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Inside the Heartbreaking Story Behind Death of the Pastor’s Wife

Watch: Death of The Pastor’s Wife: What Happened to Mica Miller, John Paul Miller

Content warning: This story discusses suicide.

Mica Miller put faith before everything—including, according to friends and family, her own safety.

“Out of all of us, she was the most strong in her faith,” her sister Destinee Barrientos shared in the new Netflix docuseries Death of the Pastor’s Wife, now streaming. “Mica knew her calling: ‘I’m going to be in the ministry and I’m going to help people.'”

And now Mica’s loved ones are wondering what more they could have done to help her.

On April 27, 2024, Mica’s body was found in North Carolina’s Lumber River State Park, hours away from the 30-year-old’s home in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

“My wife has passed away,” her estranged husband John-Paul Miller, then the longtime pastor of Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, told congregants at his Sunday service the next day. He called Mica’s death “self-induced.”

Her five siblings, all of whom participated in the Netflix series, weren’t so sure—and they didn’t want authorities to assume anything, either.

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Celebrity Deaths 2026

“They said, ‘We’re doing everything we can, make sure we look under every rock,'” Mica’s sister Sierra Francis recounted in the doc. “They reassured us there was going to be some justice.”

Mica’s death was subsequently ruled a suicide, a decision “based on surveillance footage, interviews, physical evidence and the examination of the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office,” according to a May 7, 2024, statement from the Robeson County Sheriff’s Department.

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Her brother Nate Francis “just could not accept it,” he said in the series. And neither could the internet sleuths who took up the family’s cause, which was to hold John-Paul accountable for what happened to Mica.

In May 2024, John-Paul’s lawyer Russell Long said in a statement that “unfounded rumors and false accusations” had been circulating online in the wake of Mica’s death and his client “refutes any report that suggests he ever abused his wife.” Moreover, he said, the determination that Mica died by suicide “completely exonerates Pastor Miller of any wrongdoing.”

John-Paul, who did not participate in the series, later countered that he was the one person who tried to help Mica, who had a history of mental health struggles.

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“I told her family this so many times you can’t imagine,” the now former leader of Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach said in July 2024 on NewsNation’s Banfield. “I said, ‘If y’all don’t get her lithium, she’s gonna commit suicide.'”

Oxygen.com reached out to John Paul’s attorney about the allegations raised in the docuseries, but has not yet heard back.

Here is what to know about the heartbreaking story behind Netflix’s Death of the Pastor’s Wife:

Courtesy of Netflix

Who was Mica Miller?Born March 7, 1994, Mica Miller (née Francis) moved with her five siblings to Myrtle Beach, S.C., from Wichita, Ks., when their mother remarried.Eager to feel settled in their new home, they joined Solid Rock Church, led by pastor John-Paul “J.P.” Miller.After their mother and stepfather divorced, “Mica made church her lifestyle,” sister Anna Francis said in the2026 Netflix docuseries Death of the Pastor’s Wife. A talented singer, Mica became the worship leader in charge of the choir when she was 16.When she was 18, Mica married Jeremy Deas, who she met through church. John-Paul—a married father of five—officiated their wedding.

Courtesy of Netflix

How did Mica Miller’s relationship with Solid Rock Church pastor John-Paul Miller begin?Mica started working as John-Paul’s assistant and, about three years into her marriage, he started “texting Mica affectionately,” her sister Sierra Francis said in the Netflix doc.In July 2015, John-Paul announced during a service there’d been a “moral failing” in his marriage. Around that time, brother Nate Francis said, Mica confessed to him that she and the pastor were having an affair and “she was ‘so, so sorry.'”Mica and John-Paul got married Nov. 7, 2017. She was 23 and he was 38. Her siblings said that they went to the wedding to support Mica, not because they approved of the marriage.

Courtesy of Netflix

Friends and Family Recall Mica Miller’s Mental Health Starting to DeclineMica’s siblings and former church members described an increasingly toxic dynamic between her and John-Paul.Previously described as the most confident of all the siblings, Mica “started having insecurities,” Sierra said in the doc, and “all of a sudden she wanted a breast augmentation.”After she had the surgery, she had a “horrible reaction” to the sedatives, Sierra continued, and “started spiraling.”Mica was subsequently admitted into a psychiatric hospital and, according to sister Anna, diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Courtesy of Netflix

Mica Miller Reported Harassment to Police Before Her DeathMica filed for divorce on Oct. 8, 2023, according to court documents reviewed by TIME, but the petition was dismissed Feb. 13, 2024.Hospitalized on another psychiatric hold, Mica called police on Feb. 9, per audio played in the series, saying that she and her husband were separated but he had her phone and was texting people and posting to social media in her name. “How do I get a deputy out there to seize items?” she asked.She was discharged from the hospital after a few days, according to her brother.John-Paul then filed for a separation Feb. 23, but that was dismissed on March 12, a day after Mica called Horry County Police to report that she’d found a razor blade stuck in her tire for the second time in a week, according to an incident report obtained by The Sun News.

Courtesy of Netflix

She told police that she had witnessed “strange activity and what she believes as people following or watching her,” according to the incident report, which also noted that Mica said “she was afraid for her life.”While Mica named who she thought was responsible for slashing her tires, the name was redacted in the report.Hours later, she called police again to report the same person approaching her at a gas station and then at a car dealership. That incident report stated, per Sun News, that she “told him to go away, she does not want to talk and then when she pulled her phone out to record, he sped off.”Mica filed for divorce again and John-Paul was served with papers on April 25, 2024, two days before she died. A hearing was set for June 5.

Courtesy of Netflix

How did Mica Miller die?Surveillance footage helped authorities piece together Mica’s final hours.On April 27, 2024, she left the Myrtle Beach apartment where she was staying at 11:38 a.m., per a timeline detailed by the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office. She arrived at Dick’s Pawn Shop in town at 12:12 p.m., where she used a debit card to purchase a handgun.She drove northbound, pulling into a gas station in Mullins, S.C., at 1:27 p.m.Mica called 911 at 2:54 p.m. and asked if it was possible for her phone to be traced.”I’m about to kill myself,” she said, per a recording of the call, “and just want my family to know where to find me.”A kayaker found her body later that day in Lumber River State Park. An autopsy report released in June 2024 stated that Mica died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The preliminary summary detailed that two spent casings and one live round were recovered on the bank of the river, about 100 feet away from where Mica was found lying “prone submerged in river beside tree limbs,” and there were no signs of a physical struggle.

Courtesy of Netflix

What did John-Paul Miller say about Mica Miller’s death?John-Paul described their marriage as loving and painted himself as the only one who tried to help his wife amid her mental health struggles.“She was a great pastor’s wife,” he told the Sun News in July 2024. “She always wanted me to look in the very best light possible.”And “when she was with me for seven years,” he added, “she was happy, healthy, whole and lived her life and loved it. Apart from me for three months, she committed suicide.”But Mica’s siblings weren’t the only ones who suspected something more nefarious had occurred. Speculation that John-Paul was responsible for her death—even if he didn’t pull the trigger—ran rampant on social media.He denied harming Mica in any way, telling WTVD, “Never once in any way shape or form. Not any type of abuse. Not physical. No type of abuse ever. I took better care of her than any man could have possibly taken care of her in every way. She never had to cook a single meal, she never had to clean not one time, she never had to work, all she had to do was take her medicine and enjoy her life.”He called those blaming him for Mica’s death “the biggest idiots on planet Earth.”

Courtesy of Netflix

Where is John-Paul Miller now?Solid Rock Church closed permanently in November 2024.John-Paul—who has since remarried and started a new ministry, Mercy Church—pleaded not guilty in January to federal charges of cyberstalking and making false statements to federal investigators.The indictment alleges that, “beginning in November 2022, Miller sent unwanted and harassing communications to his estranged wife until her death,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of South Carolina. “The harassing behavior included Miller posting a nude photo of the victim online without her consent, causing tracking devices to be placed on her vehicle, and in one instance, contacting her over 50 times in a single day.”Prosecutors also allege he interfered with Mica’s finances and “on one occasion damaged her vehicle tires.”The 46-year-old is facing a maximum seven years in prison if convicted of both counts.Meanwhile, Mica’s family is championing proposed legislation in South Carolina—known as “Mica’s Law“—aimed at broadening the state’s domestic violence laws to make coercive control a felony offense.But, as Nate said in the Netflix series, “Justice for Mica would be for her to be alive right now and living her life.”

(E! and Oxygen are both part of Versant Media)

If you or someone you know needs help, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

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