A lady from Michigan has pled guilty to charges related to her 20-minute phone call and subsequent drowning of her young boy in the bathtub.
According to court documents, Olivia Miller, 23, pleaded not guilty on Monday to involuntary manslaughter in the death of 8-month-old Asher Johnson. She could spend a year in jail as part of the plea deal.
The case was first made public on November 22, 2023, when the mother reported her son’s drowning in the bathtub of her house in the 4600 block of 16 Mile Road Northwest to the emergency dispatcher when she contacted 911 at approximately 3:38 p.m., according to Grand Rapids NBC affiliate WOOD.
When they arrived, first responders saw the baby face up on the ground and started saving his life. It happened in a hospital.
Miller admitted to detectives that she had taken her son into the bathtub and filled it with just a few inches of water before going into another room to change the clothes.
After around five minutes, she said, she went back to check on her baby and discovered him floating faceup in the water with his mouth and nose below the surface. She continued by saying that she attempted to revive Asher until help arrived.
Authorities noted that Miller’s accounts of what happened that day altered over time.
Deputies said in a probable cause document that MLive was able to get, “Throughout the investigation, Olivia (Miller) gave varying stories of what occurred surrounding Asher’s death.”
The report states that information taken from Miller’s cellphone by investigators seemed to contradict Miller’s statements to police.
Miller apparently started using her phone in a variety of ways around 3:17 p.m., according to the data, and she didn’t stop using it until roughly twenty-one minutes later, only taking a single, eighteen-second break.
Miller allegedly texted her dad four minutes before dialing 911, saying, “Just trying to talk while I have time while Asher’s taking a nap.”
Before she dialed 911, Miller allegedly informed Asher’s paternal grandmother twice that the child had drowned.
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The chief medical examiner for the county performed an autopsy and found that Asher drowned. Additionally, the medical examiner calculated that before authorities reached Miller’s house, the baby had been laying on his back on the floor for at least twenty minutes.
Frank Stanley, Miller’s lawyer, told WZZM that it was crucial to emphasize that Miller’s actions showed “no indication of intentionality.”
“This is a tragic situation,” he stated. “She has suffered tremendously emotionally from the death of her child — she loves that child.”
Early in November, Miller is scheduled to be sentenced.
