Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1005 ｜ The Mysterious Death of Mica Miller

00:00:00.000 A pastor's wife in South Carolina recently allegedly committed suicide, but her family

00:00:06.380 and the media have been quick to highlight her husband's sordid past as well as the

00:00:11.920 problems with their relationship and their suspicions of his potential involvement in

00:00:20.300 her demise.

00:00:21.400 This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.

00:00:24.580 Go to GoodRanchers.com.

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00:00:30.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.

00:00:40.680 Happy Monday.

00:00:41.540 Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

00:00:44.020 All right.

00:00:44.520 The topic that we're going through today is pretty darn dark, and yet many, many of you

00:00:50.580 have been asking me to cover this and to break this down to summarize it for you.

00:00:54.680 A lot of research went into this episode because there are so many different details of the

00:00:59.980 story I really think it is worth looking at and worth telling at least what the perspectives

00:01:05.980 are of what is going on.

00:01:08.160 And there are some lessons that I think all of us can draw from this.

00:01:11.140 But I will give you some good news to start out.

00:01:13.860 And that is just the reminder of our awesome Share the Arrows event, which I am so excited

00:01:19.020 about.

00:01:19.480 It is a women's only event that is September 28th in Dallas, Texas.

00:01:24.200 We've got Rosaria Butterfield, Elisa Childers, Abby Halberstadt, Francesca Battistelli, Grammy

00:01:30.300 Award winning artist who is going to be leading worship with us.

00:01:34.900 So incredible.

00:01:36.060 Sponsored by Carly Jean Los Angeles.

00:01:39.060 It's going to be an awesome event.

00:01:41.060 I am so excited about it.

00:01:42.560 The response from you guys has been amazing.

00:01:45.620 And I'm just so thankful.

00:01:47.720 I can't wait to see you guys there.

00:01:49.500 Come by yourself.

00:01:50.480 Come with friends.

00:01:52.140 But Share the Arrows event.

00:01:53.420 It's for Christian conservative women who just want to be armed with clarity and courage

00:01:57.660 in this age of confusion and cowardice.

00:02:03.040 Sharethearrows.com.

00:02:05.400 All right.

00:02:06.180 Let's go ahead and get into this absolute craziness.

00:02:09.540 I don't know how many of you have been seeing the tweets about this, seeing a little bit of

00:02:13.920 the story, maybe on Instagram or in the media.

00:02:17.660 It's very, very curious.

00:02:19.660 And it's really caught the attention of a lot of people just because of how bizarre and

00:02:23.820 dark and how many twists and turns there are in this.

00:02:26.660 I mean, if it's not already being made into some kind of Netflix series, I would be shocked.

00:02:32.600 Not saying that it should be.

00:02:34.480 I don't know if it needs to be like glamorized, Hollywoodized and commercialized in that way.

00:02:40.280 But it almost comes across like a movie because of how just crazy it is.

00:02:46.040 So Micah Miller, wife of South Carolina pastor, died in apparent suicide, but her community

00:02:53.020 is skeptical.

00:02:55.040 So I'm going to be reading a lot of this.

00:02:57.460 I'm not just reading the articles.

00:02:58.800 I'm reading the summary that we've put together of this because I don't want to get this wrong

00:03:03.480 and I can't say it all from memory.

00:03:05.040 There are a lot of different details that I want to make sure that we get right.

00:03:09.260 And I am not inserting my opinion in any of this.

00:03:12.000 I don't have a personal tie to this.

00:03:14.840 I am reading you the analysis, the summary of the information that people have been able

00:03:21.940 to gather.

00:03:22.520 And this is not just hearsay either.

00:03:25.000 This is based on what we know from court documents, from testimony, from what friends

00:03:31.200 have been able to say happened in this situation, in this relationship.

00:03:37.420 So let me read you this summary and then we'll get into all of the twists and turns that this

00:03:43.180 takes.

00:03:44.220 Micah Miller was the wife of John Paul Miller, the pastor of Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach,

00:03:49.260 South Carolina.

00:03:50.320 On April 27th, Micah, 30, was found dead at Lumber River State Park in North Carolina from

00:03:56.440 a seemingly self-inflicted gunshot wound.

00:03:59.400 The coroner ruled for death a suicide, but Micah's family questioned the conclusion and

00:04:04.600 blamed Micah's husband for alleged abuse.

00:04:08.120 According to an affidavit filed by Sierra Francis, Micah's sister, it said,

00:04:13.280 Micah stated to me on many occasions, if I end up with a bullet in my head, it was not by me.

00:04:19.680 It was JP.

00:04:20.780 JP, John Paul, is, was her husband.

00:04:24.480 The sheriff's office confirmed that John Paul was in Charleston, South Carolina on the night

00:04:30.540 his wife died.

00:04:33.220 The pastor initially, John Paul, he shocked his congregation a couple weeks ago when he

00:04:40.440 was giving a sermon to his congregation and then casually at the end of the sermon announced

00:04:48.960 his wife's death.

00:04:50.900 This is thought one.

00:04:54.480 I'm taking a little bit of a break and I don't want to have to worry about the church.

00:04:57.680 My break may be a few days, a few weeks.

00:04:59.380 I don't know.

00:05:00.680 I got a call late last night.

00:05:02.500 My wife has passed away.

00:05:04.560 Yeah.

00:05:05.140 It was, it was self-induced and it was up in North Carolina and we're going to have a

00:05:10.260 funeral for her next Sunday here at 3 p.m.

00:05:13.360 And so it's all I can, yeah, I'm just kind of going on adrenaline right now.

00:05:19.240 So y'all pray for me and my kids and everybody and she was, she wasn't, y'all knew that she

00:05:24.480 wasn't well mentally and that she needed her medicine that was hard to get to her. 0.62

00:05:31.200 Okay.

00:05:32.000 So that would be maybe one thing if it was announced at the very beginning of his sermon.

00:05:37.080 I think this is a very, very strange way personally to announce the death of your wife.

00:05:42.900 Now I can't read into motivations or what that actually means, but just from my outsider

00:05:48.060 perspective, it seems a little weird.

00:05:51.000 The tone seems a little weird when you are announcing the death of your wife.

00:05:54.780 He also referenced Micah's alleged history of mental illness.

00:05:58.760 She said it was difficult for her to stay on her medication, but days prior to her apparent

00:06:04.000 suicide, Micah had served her husband with divorce papers and sought a no contact order against

00:06:10.000 her husband.

00:06:10.560 She also had called the police numerous times in the weeks leading up to her death to make

00:06:16.020 reports over her tires being slashed and tracking devices being found on her car.

00:06:21.880 According to an affidavit filed by Micah's brother, Micah had forwarded emails from John Paul in

00:06:29.020 which he apologizes for slashing her tires and damaging her vehicle.

00:06:33.720 Micah had filed for divorce last October on the grounds of adultery, but the case was dismissed.

00:06:40.560 It appears the couple had been separated since September 2023.

00:06:45.400 At the funeral service that was later held at Solid Rock Church, John Paul gave an emotional

00:06:51.320 speech about his wife, even claiming he tried to raise her from the dead when visiting her

00:06:57.060 body in the morgue.

00:06:58.420 The service was posted on YouTube and footage of the eulogy sparked backlash as many were

00:07:03.440 shocked at Miller's involvement.

00:07:06.020 Micah's family boycotted the service and held their own on the beach instead.

00:07:09.580 John Paul was temporarily relieved of his duties at the church, but the church clarified that

00:07:14.920 he has not been fired.

00:07:16.700 According to an email, he has been released for a time of healing, counsel, and guidance.

00:07:23.540 Amidst this, many people on social media are arguing that he somehow was involved in her

00:07:32.480 death, and there are quite a few reasons that people say they have for believing that.

00:07:39.200 All right, so this is according to the Christian Post and Daily Mail.

00:07:52.900 Here's some of the background of what's going on.

00:07:55.160 Daily Mail revealed that JP, John Paul, has a lengthy history with the police, including a

00:08:00.300 conviction for assault and battery and at least a dozen traffic violations.

00:08:03.620 His parents settled a lawsuit on his behalf for $6,200 in 1995, age 17, when he drove his

00:08:10.280 car into the back of another vehicle causing injury.

00:08:13.060 Miller was convicted in 1999 of driving his silver pickup truck into a woman twice as she

00:08:19.060 was filling sandbags near her home because of extreme flooding.

00:08:23.360 He, then 19 years old, accelerated into this woman after she gestured for him to slow down,

00:08:28.780 dragging her for 100 yards down the road.

00:08:31.980 So that's really intense, okay?

00:08:34.280 We're not just talking about some minor traffic violations.

00:08:38.620 We are talking about, according to these documents, a history of violence.

00:08:43.940 Miller was also convicted in 1998 of driving while suspended.

00:08:47.780 In 1998, he was also embroiled in a bitter custody battle with the mother of his first child,

00:08:53.020 his father, Wayne Miller, and we'll come back to him in a minute, argue to the court that

00:08:57.180 JP's son would be better off with his father in a beautiful home than with the child's mother, 0.96

00:09:01.600 who was not in a stable living environment.

00:09:04.260 The child in question is now 28 years old and was recently charged with first-degree domestic

00:09:09.100 violence in January of this year after hitting a woman over the head with a glass bottle and

00:09:13.700 destroying her belongings, according to the Horry County Police Department.

00:09:18.420 In 2000, JP Miller married his first wife, Allison.

00:09:22.280 They went on to have four children together.

00:09:24.100 JP and Allison were married until 2015,

00:09:26.840 when it was revealed that JP was having an affair with Micah Miller.

00:09:31.680 Micah Miller is the woman who just died by allegedly suicide.

00:09:37.620 She was a member of their church, and Micah was also the babysitter of the couple's four

00:09:45.020 children.

00:09:46.000 So Micah and JP started having an affair when they were both working at the church, and so

00:09:53.480 Allison and JP got a divorce.

00:09:55.280 In the divorce documents, Allison also alleged that JP had confessed to her and other church

00:10:00.720 staff that he had sexual encounters with underage girls he met at the church and an addiction

00:10:05.660 to prostitutes. 0.91

00:10:06.660 It's just incredible that this person remained a pastor amidst all of these accusations.

00:10:13.700 Allison wrote in the affidavit seeking alimony,

00:10:15.840 Our marriage and my husband's career were less than stable at the time because at the time

00:10:21.000 my husband's affair was discovered, he had previously admitted to both me and our congregation

00:10:25.500 that he had an addiction to prostitution.

00:10:28.860 He had also confessed to me and other staff members of the church he had sexual encounters

00:10:33.280 with young females from the church who were under the age of 16.

00:10:39.000 Instead of removing Miller as a leader, Allison stated that church officials demanded he get

00:10:43.960 counseling for his sex addiction, but he refused to get counseling, which caused many of the

00:10:48.760 members to leave.

00:10:50.740 Unbelievable.

00:10:52.300 While Miller had been forthcoming about Micah's alleged mental health struggles, he was not

00:10:56.940 as open about his own.

00:10:58.620 The Christian Post reported on a video posted to Facebook by Ty Longerbeam, which showed Miller

00:11:03.760 experiencing what some claim to be drug-induced psychosis.

00:11:08.620 He explains in the video that his medication was changed and he felt like ants were crawling

00:11:13.140 all over him, even though no ants were visible.

00:11:17.080 When asked if he wanted his mother to come help, he said, I don't want my mom because she

00:11:21.740 is always trying to get him on medication and this is what it does.

00:11:24.440 I can't eat.

00:11:25.040 I can't sleep.

00:11:25.700 I can't do nothing.

00:11:26.460 So I am not judging him at all for any kind of psychosis or mental health issues that he

00:11:32.580 experienced.

00:11:33.200 I am not judging him at all for any of the medication.

00:11:35.980 Just as an aside, I do think, as Dr. Roger McFillan would certainly argue, that there needs

00:11:41.300 to be more conversations about what these drugs actually do and their side effects on people.

00:11:46.660 And many times I think that they cause people to act in not only psychotic, but very violent

00:11:53.320 ways, but that's another conversation for another day.

00:11:57.240 So I am not judging him for that, but it is all important when we are looking at who

00:12:02.540 this person is and why people think that this is a highly suspicious situation.

00:12:08.040 None of these things automatically make him guilty.

00:12:11.020 I don't think anyone is arguing that.

00:12:13.000 But again, there are many reasons why people believe I'm not so sure that this woman whose

00:12:19.540 life matters and the truth matters and justice matters, not so sure that this was simply a

00:12:25.660 death by suicide.

00:12:28.700 JP's father, we mentioned him a couple minutes ago.

00:12:32.140 He is significant in this story.

00:12:34.340 In the letter to the court requesting that JP receive full custody of his oldest child,

00:12:39.180 remember, way back when.

00:12:40.680 This is the first child that he had with another woman in the early 2000s.

00:12:45.560 Or the early 2000s is when the custody battle was a JP's father has an impressive signature 0.92

00:12:51.960 line.

00:12:52.940 Dr.

00:12:53.100 Arwayne Miller, senior pastor, Cathedral Baptist Church, president, Cathedral Bible

00:12:56.720 College, headmaster, Grand Strand Academy, president, Myrtle Beach Ministerial Association.

00:13:03.260 However, in 2014, Dr.

00:13:04.820 Miller was arrested and pleaded guilty to fraud and foreign labor contracting, visa fraud and

00:13:10.700 wage and hour violations.

00:13:12.320 The New York Daily News described him as turning his Bible college into a forced labor camp for

00:13:17.740 foreign students.

00:13:19.020 Students reportedly told investigators that classes were not real and that the main focus

00:13:23.980 of the school was to have them working full time at its campus and Miller's home.

00:13:29.680 The DOJ press release said that Miller knowingly recruited and enticed foreign students to attend

00:13:33.920 Cathedral Bible College, where he was president, by means of false representations and promises

00:13:38.640 regarding the employment, which is just really sad.

00:13:42.340 He was also arrested in 2006, allegedly detained on charges of lewdness and prostitution for exposing

00:13:48.580 himself to an undercover cop in a bathhouse.

00:13:53.540 All right.

00:13:54.060 So an interesting history there.

00:13:57.580 Again, that doesn't mean that JP is necessarily guilty of anything, but these are all relevant

00:14:05.720 details to try to try to understand who this person is and why people are so skeptical.

00:14:13.720 There's a greater history here to the specific relationship as well between JP and between Micah.

00:14:21.940 Yes, they met each other during an affair, but or they engaged in an affair rather while they

00:14:28.380 were both married.

00:14:29.920 And actually, there is a picture going around of JP officiating Micah's wedding when she got

00:14:37.620 married to her husband.

00:14:39.920 In her teens, Micah's family moved to Myrtle Beach in an affidavit filed shortly after her

00:14:45.480 before her death.

00:14:46.960 Micah claimed that Miller, who was a pastor of her church at the time and 14 years older than

00:14:51.640 her, groomed her while she worked for him at the church.

00:14:56.320 She claimed that JP groomed her since she was 10.

00:14:59.300 JP's lawyer used this, though, this is another side of it, to discredit Micah because she did

00:15:04.680 not live in the area at age 10.

00:15:06.520 Micah's sister believes that Micah meant to say that JP groomed her since 2010.

00:15:12.220 In 2012, Micah then, age 18, got married to a man in the church.

00:15:16.280 She was a best friend to JP.

00:15:18.380 And as I said, JP was the officiant at their wedding.

00:15:22.040 Micah was a worship leader at the church.

00:15:23.860 And the two couples continued to be close.

00:15:26.320 As mentioned earlier, Micah was the babysitter for JP and his wife's children.

00:15:30.640 Then in 2015, Micah and JP admitted to having an affair.

00:15:34.200 Both Micah's husband and JP's wife filed for divorce.

00:15:37.260 In 2017, Micah and JP got married.

00:15:40.300 Miller told The Christian Post that shortly after he and Micah got married in 2017, she was

00:15:43.940 diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenic disorder, dependent personality disorder.

00:15:48.700 Since then, he says they've been trying to manage her mental illness with lithium and

00:15:52.980 significant support.

00:15:53.960 As long as she took her medication, Miller said his wife would be fine.

00:15:59.160 And yet she was not fine.

00:16:01.100 So, as we summarized earlier in October 2023, Micah filed for divorce on the grounds of

00:16:17.420 adultery.

00:16:17.820 The filing state plaintiff, Micah, is informed and believes that the defendant, John Paul,

00:16:24.040 has and is currently engaging in acts of adultery with women whose names are well known to the

00:16:27.800 defendant.

00:16:28.280 Defendant has threatened to throw plaintiff's belongings into the yard, locked plaintiff out

00:16:32.660 of her own home and has defamed and demeaned the plaintiff before a congregation of people.

00:16:38.400 Now, we don't really know why, but in February of this year, so a few months after she filed for

00:16:44.760 divorce, her application for divorce was dismissed.

00:16:48.700 And then a few days later, JP filed for separate support and maintenance seeking financial support.

00:16:54.900 February 8th, according to Micah, she is involuntarily hospitalized in a mental facility.

00:17:00.780 According to affidavits from Micah's family, John Paul Miller takes this opportunity to go

00:17:04.760 through Micah's electronic devices and delete evidence.

00:17:08.680 That's what the claim is.

00:17:10.920 Micah accuses John Paul of stealing her car while admitted in the hospital.

00:17:16.120 He claimed that the car was marital property because they were still legally married and

00:17:19.540 he was only taking it to prevent her from selling it and using the money unwisely during

00:17:24.060 one of her reckless episodes.

00:17:28.140 There is someone by the name of Robbie Harvey.

00:17:30.780 Who is the one who is really reporting all of this on X and there, he is reporting that

00:17:38.640 there are various women who have come forward saying that I've got a text messages with John

00:17:44.340 Paul Miller.

00:17:45.200 Of course, this cannot be verified.

00:17:47.460 They are very salacious text messages, romantic text messages while he, while he was married

00:17:54.620 on March 10th, Pastor John Paul preaches a sermon and reveals he went through two years

00:17:59.160 of messages on his wife's phone.

00:18:01.520 Okay.

00:18:02.380 He found that 18 people reached out to her saying, if you ever want to talk about your

00:18:06.020 husband, you can talk to me and I'll keep it confidential.

00:18:08.860 Visibly upset.

00:18:09.680 The pastor followed up with, that's a demon talking.

00:18:13.120 Here's thought to.

00:18:13.720 You know, I looked at her phone and I counted over the past two years, 18 people who had

00:18:19.700 texted her and said, if you ever want to talk about your husband, you can talk to me and

00:18:23.440 say anything and I'll keep it confidential.

00:18:25.580 Why the heck does somebody want to hear what somebody else says about their spouse? 0.96

00:18:29.020 And two of those 18 were men. 0.93

00:18:30.920 If someone wants to call you and say bad things about somebody else, that's a demon talking

00:18:34.580 to you.

00:18:34.860 And the only way to respond is with the word of God.

00:18:36.880 Hmm.

00:18:39.760 Okay.

00:18:40.260 Should we be asking the question why there were so many people over the past two years

00:18:44.600 who felt the need to reach out and say, if you ever want to talk to me about what's going

00:18:49.120 on with your husband, you can.

00:18:51.320 Why were there so many people saying that?

00:18:53.960 I've never gotten a text like that.

00:18:56.240 Obviously, there was something going on within the marriage or people thought so.

00:19:02.520 People thought that there was something going on within the marriage to the point to where

00:19:06.120 they felt like, hey, if you need to confide in me, I will be a refuge for you.

00:19:10.940 So instead of him seeing those texts, according to him, he saw those texts and saying, oh, maybe

00:19:18.340 I need to assess this situation.

00:19:21.000 Why do people feel that she is unsafe and needs a safe place to go? 0.75

00:19:26.580 He says, no, she needs to be in isolation, shuts it down and actually says it's a demon

00:19:33.400 talking.

00:19:34.120 So convinces people that, what, you should not reach out to a friend that you fear is

00:19:41.980 in a bad or dangerous situation?

00:19:45.220 Very troubling.

00:19:47.460 He also tells the congregation in the sermon about his wife getting out of the hospital

00:19:51.100 leaving him.

00:19:52.160 She gets out and she just leaves, just completely leaves me, leaves everything, drains the 0.99

00:19:56.000 bank account and just goes.

00:19:58.300 Guess what?

00:19:58.940 While you're talking bad about me out there, I'm building a school in Africa for over 100

00:20:04.340 kids to be able to be fed.

00:20:06.800 Then he goes on to say, one thing I'm going to preach about is getting rich, strong, healthy,

00:20:12.120 finding a hot wife that loves Jesus.

00:20:14.260 OK, he's wearing his wedding ring still during that.

00:20:19.960 On March 11th, Micah Miller files a police report that her tire was slashed.

00:20:24.740 This is March of this year.

00:20:25.860 The possible suspect's name was redacted from the support from the report.

00:20:29.780 But then, as we said, the brother also also said in an affidavit that he apologized, that

00:20:38.760 John Paul had apologized in an email for slashing the tires.

00:20:42.140 So while we don't know for sure, it does seem like he admitted to this.

00:20:48.800 He also said, JP also said in this email, when someone hurts me, I try to hurt them back

00:20:53.560 rather than forgive.

00:20:55.080 Instead of me forgiving you, I just attack and try to cause pain.

00:21:00.420 So he's still kind of blaming her, though, for his actions by saying that.

00:21:05.220 Police reports obtained by News 13 from around this time, around this time frame, show four

00:21:10.760 different instances in which GPS tracking devices were reported to have been found on vehicles

00:21:15.320 linked to her.

00:21:16.860 Now, JP told News Nation he did this.

00:21:19.660 He did this to know if she was going to a gun store.

00:21:24.160 OK, John Paul also admitted in an email exclusively obtained by News Nation to posting

00:21:29.560 a topless photo of Micah online.

00:21:32.940 So this isn't hearsay.

00:21:35.580 This is stuff that he has admitted to.

00:21:38.080 This is stuff that is being established in police reports.

00:21:41.200 Now, police reports are just reports.

00:21:43.560 And so we can't verify that exactly.

00:21:46.940 But some of this has been admitted by him.

00:21:49.020 It's been admitted by him in emails.

00:21:50.780 It's been admitted by him in some cases to these news outlets.

00:21:55.120 In an affidavit to her attorney said roughly nine days prior to her death, Micah wrote,

00:22:00.020 Since the day we became husband and wife, I've been abused in every way I can think of emotionally,

00:22:06.160 sexually, spiritually, financially, and physically.

00:22:08.260 He has harassed me physically and electronically with letters, phone calls, emails, and texts,

00:22:14.080 hacking my emails, hacking my personal Facebook, and impersonating me, using my stolen phone

00:22:18.580 to send texts and emails out to church members pretending to be me,

00:22:22.120 texting friends and family saying that I am sleeping with teenagers from our church

00:22:25.280 and showing up in person at places around town,

00:22:28.280 to having installed three different tracking devices on my vehicle.

00:22:32.620 Two days prior to her death, Micah served JP with divorce papers.

00:22:39.020 There are more details about her death.

00:22:42.380 And again, those are just allegations that she made.

00:22:45.540 We're just giving all the details that we can.

00:22:48.640 But of course, they are simply just allegations at this point.

00:22:53.440 On April 27th, Micah Miller was found dead with a gunshot wound to her head at Lumber River State Park.

00:22:59.720 At 12.12 p.m., Miller was seen on store surveillance walking into Dick's Pawn Shop.

00:23:06.020 And a minute later, she is seen trying to buy a weapon or buying a weapon. 0.89

00:23:10.660 At 2.54 p.m., Micah Miller called 911 and asked if her phone could be located and then threatened suicide.

00:23:18.380 Micah hung up the phone before further information could be gathered by dispatch.

00:23:22.140 The telecommunicator tried to call Micah back multiple times and was able to make contact.

00:23:26.700 About two hours later, police found her body.

00:23:28.780 Investigators also found a receipt for the handgun from a pawn shop in her vehicle.

00:23:34.160 The investigation also revealed that Miller and her estranged husband, John Paul Miller,

00:23:38.080 had been separated and were involved in the legal system.

00:23:40.840 Deputies said this information led investigators to confirm his whereabouts and a woman, John Paul,

00:23:47.560 is allegedly romantically involved with.

00:23:50.440 Investigators confirmed both were not in South Carolina on the night before or the day of Micah's death.

00:23:59.040 Multiple memorials, as we mentioned earlier, were held on Sunday, May 5th, to honor Micah Miller.

00:24:03.960 There were a lot of people that stood out front of Solid Rock Church Sunday morning holding signs and wearing shirts that read Justice for Micah.

00:24:13.160 Those who rallied in front of Solid Rock Church Sunday said they did so to raise awareness for domestic violence,

00:24:19.180 and some advocated that the area needs more resources for victims.

00:24:26.120 And so the concern here, the suspicion here, is not that he was holding the gun and killing her.

00:24:35.000 It seems to be confirmed that he was not there.

00:24:37.760 But at the very least, the belief by many people is that there was so much aggression

00:24:45.620 and so much intimidation and so much violence and so much torment by him that she was pushed to suicide.

00:24:54.860 And people are wanting to hold him accountable.

00:25:00.340 He gave his weird announcement at church where he gave this whole sermon,

00:25:05.180 and he was joking about being charming and handsome and awesome.

00:25:08.720 That's the sermon that was preceding his announcement that his wife died.

00:25:13.800 And then he asked everyone to stand and said,

00:25:16.920 I got a call last night that my wife passed away.

00:25:19.140 Again, just very strange.

00:25:22.120 And then he also delivered the eulogy at one of the memorial services, said weird things.

00:25:29.260 He said he visited her body in the morgue four times and even tried to raise her arm or raise her from the dead.

00:25:35.240 And I guess tried to raise her arm or something. 0.79

00:25:37.900 He said he went to the mall later that day and saw a woman who looked just like Micah,

00:25:43.360 with similar clothes and a tattoo on her arm, and he instinctively yelled out her name.

00:25:47.380 When she turned around, it turned out to be one of her sisters.

00:25:51.100 I thought I had raised her from the dead.

00:25:53.020 I can't wait to see her again one day, he said, wiping tears from his eyes.

00:25:56.720 He then goes on to tell the elaborate story about how he proposed to her

00:26:01.640 along with other stories from their life together.

00:26:04.940 And then also, Micah has an obituary that was apparently written by JP.

00:26:12.020 It also confirms that she was a minor when they became friends.

00:26:17.220 Also seems to be asking for donations to an organization that is under FBI investigation.

00:26:25.820 So it says in the obituary, Micah Acacia Miller, 30, of Myrtle Beach, passed away Saturday, April 27, 2024.

00:26:37.200 She was born March 7, 1994.

00:26:40.920 She and JP have been friends since 2009, married in 2007, and spent almost every single day and night together.

00:26:48.200 So that means they were friends when he was 29 and she was 15, which is very inappropriate.

00:26:56.580 So it does seem that she was correct in saying that she was groomed.

00:27:02.960 It's not possible for a 15-year-old girl and a 29-year-old man to be friends in any kind of healthy or helpful way.

00:27:12.360 She helped Pastor JP with the church in every way.

00:27:15.460 Micah was the worship leader, the graphics designer, the youth leader, women's ministry leader, and pastor's assistant.

00:27:22.000 He also spoke negatively about her, referenced her mental health in sermons in front of the congregation.

00:27:26.400 And it's just weird because she was a prominent figure in the church, like on a March 10th sermon.

00:27:36.100 He talks about her mental health problems in a February 25th sermon.

00:27:42.880 He also talked about her mental health problems.

00:27:45.260 And yet here in the obituary, he says she truly served Jesus and her husband with all of her heart.

00:27:50.100 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.

00:27:55.860 She also told him he was the funniest preacher in the world, even though that wasn't true either.

00:28:02.420 The family has requested that memorial donations be made to dare2caremissions.com to sponsor a child in Africa.

00:28:09.780 This mission is currently under FBI investigation related to money issues.

00:28:14.780 So that's a whole problem in itself.

00:28:19.920 And then, as I said, her parents held their own memorial service because they believe that he was somehow involved in her demise and has spoken out about him and the abuse that they say he endured.

00:28:35.980 Her sister, Micah's sister especially, has spoken out publicly, fearing for her sister's safety when she was alive.

00:28:46.340 There are other notable moments in the timeline post-death that I think are worth looking at, too.

00:29:03.120 As I said, the sister was very concerned about all of this.

00:29:06.300 April 28th, Micah's sister, Sierra Francis, posts on Facebook saying,

00:29:11.980 Don't listen to the false stories being told about Micah.

00:29:15.500 This is, of course, right after her death.

00:29:17.620 April 30th, three days after her death, John Paul Miller attempts to get into Micah's apartment.

00:29:22.100 He's stopped by the building manager and police are called.

00:29:25.840 May 2nd, in an interview with ABC 15, Pastor John Paul Miller says he was the best wife that anyone could ask for, but points to her being mentally ill yet again.

00:29:36.180 May 2nd, affidavits are filed by the siblings of Micah.

00:29:40.240 According to those, Micah told her sister, If a bullet ends up in my head, it wasn't me.

00:29:44.240 May 4th, in an interview with the Christian Post, Pastor John Paul Miller says his wife was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

00:29:50.760 He says he begged friends and family to help him with her, but nobody took his word.

00:29:55.240 May 4th, photos of John Paul Miller with Susie Skinner surface.

00:29:59.380 Allegedly, he's seen in public multiple times with her after Micah's death.

00:30:04.460 Now, the interesting thing about Susie Skinner is that apparently, allegedly, he was having an affair with her for a couple years.

00:30:13.280 Susie Skinner's husband was apparently found dead at the bottom of a pool.

00:30:19.400 He was in a wheelchair after the affair between her and John Paul Miller allegedly started.

00:30:27.760 So, I have no idea what happened there, but that is being pointed out as another really disturbing part of this whole story.

00:30:36.900 So, again, May 4th, photos of John Paul Miller with Susie Skinner surface.

00:30:40.740 Allegedly, he is seen in public multiple times with her after Micah's death.

00:30:46.180 As I said, there were protests outside of Solid Rock Church.

00:30:49.920 May 10th, John Paul Miller's attorney, Russell B. Long, releases a statement exonerating his client of any wrongdoing.

00:30:55.800 Of course, attempting to exonerate his client of any wrongdoing.

00:30:59.000 He reminds the world of Micah's mental issues, and they threaten to sue anyone who talks negatively about John Paul Miller.

00:31:06.300 May 10th, in a video released by a man named Ty Longerbeam,

00:31:11.020 John Paul Miller is seen laying on the lawn of what is believed to be his ex-wife's yard.

00:31:16.360 May 11th, in an interview, Micah's sister says that John Paul Miller tried getting Micah to live with another family when she was a teenager.

00:31:29.020 According to her, he did his best to get her away from them, her own family.

00:31:35.240 And, of course, if that is true, that is a pattern that we see with men who try to befriend minors.

00:31:41.900 May 12th, filling in for John Paul Miller, Reverend Charles Randall said in his sermon at Solid Rock Church,

00:31:49.160 he has not been fired.

00:31:50.540 I've released him from ministerial functions for a minute to get some healing.

00:31:54.600 You can't go through things like this and just step back, step right back to same day.

00:32:02.440 Pastor John Paul Miller threatens to sue entire county.

00:32:07.020 He is saying, of course, that none of this stuff is true, even though many articles have been shared.

00:32:14.880 And he has a right to try to defend himself.

00:32:20.260 Attorney Long's defense of him seems to be that Miller's wife was 15 when she moved to Myrtle Beach,

00:32:28.080 not 10, as she apparently originally said.

00:32:31.980 But, again, her sister has clarified that she probably meant 2010.

00:32:37.240 And even if she was 15, that is still a minor.

00:32:41.860 And so I don't think that that's defensible at all.

00:32:44.460 And there's no retort to that.

00:32:48.580 Like, there's no correction to that.

00:32:49.960 That is literally what it is, that he befriended, started talking to this girl when he was 29,

00:32:57.220 when he was married, and she was 15.

00:33:00.040 She started babysitting his kids.

00:33:01.940 They ended up having an affair at some point.

00:33:04.940 All of that is for sure.

00:33:06.920 All of that we know.

00:33:08.920 How much is true about her mental illness, how he was abusing her?

00:33:14.040 We don't know everything, all of the evidence in either direction for that.

00:33:21.020 FBI had already been investigating J.P. Miller, his attorney, and his Dare to Care African mission

00:33:28.280 prior to Micah Miller's death, as we mentioned earlier.

00:33:33.000 Micah was also included in this investigation.

00:33:36.240 She was apparently being investigated in this same case for embezzlement

00:33:41.980 when it comes to the Dare to Care mission, which is really unfortunate.

00:33:46.820 The FBI has now announced that they are getting involved in this investigation.

00:33:52.120 The sheriff's office announced on Monday that it had requested the assistance

00:33:54.880 of the United States Attorney's Office and the FBI in the investigation of Miller's death.

00:34:00.120 In a statement, the sheriff's office says,

00:34:02.240 the Robeson County Sheriff's Office has been in contact with the United States Attorney's Office

00:34:07.280 and Federal Bureau of Investigation in South Carolina

00:34:09.640 since the early stages of the Micah Miller investigation.

00:34:12.080 Based on the information gathered during the investigation and jurisdiction reasons,

00:34:16.360 the sheriff's office has requested the assistance of both agencies.

00:34:18.820 No other information will be released at this time.

00:34:21.040 A spokesperson for the FBI office in Columbia, South Carolina, told Newsweek,

00:34:24.720 I can confirm that we have been in communication with the sheriff's office,

00:34:27.540 but I cannot offer additional details.

00:34:30.380 So we don't actually know if the FBI is investigating.

00:34:33.280 All we know is that there is communication.

00:34:36.160 I just want the truth to be known.

00:34:38.500 I want the truth to be known.

00:34:40.480 And there are a lot of troubling details about this.

00:34:43.420 There are a lot of disturbing parts of this that I think make this worth investigation,

00:34:49.540 worth asking a lot of different questions.

00:34:52.180 At the very least, I think that we can absolutely agree on the fact that he should not have been a pastor.

00:34:58.900 He should not have been in leadership of the church.

00:35:01.040 And I do think it is worse when someone takes on a spiritual office and they betray that spiritual office.

00:35:08.120 You can say we're all just people.

00:35:10.260 We're all just sinners.

00:35:11.220 But teachers should be held to a higher standard.

00:35:15.200 Teachers are held to a higher standard.

00:35:17.340 The book of James says that they will be judged more harshly because they are teachers. 0.78

00:35:21.620 And that level of hypocrisy, it makes a mockery of the gospel. 0.57

00:35:25.120 It makes a mockery of the ministry. 0.97

00:35:27.980 It makes a mockery of Christianity. 0.95

00:35:30.220 Of course, it can't actually do anything to affect who God is and who he represents himself to be in his word.

00:35:38.960 But people's perception of the church and of Christians and using leadership within a church to try to make yourself immune to accountability and justice and living in a way that is not in alignment with integrity.

00:35:56.060 It is so extremely wicked.

00:35:58.800 So I do want justice in this situation.

00:36:01.040 Maybe it is absolutely true that she struggled with mental health and that was it.

00:36:05.220 She committed suicide, which is an absolute tragedy, and that there is nothing else that happened that directly led to her death.

00:36:17.460 Maybe that is all true, but maybe not.

00:36:19.960 There is a reason why people are speaking up about this.

00:36:22.720 There are reasons that people are saying, wait, her voice and her concerns really did matter.

00:36:28.140 And we need to do a much better job of holding people accountable.

00:36:32.140 And I'm thankful, by the way, for all of those people who apparently had reached out to her over the years and said, do you need to talk?

00:36:40.320 Maybe we all need to be doing that even more and even better with people we know in our lives, in our churches.

00:36:46.520 The people that you think are immune to that, are perfect, who are projecting this, like, perfect reputation that they've had it all together, which I guess that they were projecting in some way.

00:36:58.040 I don't know.

00:36:58.480 They have a very messy background.

00:37:00.160 Like, we should be reaching out and helping when we can, when we suspect that someone needs it.

00:37:07.300 I just think that this story matters.

00:37:09.240 And I really want her family to get the answers that they need.

00:37:14.560 And so I think amplifying just the allegations that are being made and the questions and concerns that are being lodged, I don't think that every single suspicion and every single question about every single case and every single marriage needs to make national news.

00:37:31.340 I'm not saying that, but I have a feeling that this one does, that this really matters and that accountability and honesty really matters, especially when lives are on the line.

00:37:42.420 And unfortunately, children are involved in all of this too.

00:37:46.140 Whether the involvement in the death is there or not, none of this should be tolerated in a church that proclaims the name of Jesus.

00:37:55.780 Absolutely not.

00:37:56.920 All right.

00:38:08.380 I just wanted to end on this very happy note because that was a very sad episode, a dark episode.

00:38:16.080 Important.

00:38:16.760 But I just wanted to remind you that there are beautiful, wonderful people in the world doing beautiful, wonderful things.

00:38:22.820 There is this couple I asked, Brie, I said, OK, we got to talk about this happy story.

00:38:26.280 And she had sent me this a couple in their 80s that has fostered more than 150 children.

00:38:31.300 And they have no plans to stop, even though they're in their 80s.

00:38:35.020 Wow.

00:38:35.240 This is an English couple, Margaret Isdale and her husband, Robert.

00:38:39.340 They decided to welcome a teenage girl into their home for foster care back in 1978.

00:38:44.000 Now, almost 40 years later, they're receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award because the octogenarians have fostered an incredible 150 children and teenagers.

00:38:54.260 They received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Lincolnshire Foster Services, whose administrator, Michelle, was in awe of the pair, saying that over their 46 years of raising other people's children, lots of them have either gone back to their birth families or gone to be adopted.

00:39:08.720 They had two children of their own, and even in their older age, they're still going strong, fostering an eight-month-old baby.

00:39:16.060 Oh, so sweet.

00:39:17.840 It's really quite humbling.

00:39:19.160 It's not about us.

00:39:20.340 It's about the kids we look after.

00:39:22.120 They're the important ones, said Margaret on the occasion of the award.

00:39:26.540 Praise God for them.

00:39:27.980 May we all be more like that.

00:39:30.160 And there are so many unseen, unsung heroes just like that who are just doing the things that believers have always been called to do.

00:39:39.220 We'll never know them, but the honor, the reward they will receive in heaven is great, and that is who they are living for, and that is what matters.

00:39:52.280 So just remember that there is a lot of goodness by the grace of God in this world, and in the midst of the darkness, Christians have a great opportunity to shine.

00:40:03.960 All right, that's all we've got time for today.

00:40:06.160 We will be back here tomorrow.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - May 20, 2024

Ep 1005 ｜ The Mysterious Death of Mica Miller

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