[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
At first this might seem like a man sharing the worst news he could have gotten with his community. But every new detail makes this story so much sketchier…
John-Paul Miller is a pastor at the Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He shocked his flock last Sunday, April 28 by announcing the death of his estranged second wife, Mica Miller. He said, apparently pretty matter-of-factly:
“I got a call late last night, my wife has passed away. It was self-induced and it was up in North Carolina.”
He then gave everyone details about her memorial service and told them not to talk about the announcement anymore within the church. Weird. Also weird? He was exceptionally quick to label his ex’s shockingly sudden death a suicide. He even added that “she wasn’t well mentally”:
“Y’all pray for me and my kids and everybody. You all knew she wasn’t well mentally and she needed medicine that was hard to get to her. I’m sure there will be more details to come, but keep her family in your prayers.”
Unlike all his other sermons, this one isn’t available to watch on the Solid Rock YouTube page anymore — but it’s the internet, and someone got a copy anyway. See for yourself (below):
He also spoke to local outlet WPDE, telling them the same — just really talking surprisingly candidly about her suicide, and her past struggles with it:
“She had struggled with suicide before. Each time we would help her through it and take her to the doctor, and we got through it and everything was fine. She even gave a few testimonies here at church that we have on video. She battled suicide but God took care of her and got her through it.”
He also told the outlet:
“She was probably the greatest wife anyone could ask for. She was incredibly affirming. We spent every night together for hours just talking and talking and talking.”
Awful news… except… Right now the public only has his word this was a suicide. Robeson County Sheriff’s Office Major Damien McLean would only tell the local ABC affiliate that there was an investigation into the death of the 30-year-old, saying:
“Officers are in the process of gathering information from people in South and North Carolina as part of their investigation into how Miller died.”
No official cause of death has been released.
Related: Woman Who Stabbed Boyfriend 108 Times Says They’re Really ‘BOTH To Blame’
Local NC outlet The Robesonian was the first to report any actual details of Mica’s April 27 death, saying she was found with a gunshot wound to the head at Lumber River State Park in Lumberton (about an hour and a half north of Myrtle Beach). But they’ve since taken down their article! Everyone else was citing them for those deets. Why did they take that down? Did the cops tell them it’s too soon?
Meanwhile here you have this Pastor just telling anyone who will listen how his wife definitely died by suicide. If police weren’t sure yet, wouldn’t you think a spouse would want to wait and be 100% sure, too?? Why would a husband be so forthcoming about such a personal matter anyway? Seems a little odd, right?
Odder still? In all his talk about spending every night together talking with Mica, he didn’t mention she’d filed for divorce from him just weeks earlier. Yeah. Clearly their marriage was not as lovey-dovey as he makes out. And she has zero photos of him left on her Facebook, apparently having deleted everything before March. And yet he was the one who wrote her obituary. An obituary with lines about what a good wife she was to him:
“She truly served Jesus and her husband with all of her heart. 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).”
Man, this guy really made her obit all about himself. Ugh. This all just seems so sus to us! No wonder her loved ones are asking for a full investigation! Her friend Kenn Young told WPDE:
“This has to be at least looked into deeply. There’s got to be some accountability here.”
He made a point of saying “it’s not just as simple as mental health issues.” So what the heck is he talking about??
Well, Mica herself started referring to “abuse” in posts made shortly before her death. In fact, there are ONLY posts from shortly before her death. As mentioned, she seems to have wiped everything before mid-March! But around that time she posted a video in which she talks about “going through abuse and hurt.” She also talks about “leaving a dangerous situation”:
See that hashtag? #AbuseAwareness? Something was going on! She also posted just three weeks before her death:
“When terrible terrible TERRIBLE things happen to you… (yall know what I’m talking about 😉 RPF: resting peace face #stillblessed #Godisgood”
She wrote that she was “still blessed”? And at peace? Hmm.
And in her own post announcing Mica’s death, her sister made sure to mention she “did not deserve the abuse she endured.” Whoa.
That leads us to what we’ve seen on social media that we can’t verify. We’ve seen several women claiming to be former members of the Solid Rock church and friends of Mica personally who are accusing her ex — the pastor — of grooming, of stalking, of physical and mental abuse. We can’t verify any of it, obviously, but it’s shocking stuff. And if we were the cops investigating the case, we definitely would be reaching out to talk to these people. Read for yourself HERE and HERE and HERE if you want to dig deeper. But remember to keep a healthy sense of skepticism as these allegations have not been vetted.
We just hope the truth is found — and Mica gets all the justice she deserves.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Consider contacting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, by calling, texting, or chatting, or go to 988lifeline.org.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Solid Rock Church/YouTube/Mica Miller/Facebook.]
