Mom who talked on the phone for 20 minutes as her 8-month-old fatally drowned gets jail time

Miller reportedly called her child’s paternal grandmother twice to tell her Asher drowned before she called 911

Olivia Miller, 23, who was arrested after her eight-month-old son drowned in the bathtub at their home in Michigan (Kent County Sheriff’s Office)

A young mother whose infant son died after she left him alone for 20 minutes to talk on the phone was setenced to a year in prison.

Olivia Elizabeth Miller, 24, will spend just under 120 days in a Michigan state correctional facility over the drowning of her 8-month-old son, Asher Johnson.

A judge credited 246 days of that sentence as time served.

In October, Miller pleaded no contest to a single count of involuntary manslaughter in her son's death, Law & Crime reports. As part of the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a second-degree child abuse charge she was also facing.

On November 22, 2023, 911 operators in Grand Rapids received a call from Miller saying that her son had drowned in her bathtub.

First responders rushed to the home and found the child lying face up on the floor. They began performing lifesaving treatment, but the child ultimately died in hospital.

When detectives questioned Miller, she told them that she had put her son in the tub with a few inches of water and walked out of the room to flip her laundry. She said she only left the room for five minutes, after upon returning found her son floating face up in the tub with his mouth full of water. Miller also told the detectives that she tried to resuscitate her son while waiting for first responders to arrive.

Investigators said that Miller's story changed during subsequent police interviews.

"Throughout the investigation, [Miller] gave varying stories of what occurred surrounding Asher's death," deputies wrote in a probably cause affidavit reviewed by MLive.

Investigators pulled data from Miller's phone and found that she had been using it at the time that her son was drowning in the tub. She reportedly began using it at 3:17 p.m. and continued using it nearly uninterrupted for just over 20 minutes, until she called 911.

They also found that about four minutes before calling 911, Miller texted her father saying "Just trying to talk while I have time while Asher's taking a nap."

She then reportedly called Asher's paternal grandmother twice and told her that her son had drowned before calling 911.

Officials examining Asher after his death determined that he had been lying on his back on the floor for at least 20 minutes before first responders arrived at the house to render treatment.

Frank Stanley, the attorney representing Miller, told local broadcaster WZZM that there was "no indication of intentionality" in Miller's actions.

"This is a tragic situation," he said. "She has suffered tremendously emotionally from the death of her child — she loves that child."