The Strange Case of Mica Miller [True Crime Documentary]

Micah Miller was 30 years old when she died on the 27th of April 2024 she had been married to John Paul Miller a pastor at Solid Rock Church in South Carolina for 7 years when the pastor's wife was found dead from a single gunshot to the head all signs pointed towards a conclusion that no one wanted to accept as the secrets of her past and marriage came to light a growing chorus of family members friends Neighbors online commentators and the broader media joined the speculation they believed only one explanation made sense that Micah Miller had not chosen her own fate she had been [Music] murdered hi there I'm Kevin and welcome to just thought Lounge today's case has us unraveling an intricate web of allegations including emotional mental and spiritual abuse murder Affairs corruption in the church and failures of law enforcement it is a heartbreaking case that is captured the attention of many the investigation is now officially closed a conclusion has been reached in the evidence released to the public however speculation continues let's take a look [Music] John Paul or JP Miller and his future wife Micah met when she was 14 years old her family had just started attending worship services at Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach JP was a youth pastor at the time growing into a more significant role at Solid Rock over the following years when Micah was 18 years old John Paul officiated her wedding to his good friend a man named Jeremy da both Micah and Jeremy were involved in the church he ran the sports Ministry and she worked on the media team in addition to other responsibilities eventually Micah took on the role as John Paul's secretary and babysitter for his growing family in 2015 JP's wife Allison discovered her husband and their babysitter in a compromising position shortly after JP and Micah's affair became public knowledge in 2016 both marriages ended in divorce Jeremy and Allison each eventually left the Solid Rock Church where only one year later JP and Micah were married at the age of 23 Micah became the stepmother to 44-year-old John Paul's five children for from his first marriage with Allison and the eldest from a previous relationship Micah also took on a greater role within the church as the pastor's wife she was a worship leader did graphic design and oversaw the women's and youth Ministries Micah was also passionate about overseas missions including her trips to Kenya where the church was funding religious and educational initiatives Micah loved to sing she often led the congregation in [Music] song give me life take me for what I AMZ I'll let you [Music] change on the 27th of April 2024 55-year-old Johnny Jacobs went fishing in the lumber river in North Carolina he had been in the state park for several hours when he heard a woman's Cries From Down the River from his position along the tall dense tree line he could not see the woman who was crying in there with my little boat and and maybe 5 minutes after getting into the slew I heard a cry a faint cry heard it for maybe two or 3 minutes and the crying stop a few minutes passed with only the sound of the river the birds and the light Breeze before the distinct and unmistakable bang of a gunshot rang out I said oh my God don't tell me don't tell me cuz the crying had stopped I said don't tell me Something's Happened Don't Tell Me Something I was getting ready to get out of there another three people came into the lake on a boat and I plainly asked them I said did y'all hear that gunshot they said yes Johnny made his way towards the direction that he had heard the gunfire on the bank of the river he discovered a backpack with the bag was a pair of glasses and a cell phone had her license her bank card she had her keys in the bag she had um a little small Bible all of her credit cards or bank cards and a few receipts of some things within minutes emergency responders arrived at the Lumber River State Park called out by a 911 call they immediately began a search on foot and in the air just before 4:30 p. m. r an hour and a half after Johnny had heard the shot a kayaker reported a woman's body in the water it was 30-year-old Micah Miller she had died of a single gunshot wound to the Head the black Honda Accord that Micah had driven to North Carolina from her home in Myrtle Beach was found in the parking lot Robinson County detectives looked inside the car car and observed a black Sig sour gun case in the passenger seat and a box of ammunition in the center console of the vehicle later that evening they recovered a Sig sour 9mm firearm from the water the serial number matched the case a receipt for the purchase of the weapon was also in the vehicle it showed that the gun had been acquired only hours earlier from Dicks Pawn shop in Myrtle Beach Micah Miller was listed as the buyer the medical examiner was called out to view the scene where the incident occurred and CSI teams worked at the area Gathering any potential evidence when the coroner's report was released it concluded that Micah had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the Head it was a conclusion that friends and family members could not accept it just didn't make sense to them we had a hair appointment this week she had plans to attend church with them on Sunday so the news when I heard it it was just I thought it was just some kind of terrible misunderstanding um because she was headed in a positive direction and she was making plans and had a new purpose that she was pursuing um she was loving her job everything additionally those close to Micah believed that there were far too many reasons to suspect Foul Play their Prime Suspect Micah's husband John Paul Miller and assigned affidavit Micah's sister Sierra quoted her sister only weeks before her death as stating if I end up with a bullet in my head it was not by me it was JP their marriage had been tumultuous Micah had tried to leave him on multiple occasions but had been somehow repeatedly pulled back in that is until just days before she was found in the river she had grown Resolute in her decision to leave him I know she had been struggling she's gotten three different numbers or she's had three different numbers in the last three months trying to make sure that he did not get her phone number and and did not could not get in contact with her she messaged me saying you know thank you for your gentle warnings over the years about JP or my relationship with JP um you know I know that you knew I wasn't ready to get out yet but I've replayed our condos over and over in our head throughout the years and um wished there was a way I could get out and now I have with a big smiley face only two days before Micah's death JP had been served with divorce papers she had sought to leave JP the year before in January 2023 moving to Kansas to be with family members there and to start a new life in Kansas she joined a new church and built new friendships but after only a few months Micah abruptly left the state leaving behind a brief and uncharacteristic note stating that she was heading back to South Carolina to be with her husband we got all text messages when she was leaving that didn't make any sense when she was planning on staying in Kansas and she was planning on thriving she was planning on making trips healing and all this we heard nothing it was a hey good news I've been reconciled my husband's allowing me to come back home praise God back in Myrtle Beach the marriage continued to deteriorate in a pattern seen all too often often JP went back to the same behaviors and Micah found herself quickly back to where she started looking for a way out in cryptic social media posts Micah spoke out against domestic abuse of all kinds in what has been interpreted as statements about her own experience the pastor's wife discussed reconciling religious beliefs with a desire to leave an unhealthy marriage I just want to tell you what a lot of people have told me uh lately and reminded me because I think I forgot I knew but I for I pushed it in the back of my head um just because of my situation um but you are the bride of Christ before anybody else's bride God hates divorce but why according to everybody I've asked and the the scriptures that I've found it's because it hurts people but does abuse hurt people people how do you think God feels about that that I'm God's prde first and even an Earthly spouse who's a good spouse when they know that their bride is being hurt just imagine what an Earthly spouse does what do you think your heavenly spouse does when you're the bride of Christ and he sees his bride going through abuse and hurt what do you think he thinks about that Micah filed for divorce later that year in October 2023 but in February of the next year she withdrew the papers that month Micah was admitted to hospital for mental health treatment against her will she claimed that her husband had committed her he had also taken her wallet her keys and her car so when she was released Micah reported her vehicle stolen to police the report states that John Paul told police that his wife had mental health issues he said that she had episodes annually around the holidays during which time she would recklessly spend large sums of money he justified taking her car by explaining that he was preventing her from selling it and he refused to give it back for several weeks there was a little that Myrtle Beach police could do with this information the couple were still married which meant that mic's vehicle was marital property legally her husband could not have stolen it thank you for all your prayers and support know that I have to keep my circle really really small right now I'm used to having a really big circle so it's hard CU I want to reach out to everybody and tell you how much I love you and I miss you but this is the best way that I know how so I love you all I miss you after filing for divorce in the Autumn Micah grew concerned that she was being stalked by her estranged husband twice she found that a sharp metal object had slashed the tires to her vehicle when this happened the first time a mechanic from the Honda dealership fixing the vehicle found a GPS tracking device attached to the car as if to confirm what Micah had already intuitively known that John Paul was tracking her movements he turned up at the dealership to confront her way I'll show you the pictures do you want to go to jail he'll be on Facebook in a few hours all righty you'll be in jail in a few hours walk away another complaint to police about the GPS tracker led to the same result JP made claims that his wife was mentally unstable he claimed that shortly after their wedding in 2017 she was diagnosed by polar 2 schizophrenic and dependent personality disorder he then claimed the GPS tracker was on the car for her own safety as long as as long as she took her medication the Pastor said his wife would be fine but that Micah had a roller coaster relationship with her meds earlier in the year the wife of a well-meaning pastor friend offered to pray for her and believed that her mental illness would go away according to JP this led Micah to believe that she no longer needed the medication with the limited information available at that time the responding officer took no action the vehicle remained marital property by extension the GPS tracker on the car was as well in an email sent to Micah John Paul apologized to her for the use of The Trackers but as Micah moved forward with the divorce the pastor continued to lash out on April 8th Micah spoke to police yet again this time she told them that her husband had posted an indecent photograph of her on Facebook Micah told police she sent her husband the photograph about 6 months before before being posted parts of the photo had been blurred so it did not meet South Carolina's code of law for nudity officers told Micah that as the photo had been posted online anonymously there was no way to prove her husband was behind its publication though once it had been sent to him it would have been legally his yet again there were no actions taken against the pastor though Micah told police that she feared for her safety explaining that she had come to understand that her husband had groomed her since 2010 when she first met him as her youth pastor at the age of about 14 John Paul was 14 years older at that time he was already married and the father of a few children JP adamantly denies this depiction of their relationship Micah's last Facebook post was from April 9th when she wrote when terrible terrible terrible things happen to you youall know what I'm talking about RPF resting peace face you don't have to stay in a abusive relationship whether that's um sexual whether that's uh somebody forcing you to take illegal drugs or alcohol abuse or physical abuse uh psychological abuse making you think that this is all your fault or you're a bad mom or you're a bad wife or you're a bad husband or you're um you're not giving it your all when you know you are less than a week after the last police report Micah found a GPS tracker on her vehicle for a second time she filed for divorce the next day it would take about a week before those papers were served to JP but only 2 days after that Micah was dead JP personally called me and said hey Micah bought a gun she's out in the backyard where you think she bought it to shoot me I don't know JP I I don't know what's going on in the house that that would be a reason he was scared was wondering do you think she bought it to shoot me well you know why would that be a question if you was mistreating her probably the greatest wife anyone could ask for uh she was incredibly affirming um we spent every night together for hours just talking and talking and the only individual in Micah's life who appeared to be unfaced by her tragic death was her own husband in the days after she was found John Paul gave no indications as to the turbulent nature of his marriage in her obituary described by Micah's friends as a narcissist's ramblings he wrote of Micah she and JP have been friends since 2009 married in 2017 and spent almost every single day and night together Micah made the greatest of efforts to always be the best wife she could be she would praise her husband after every church service telling him he was the best preacher in the world even if it wasn't true she also told him he was the funniest preacher in the world even though that wasn't true either the day following her death the pastor decided to break the news to their church congregation in a casual and un settling announcement that followed his sermon we're not going to do alar call today instead um instead um I'm going to have you stand up and I'm going to make an announcement and um after the announcement I'm going to ask that you um you leave church quietly and and don't talk about the announcement here in the building please if you can so y'all can stand to your feet um before I make the announcement I also want to say that um my request to you is that you will continue to come to church and serve and give um for the next you know a little bit cuz I don't want to have I'm taking a little bit of a break and I don't want to have to worry about the church my break may be a few days a few weeks I don't know um I got a call late last night my wife has passed away and yeah it was it was self-induced and it was uh up in North Carolina and um we're going to have a funeral for her next Sunday here at 3 P.

M and so um it's it's all I can yeah I'm just kind of going on um adrenaline right now so y pray for me and my kids and everybody and uh she was she wasn't yall knew that she wasn't well mentally and that uh she needed her medicine that was hard to get to her and so um I'm sure there'll be more details to come but um just keep our family in your prayers and I'm going to let Pastor Randall my Bishop he can pray I get him a microphone he'll pray out and if you have anything you want to share as well appreciate Micah Miller had been found in the water less than 24 hours earlier the coroner had not made a determination as to the nature or cause of her death when JP made this announcement and the Robinson County police were still treating the incident as a suspicious death nonetheless the pastor pointed immediately to his wife's alleged mental state declaring that her death was self-induced the pastor appears to have been far more vocal regarding his wife's alleged mental illness than his own indeed many of the details of John Paul's personal life before his marriage to Micah stayed hidden for years that changed when he came under scrutiny in the wake of his wife's death a video posted on Facebook by one of JP's neighbors dated in 2015 shows John Paul experiencing what some are calling a drug induced psychosis in the video he explained to an unidentified person that his medication had been changed he felt ants crawling all over him but in the video there are no ants hey JP I think uh I think Mark is coming mm um I had had him try to get in touch with me again to make sure is that okay huh F me over me feels like there's ants on you there's no ants on you though it's just you know maybe that's how you feel but there's none on you there's none on the grass I to Jes I going to see Jesus what kind of medicine did they have you [Music] on let me know if I can do anything okay I think he's I think he's here's some water JP you want some water okay you you want to try to sit up you want to try to sit up or you want to me put it to your mouth or what I'll be out in a few minutes if you need anything okay the poster of the video a man named Tai wrote alongside his post I believe the saying goes getting a taste of your own medicine you have used and abused for way too long only to get up on that pulpit and consistently discredit your victims by aing out intentionally degrading inappropriate personal information doing that allows you to control the narrative now we have the death of your wife that you claim only took her life because of mental illness fact is nobody was ever mental until they met you in the lengthy post Ty provides possible explanations for how the pastor could have gotten away with such atrocious behavior for so long he writes the reason why most people didn't speak up is because they know your reaction is ruthless you have a little bit of local power with enough financial resources to hurt people legally and they fear putting their family at risk and the few others that don't speak up believe it's not the Christian thing to do well neither is doing nothing John Paul's troubles began at an early age as a teenager he earned a criminal record for incidents of delinquency driving under the influence and assault the most concerning incident occurred when he was 19 years old it was February 1998 families in the bride Creek subdivision of Myrtle Beach were sandbagging homes in response to extreme flooding defying the road closed sign JP entered the neighborhood in a silver S10 pickup truck with black tape covering the license plate according to court records JP accelerated his truck into a 19-year-old woman who had asked him to slow his vehicle then he continued to drive for about 100 yard with her clinging onto the hood before he slowed and she was able to safely roll off the court ordered that he receive a suspended sentence of 4 years 3 years of probation 500 hours of community service and an order to pay court fees on May 31st 20 20 22 John Paul applied and received a pardon for this conviction social media and some news outlets have become rampant with suspicions and accusations leveled at the pastor related not only to his wife's death but of other alleged nefarious Behavior it emerged that the pastor was having an affair with a woman in the solid rock congregation named Susie Skinner Susie seen out for margaritas and shots with JP 4 days after Micah's death has formally denied that she is dating the pastor former church members and Friends of JP and Micah said that the relationship was public and had been going on for some time what was not openly discussed was the suspicious death of Susie's husband Christopher Christopher had been wheelchair bound following a drunk driving accident in 2000 he met suie through his Rehabilitation and later became an inspirational speaker and author on September 6th 2021 Christopher drowned at a community pool in Myrtle Beach when his wheelchair tipped into the pool and he became trapped underneath it he was 41 years old he then allegedly begins another affair with a church member who has a a husband who uses a wheelchair who mysteriously ended up dead and and drowned in a pool is that accurate yes that's that's what we've been told by people who have reached out we've spoken to former church members we spoken to current church members um an investigation into Cher's death found no signs of Foul Play security camera footage of the community center showed that he had been there alone though this did not explain why his chair abruptly accelerated forward into the pool his death has been ruled an accident JP's ex-wife Allison has accused her ex-husband of having a sexual addiction and behaving inappropriately with the teenagers at his church one of these teens now a grown woman took to Facebook to tell her story alleging that John Paul once forced himself on her John Paul Miller has been removed from his position as pastor at the Solid Rock Church though he is still technically employed there none of the pastor history makes him guilty of his wife's murder he may very well be guilty of other crimes that are now emerging but it is too early to tell what we do know is that Micah had been keeping track of her husband's transgressions she kept detailed diaries that likely recorded contemporaneous reflections of the abuse that she allegedly suffered at his hands she knew about the other women there were allegedly quite a few there is also reason to believe that he was stealing donations intended for the church and its charitable activities in mid-march John Paul was reported to police by another church member for transferring almost $2,000 from the dare to care mission in Kenya to his own personal account although her name does not appear in the police report Micah is thought to have also been implicated in this donation scheme alongside JP as the anonymously named involved other on the report her family believes that making her complicit in JP's schemes was another way that he sought to control her yet another police report was filed after Micah's death when John Paul arrived at the apartment building where Micah had been living to collect her belongings her family believes that his intentions that day were to collect the Diaries and other documents that could incriminate him on that occasion it was the pastor himself who phoned law enforcement according to the report the leasing agent would not let him into the home to take his wife's things because they didn't like him very much it was Micah's sister Sierra who came into possession of her documents they are now being sorted by her lawyer the Mounds of paperwork that I have is incredible she collected a lot of things she kep a notebook I have boxes of journals which by the way he's made a hundred phone calls looking for as I understand and um he is constantly trying to stay in front of this spend some web some story and the investigation into Micah's death continued after the coroner offered their conclusion the Robinson County Police released a report timeline video surveillance and other evidence compiled in the course of their investigation their conclusions were not well received the ring camera outside of the apartment where Micah was living captured her leaving the home at 10:13 a. m. on Saturday April 27th the day she died she returned at 11:00 a.

m.