Irene Miller flew to Las Vegas for five days while her four children stayed home alone in Florida. When her nine-year-old son suffered a head injury from a falling dumbbell, she did not return. Instead, she yelled at her children for calling for help.
Osceola County deputies found the boy with a bloody forehead wound on October 21. He was building a fort with his siblings when the weight crashed down. The family friend described the scene as chaotic with a lot of blood.
Miller was arrested as she stepped off her plane at Orlando International Airport. She faces four counts of child endangerment for leaving the kids unsupervised. A babysitter drove two hours from Tampa each morning, but she was not there when the accident happened.
The Call to 911
Following the accident, officers contacted Miller via her mobile device. Capt. Kim Montes said she was very dismissive to the deputy. “She’s very dismissive to the deputy saying that she’s working right now…then says she is going to have to go and hangs up on the deputy,” Montes recalled, according to the New York Post.
She then called her 14-year-old son to scold him for dialing emergency services.
The call was on speaker so the deputy could hear her berate the boy. The mother criticized the son for dialing 911 as he stood directly beside the deputy. It was on speaker, the captain noted. “So she knew what she did was wrong,” he continued.
Miller refused to fly home even as her son got medical care for his injury. She stayed in Las Vegas until Friday, claiming she “couldn’t come home.” The children were eventually placed with their father, Mark Miller.
The Father’s Struggle
Mark Miller became the unexpected sole caregiver for his four children. They are now living in a single-room motel while he seeks financial support. He launched a GoFundMe campaign asking for $5,000 to help feed and house them.
The Ukrainian-born dad stated he is “doing everything I can to keep my children safe and together,” he wrote, according to the New York Post. He added that he does not believe his estranged wife is “a bad person,” but rather, “made choices she didn’t fully think through.”
The couple has been separating for 15 years of marriage. Mark faces a criminal battery charge after an incident in August where he allegedly struck his wife. He has pleaded not guilty to that charge while the kids live with him.
Authorities determined Mark was safe to take custody despite the no-contact order.
