A Michigan mother was arrested Thursday on felony charges in connection to her 8-month-old son’s drowning death last year when the baby was left alone in a bathtub while she was on the phone for more than 20 minutes, according to the local sheriff’s office.
Olivia Miller, 23, of Sparta Township, Michigan, is facing one count of homicide — involuntary manslaughter and one count of second-degree child abuse in the November 2023 death of her 8-month-old son, Asher Johnson, court records show.
Investigators determined that Miller was home alone with her baby when the boy drowned and said that the mother told varying accounts of what happened, according to a statement by the Kent County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO).
Newsweek reached out via email on Saturday to KCSO and Miller’s attorney Frank Stanley for comment.
Miller is currently being held on a $300,000 bond at the Kent County jail, online records show. She appeared for her arraignment on Friday where she pleaded not guilty to all charges, according to local station WZZM.
Kent County Sheriff’s Office
On November 22, 2023, KCSO deputies, Sparta Police Department (SPD) officers and paramedics responded to a home off 16 Mile Road in Sparta Township for a call regarding a baby who had drowned in a bathtub, the sheriff’s office said.
Miller was the only one home with her baby when she left him unattended in a bathtub with the water running, KCSO Deputy Anna Birkeland wrote in a probable-cause affidavit obtained by Michigan news website MLive.
“Throughout the investigation, Olivia gave varying stories of what occurred surrounding Asher’s death,” Birkeland wrote.
The mother told investigators that she left her baby, sitting up in the bathtub that was filled a few inches and had the water running, for five minutes while she went to the laundry room. When she returned, Miller said she found Johnson floating, with his face underwater, according to the affidavit.
Miller said that she tried to revive her baby until first responders arrived, the court document states.
During the investigation, detectives analyzed Miller’s cellphone activity around the time of her son’s death and found that she used her phone from 3:17 p.m. until she called 911 at 3:38 p.m. During that timeframe, there was only an 18-second break in her phone usage, the court documents state.
Two minutes before she called 911, Miller called the baby’s paternal grandmother twice to tell her the boy had drowned.
Four minutes before she called 911, she texted her father that she was “Just trying to talk while I have time while Asher’s taking a nap,” according to the affidavit.
SPD arrived at the scene seven minutes after Miller called 911 and found the baby lying face-up on the living room floor. Officers attempted life-saving measures before the boy was taken to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead, court records state.
The baby’s cause of death was determined to be drowning, according to an autopsy conducted by Kent County’s Chief Medical Examiner Stephen Cohle, who also estimated that the infant had been lying on his back on the floor for a minimum of 20 minutes before authorities arrived.
Miller’s attorney told WZZM that there was “no indication of intentionality” regarding the mother’s alleged actions.
“There’s no indication of intentionality here and that’s important to point out, Stanley said. “This is a tragic situation she suffered tremendously, emotionally from the death of her child. She loves that child. I’ve been inside that house. There are photographs all over that house of her, the father with that child.”
Miller is due back in court on February 7.
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