2 moms left 4 young kids alone in parking lot while they drank at bar, police say
Default Mono Sans Mono Serif Sans Serif Comic Fancy Small CapsDefault X-Small Small Medium Large X-Large XX-LargeDefault Outline Dark Outline Light Outline Dark Bold Outline Light Bold Shadow Dark Shadow Light Shadow Dark Bold Shadow Light BoldDefault Black Silver Gray White Maroon Red Purple Fuchsia Green Lime Olive Yellow Navy Blue Teal Aqua OrangeDefault 100% 75% 50% 25% 0%Default Black Silver Gray White Maroon Red Purple Fuchsia Green Lime Olive Yellow Navy Blue Teal Aqua OrangeDefault 100% 75% 50% 25% 0%Police said two moms went drinking at a bar and left their young kids alone in the parking lot. (Source: Glendale Police Department)
By David Baker and Emily Van de Riet
GLENDALE, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) – Two mothers in Arizona are facing multiple charges after police said they went drinking at a bar and left their young kids alone in the parking lot earlier this year.
Glendale police said the incident happened on March 8 in the Westgate Entertainment District. The department just released the bodycam footage on Thursday.
Several witnesses called police after they saw a small child running through the parking lot with no adult in sight around 11 p.m., police said.
The young child led officers to a vehicle where there were three more children, all alone.
Police said the older children were just 3 or 4 years old, and the younger two were in car seats.
In a bodycam video, one of the children is heard crying and an officer gives them a bottle.
Officers said they also found a large bag of marijuana in the glove box.
Police started searching nearby businesses to try and find the parents. About 30 minutes later, the children’s mothers showed up at the car.
When asked where they were, one of the moms claimed she was using a restroom.
The woman claimed she was gone for 10 minutes but police said the two were gone for at least 45 minutes.
The second mother claimed they were gone for 15 minutes.
“That’s a lie,” an officer replied. “We’ve been standing with these kids for over 45 minutes by themselves.”
Both later admitted to getting at least one drink at the bar.
Both moms were then put in handcuffs and arrested. Their names have not been released.
Glendale firefighters took the children to the hospital to be checked out.
“We’re thankful to the good Samaritans who stepped in and did the right thing. It’s a strong reminder: leaving kids alone – especially while under the influence – is not only irresponsible, it’s illegal,” police said in a statement.
Copyright 2025 KPHO via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Moms Accused of Leaving 4 Kids in a Car as They Went Drinking — and the Horrified Reactions Were All Caught on Video
Witnesses alerted police after seeing a child alone in a parking lot, prompting the arrest of two mothers who allegedly admitted to drinking while their young kids waited in a nearby car
By
Updated on May 21, 2025 05:08PM EDT
NEED TO KNOW
- Two mothers in Glendale, Ariz., allegedly left their young children alone in a parked car at night while they went drinking at a nearby bar
- Police waited with the children for about 45 minutes before the mothers returned, claiming they were only gone briefly
- The women were arrested and face multiple charges
Two mothers in Arizona are facing multiple charges after police say they left their children alone in a car to go drinking together at a nearby business.
Glendale police just released the body cam footage on Thursday, though the incident originally occurred on March 8 in the Westgate Entertainment District, according to an announcement from the Glendale Police Department.
On March 8, around 11 p.m., several witnesses called police after they saw a small child running around the parking lot with no adults around, Glendale police said. The witnesses looked around the car and found three more children sitting alone inside a nearby vehicle.
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When police arrived, they began talking with the children and searching the nearby businesses to try and locate the parents. 40 minutes later, two women walked up and told officers that they were the children’s mothers, Glendale police said in a statement.
When the mothers showed up, one claimed that she was inside using the restroom. Both mothers said to police in the body cam video footage that they were gone for 10 to 15 minutes.
“That’s a lie,” an officer replied. “We’ve been standing with these kids for over 45 minutes by themselves.”
https://people.com/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FGlendaleAZPD%2Fvideos%2F1737858570501436%2F%3Fref%3Dembed_video%26t%3D17&id=mntl-sc-block_15-0-iframe&options=e30%3D&docId=11737931
Police say the mothers smelled like alcohol and had slurred speech. They both allegedly admitted to drinking at a nearby bar. Officers also found a bag of marijuana in the glove box, within easy reach of the children.
According to Glendale police, there were children just three or four years old and two younger children in car seats.
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Both mothers were arrested. The children were taken by Glendale firefighters to a local hospital to be checked out, according to a police statement.
“We’re thankful to the Good Samaritans who stepped in and did the right thing,” Glendale police said in a statement. “It’s a strong reminder: leaving kids alone—especially while under the influence—is not only irresponsible, it’s illegal.”
Amish mom charged with murder after throwing 4-year-old son into Ohio lake to prove “worthiness to God,” police say
August 28, 2025 / 12:30 PM EDT / CBS/AP
An Amish woman who told authorities she was testing her faith when she threw her 4-year-old son into an Ohio lake was charged Wednesday with two counts of aggravated murder in the boy’s death.
Authorities said Ruth R. Miller, 40, of Millersburg, Ohio, told investigators she believed she was acting at the direction of God when she allegedly killed her son Vincen at Atwood Lake early Saturday.
The lead investigator with the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office, Capt. Adam Fisher, said Wednesday that Ruth Miller repeatedly said in interviews with police that she threw the boy off the dock and into the water to give him to God.
“It did not appear that the gravity of the situation had sunk in,” Fisher said.
The woman’s husband, Marcus J. Miller, 45, had apparently drowned while attempting to swim to an offshore sandbank hours earlier in another test of faith, Sheriff Orvis Campbell told reporters at a news conference Monday. Their other children, a 15-year-old girl and twin 18-year-old boys, were also directed to perform water-based trials of their belief but survived, Campbell said.
New Philadelphia Municipal Court online records indicate Ruth Miller was also charged with domestic violence and child endangerment regarding the older children. Authorities said Ruth Miller was receiving treatment at a secure mental health facility and had not been arrested by late Wednesday afternoon. A message seeking comment was left for her attorney, Scott Fromson.
When first responders began to treat Ruth Miller, she was allegedly making concerning statements, CBS affiliate WOIO-TV reported.
As deputies questioned her, Campbell said the mother spoke about placing her son in the water, “to give him to God,” the station reported.
She also attempted to run from deputies and hide in a bush, WOIO reported, citing police.
Family members and the Millers’ church said in a statement that the deaths “do not reflect our teachings or beliefs but are instead a result of a mental illness. The ministry and extended family had been walking with them through their challenges, and they had also received professional help in the past.”
Campbell said Ruth Miller told investigators she believed she could walk on water but when she tried doing so off the end of the dock, she simply fell into the water.
“She and her husband went to this dock and they jumped in the water because God was speaking to them and telling them to do things, things to prove their worthiness to God,” Campbell said.
Marcus and Vincen Miller were apparently both dead when authorities were called Saturday morning for a report of a golf cart having gone into the lake. Campbell said Ruth Miller had driven it at a high speed into a stone wall on the lake shore with the three older children on board. The cart ended up fully submerged but visible, and her three children stood on it before getting out of the water.
When a rescuer tried to get Ruth Miller out of the water, she told them to “just pray for her,” Campbell said.
Park rangers heard “concerning type statements” from Ruth Miller, the sheriff said: “There was a pretty immediate statement made that she had given her son to the Lord.” Authorities soon realized her husband and 4-year-old son were missing.
“She began to express more that she had thrown the child in the water to give that child to God,” Campbell said. “But we didn’t know where in the water – it’s a big lake.” He said Ruth Miller was in mental crisis.
Searchers focused near the dock where authorities said the Millers had apparently tried to walk on water the night before. Around 6 p.m. local time on Saturday, a diver found Vincen on the lake bed not far from the end of the dock. Early Sunday morning, divers found Marcus Miller’s body 53 yards (48 meters) from the dock.
The coroner said autopsies and an investigation will determine the manner of the two deaths.
The couple’s surviving children were “extremely confused” and upset, Campbell said. “Their mindset was that whatever their mother and father says is the way it is. They don’t question anything. So when they were told to jump in the lake, they jump in the lake,” he said.
Amish are part of a Christian movement professing non-violence although they have their cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Advocates for abuse victims among the Amish say that although church leaders have acknowledged the problem, they need to do more to respond to abuse as a crime to be reported to civil authorities, not just as a matter of church discipline.
The family lived in Holmes County, Ohio, which has a large Amish community. They had gone to Atwood Lake, about 82 miles south of Cleveland, in a recreational vehicle as a getaway, arriving Friday, Ruth Miller’s birthday.
