A Michigan woman whose baby drowned in the bathtub while she was on the phone chatting with a friend may be released in less than a year due to a plea deal.
Olivia Miller, 23, entered a no-contest plea on Monday to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her 8-month-old son Asher Joseph Johnson, who tragically drowned in the bathtub November 2023 after she left him unattended, Law & Crime reported.
Miller, who was home alone in her Sparta Township gave varying stories of how her baby could have died during the investigation.
Detectives believe that Miller had been on her phone for about 20 minutes that led to her son’s drowning.
Miller’s cause of death was drowning, according to the county’s medical examiner’s office.
The examiner’s office also determined that the child had been lying on his back for 20 minutes before the authorities arrived at Miller’s home, located at 4600 block of 16 Mile Road Northwest, Grand Rapids.
First responders performed life saving measures and transported the baby to the hospital but the child sadly died.
On November 22, 2023, Miller alleged that she placed her son in a bathtub and that he was sitting up. The tub was filled with a few inches of flowing water. During that time, she went to another room to an adjacent laundry room.
When she returned – approximately five minutes later- she found her son floating face up in the water – his nose and mouth were beneath the surface.
The mom alleged she tried to to revive him until first responders arrived.
Once investigators obtained Miller’s cell phone it told a very different story.
According to investigators, Miller’s dell phone activity showed that she had used her phone various times between 3.17pm until she called 911 at 3.38pm.
Police said there was only a 18-second break during that period.
Records revealed that Miller contacted the boy’s father’s mother twice – to tell her the boy had drowned – in the two minutes before she called 911.
Miller, who is being held at the Kent Correctional Facility, is scheduled to be sentenced in early November.
Her attorney Frank Stanley told WZZM that his client has ‘suffered tremendously emotionally from the death of her child.’
He stressed that that was ‘no indication of intentionality’ and called it ‘a very tragic situation.’
He added, ‘she loves that child.’