or convictions that feel absolutely real. And that's kind of what this scenario seems like. She didn't appear confused or torn. She acted as though she was following a command that she could hear or feel inside her own mind. And I think that's a key difference between someone who is distressed and someone who's delusional. It's easy to think that she maybe wasn't questioning what she was doing at that time.

[B]

And you can see that in her behavior, too. People in religious delusions aren't withdrawn. They're energized and mission driven. And that's Ruth erratically driving her golf cart towards the water, Instructing her kids to go in, praying over strangers, preaching to officers. She was propelled the whole time, and she didn't hesitate.

[A]

And there's the lack of doubt. So this study noted that those with religious delusions Rarely entertain alternative explanations. Ruth, she refused to get out of the Water at first, telling them to pray for her. And she also said that people would call her crazy, but that he is real, or that they would find her husband inside a fish at the bottom of the lake, and then they would believe she was not willing to entertain the fact that she was wrong about any of this. To her, there was no contradiction.

[B]

And you know what's weird is there's a story in the Bible where God tests Abraham's faith by commanding him to sacrifice his own son. And Abraham doesn't argue. He obeys. He takes Isaac up to the mountain. He builds an altar and prepares to follow through, believing that God will somehow make it right. And at the last moment, an angel stops him.

[A]

And that's interesting. It's just one of those stories people interpret as a lesson in obedience or trust. But if you strip away the ending, if that voice never came to stop him, it's terrifyingly similar to what we're seeing here. So this leads a lot of people to believe that this could be religious psychosis. It's taking a biblical story that already exists in her faith, and it's being pulled into a literal action. Why would she think that this was pure evil if it was proof of devotion biblically and according to her own reality? When psychiatrists evaluate a case like Ruth Miller's, one of the first questions they ask is how her beliefs fit within the broader context of her faith. And this is to tell the difference between religious devotion and religious delusion. A genuine faith belief is shared. It's practiced by others in the same culture or church. And a delusion is deeply personal and fixed, built on private experiences or commands that no one else shares or recognizes.

[B]

Yeah, and it's interesting to look at Ruth's story through that lens, especially when you think about Abraham and Isaac. For centuries, theologians have interpreted that story as a metaphor for trust and obedience, not a literal call to violence. But for Ruth, that line disappeared. It doesn't seem like her interpretation was shared by her church, her community, or even the people who were closest to her. But could it have been a point of reference that she was using to justify her actions? That's the question.

[A]

And that question of shared faith, it leads you to think about how Ruth and her husband were both engaging in rituals as commands from God. If both of them thought these tests were real, prosecutors could argue it wasn't a delusion, but a shared belief system. And that would weaken the insanity defense. But if investigators can show that Ruth's experiences were unique to her, that her husband's faith didn't go that far. It supports the claim that she was in a state of psychosis. It's a subtle but important distinction between faith and delusion, which are now the foundation of Ruth's case. But it isn't the first time that we've seen psychosis take on a religious form, and it probably won't be the last, especially with the stigma around seeking mental health services in religious spaces. I mean, throughout history, religion has been one of the most common frameworks for delusional thinking. One of the most well known examples is Andrea Yates, if you remember that case. A mother from Texas in 2001 who drowned her five children in a bathtub, believing that God was telling her to save their souls. She thought that the only way to keep them from eternal damnation was to take their lives before they could be corrupted by sin. This is a haunting example of postpartum psychosis combined with religion.

[B]

Yeah. And in that case, Andrea's illness, it had been building for years, and she was deeply remorseful after the fact when those delusions lifted, which is what Ruth's lawyer said happened for her. Andrea Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and she was committed to a psychiatric hospital, where I believe she's still at today.

[A]

Yeah. And it makes you wonder, is Ruth's case going to pan out like hers did? And there's also another case, Deanna Laney, which took place two years later in the same state. Deanna. She also claimed that she had received direct instructions from God that she was being tested, like Abraham, to sacrifice her children to prove her faith. She. She ended up killing two of her three sons and severely injured the third before calling police herself. And when officers arrived, she calmly told them that she had been obedient to God's will, which sounds very similar to Ruth's case. And she was also found not guilty by reason of insanity. Both women lived in deeply religious environments and both suffered severe mental illnesses. And psychologists, they see this often. Their delusions usually take shape around whatever ideas are most central to their life and their identity. For someone who's religious, that's faith. For someone who's obsessed with technology, it might be government surveillance. For someone raised around violence, it might be persecution or self defense. For Ruth Miller, her supposed delusion would take on Amish religious language.

[B]

And what's so heartbreaking about cases like this is that faith is the delusion and sometimes the barrier to getting help in a lot of religious communities. And as you said before, there's stigma around mental illness. Sometimes it's seen as A test or a weakness or a sign that someone strayed from God. So people don't reach for psychiatrists or counselors, but for prayer, scripture, or silence. And I'm not saying that this is exactly what happened in Ruth's case, but it's definitely an aspect that's important to talk about.

[A]

And for many conservative or insular faith communities, including the Amish, mental health care can be hard to access. Part of it is geography and infrastructure. Many live in rural areas with limited access to psychiatric services. And part of it is culture, which is what we've been touching on. And symptoms can be subtle at first. Changes in sleep, mood, or belief can be seen as spiritual struggles rather than medical warning signs. And the problem is that untreated psychosis, if that's what happened here, escalates. It can spiral in a matter of days or even hours when untreated. And because these communities value privacy, families are reluctant to involve outsiders, especially law enforcement or hospitals. And what mental health advocates are hoping for is a middle ground. Partnerships between pastors, bishops, and mental health professionals. Education that teaches faith leaders how to recognize when symptoms are surpassing what religious practices can help.

[B]

And that's what makes cases like this so complex. It's hard to pinpoint where faith ended and delusion began. What happened at Atwood Lake appears to be the result of a powerful spiritual delusion, something that convinced them that it was holiness, evil even when it led to tragedy.

[A]

And the experts who are looking at this case, they hope that whatever happens, Ruth gets the help that she needs in her case, for her sake and for her surviving children. It's not an easy outcome for anyone involved. As for the Old Order Amish Church, they will likely gather to forgive, to grieve, and to help raise the children who survived instead of speaking publicly. Three teenagers who watched the life they knew collapse in one morning. They lost their father to what's being called a delusional act of faith, and their mother to the consequences of it, and also their four year old sibling. Hopefully, they can receive the proper mental health care that they need. And Atwood Lake has gone back to being quiet again. The beach is open, the docks are full, and the boats still drift over the water like nothing happened. If you didn't know this story, you would never have guessed that one of Ohio's most peaceful places became the location of a tragedy that many people will never forget. In the end, the facts are what we know. Ruth Miller drowned her four year old son Vinson, in Atwood Lake after what investigators are calling a spiritual delusion. Her husband drowned hours earlier while trying to prove his faith. In a separate act of devotion, her three surviving children escaped after Ruth drove them into a lake in a golf cart later that morning, and Ruth was arrested at the scene, repeating that she had given her son to God, where she was then hospitalized for psychiatric care. She has since pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, with her attorneys arguing that she was suffering from severe mental illness that left her unable to understand the wrongfulness of her actions. And as of right now, that's what we can say for certain. Everything else remains questions that only time might answer. The Old Order Amish Church has said that this tragedy does not reflect their beliefs, and investigators agree that this was psychosis. No matter what happens, it won't bring little Vincent back.

[B]

And if there's anything that we can take away from this, it's that there's no answers that can make it right. We just need to keep hoping and paying attention to the signs and catch them early and Break the Stigma about Reaching out for Help thank you all.

[A]

So much for listening to this week's episode of Crime Salad. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of harm or mental distress, you can reach the Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 in the United States. If you're outside the US you can find international hotlines at findahelpline.com or you can visit 988lifeline.org. There are chat and texting options, and if you believe that someone is experiencing psychosis or delusional thinking, reach out to your local emergency services. Early help can save lives. These are not easy topics at all, by any means, but talking about them helps break the stigma around mental illness. We'll be back next week with another case, and as always, thank you for listening, staying curious, and for caring about stories that matter. We will see you next time.

[B]

Crime Salad is a Black Cat Media production. To find out more, check out blackcat FM.