INSANITY Plea: Amish Mom Who Drowned Son Says It Was “God’s Will” — Courtroom Bombshells
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 15 September 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After shocking police with her “in a fish” bodycam confession, Ruth Miller now faces the courts. Charged with drowning her 4-year-old son after her husband walked to his death in Atwood Lake, Miller’s attorneys have entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. But will the court believe she didn’t know right from wrong — or will religious extremism be viewed as no excuse for murder?
In this Hidden Killers Live breakdown, Tony Brueski, Stacy Cole, and Todd Michaels take apart the defense’s strategy and what it means for justice. Attorneys argue Miller’s actions were driven by a severe mental illness, pointing to bodycam footage as proof she was experiencing delusion in real time. Prosecutors, meanwhile, will push the question of whether this was truly psychosis — or simply religious belief taken too far.
The panel compares Ruth Miller’s case to infamous “doomsday mom” Lori Vallow Daybell, asking: does growing up in an isolated Amish community change the way we view accountability? If a person is indoctrinated from birth, do they see murder as sacrifice instead of crime? And how much leeway should the law give when faith collides with reality?
This segment also pulls back the curtain on Amish culture itself — a world often hidden from outsiders, where abuse and mental health issues can go unchecked for years. The hosts debate whether this tragedy was the result of one woman’s breakdown or the natural outcome of a system that discourages outside intervention.
The show ends on a surreal but fitting note — with dark humor, broken fish props, and a Billy Bass tangent that underscores the absurdity of finding levity in the darkest stories.
#RuthMiller #Amish #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #AtwoodLake #InsanityDefense #LoriVallow #OhioCrime #ReligiousExtremism #FaithAndCrime
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A Better Help ad. |
| 0:02.3 | Lewis Capaldi partnered with Better Help to get word out about how important therapy can be. |
| 0:07.6 | I struggle most weeks to get up, get myself up and ready and go to therapy or whatever. |
| 0:13.0 | Even like to open the laptop to talk to, my therapist sometimes could be really difficult. |
| 0:17.4 | But I do it because I realise how important it is for me to continue to feel |
| 0:21.3 | good. Because I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy. |
| 0:25.6 | Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com. |
| 0:29.5 | A better help ad. |
| 0:31.5 | Lewis Capaldi partnered with BetterHelp to get word out about how important therapy can be. |
| 0:36.8 | I struggle most weeks to get up, get myself up and ready and go to therapy or whatever. |
| 0:42.2 | Even like to open the laptop to talk to, my therapist sometimes could be really difficult. |
| 0:46.6 | But I do it because I realise how important it is for me to continue to feel good. |
| 0:51.0 | I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy. |
| 0:54.9 | Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com. |
| 0:58.5 | This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Bruske, Stacey Cole and Todd Michaels. |
| 1:07.5 | Here's what their attorney had to say about the matter. |
| 1:14.0 | Take a look. |
| 1:15.5 | We entered a plea about guilty by reason of insanity today because based upon the facts of this case, it's very evident that it is fitting. |
| 1:24.6 | This case would not have happened but for a mental defect that would have prevented |
| 1:30.3 | Ms. Miller from appreciating the wrongfulness of her conduct. |
| 1:34.3 | What happened on that day in your estimation? |
| 1:37.3 | Well, there clearly was a serious mental disease that she faced was evident to the responding officers, the first responders. |
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