Olivia Miller, Sparta, Michigan mom charged with 8 month old baby son’s drowning death after spending 20 minutes on phone while Asher Johnson sat in a bathtub with running water in the next room.
A Michigan mother has been accused of indirectly causing her 8 month old baby son to drown after spending up to 20 minutes on the phone while the child was left unattended in a bathtub with running water.
Olivia Miller appearing in court on Friday was charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree child abuse, with the mom pleading not guilty to all charges against her, WZZM reported.
The charges follow Miller’s eight month old son, Asher Johnson, drowning at a Sparta Township residence on November 22, 2023, where the boy was alone with his mother.
18 second break
Court documents state Miller claiming she had left the boy alone in the tub for ‘just five minutes,’ while she changed the laundry.
However, detectives say the boy’s time of death and Miller’s phone activity tell a different story.
Detectives believe Miller had been on her phone for about 20 minutes, with the longest break lasting about 18 seconds, before calling Asher’s grandmother and then calling 911.
Court documents also note that she told her father via text that her son was taking a nap four minutes before contacting emergency services.
Documents also noted the county’s chief medical examiner believing the child had been lying on the ground for 20 minutes before deputies arrived. They got to the property seven minutes after Miller called 911.
During police questioning, Miller reportedly said that she had placed her son in the bathtub that was filled a few inches with the water flowing, then went one room over to change the laundry. She claimed she returned after about five minutes to find her son floating face-up in the water with his mouth and nose beneath the surface. She then said she tried to resuscitate Asher until authorities arrived.
Changing stories
However, Miller’s claims about what took place that day allegedly changed during further questioning.
‘Throughout the investigation, Olivia (Miller) gave varying stories of what occurred surrounding Asher’s death,’ deputies wrote in a probable cause affidavit obtained by MLive.
Miller’s cellphone that appeared to undercut what she had been telling police. The data reportedly said Miller began using her phone in various capacities at 3:17 p.m. and that she used the device continuously — taking only a single break that lasted 18 seconds — until she called 911.
Miller’s attorney, Frank Stanley, spoke with News 8 saying, ‘Just because a tragic event happened, it doesn’t mean somebody’s criminally responsible for it.’
The lawyer stressed that there was ‘no indication of intentionality.’
‘This is a tragic situation. She’s suffered tremendously, emotionally from the death of her child,’ Stanley said. ‘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 remains held at Kent County Jail on a $300,000 bond and is scheduled to next appear in court next month.
27-year-old Keenan Johnson, the boy’s father also faces charges related to the eight-month-old’s death.
Court documents state Johnson, while under oath, giving false statement[s] and omitting information contrary to what was discovered during the investigation, FOX19 reported.
He now faces a perjury charge.
