Nearly a year after Mica Miller died on April 27, 2024, the circumstances surrounding her final hours continue to fuel public scrutiny and unanswered questions.
The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office has consistently said Mica—whose story is examined in Death of the Pastor’s Wife—died by suicide at North Carolina’s Lumber River State Park. Netflix filmmaker Michael Gasparro told The Hollywood Reporter he accepts that conclusion as well. But members of Mica’s family and circle of friends have remained unconvinced, raising the possibility that the 30-year-old’s death involved foul play.
Below is a look at the major theories and allegations connected to her death:
Federal Prosecutors Say Mica Miller Was the Victim of Cyberstalking by John Paul Miller
When she died, Mica was in the middle of a turbulent divorce from her husband, Solid Rock Church pastor John Paul Miller.
Two days before her death, she had served John Paul with divorce papers. Federal prosecutors later alleged that, in the months leading up to that moment, Mica had been subjected to cyberstalking by her estranged husband.
“The harassing behavior included [John Paul] 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,” federal prosecutors said in a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina. Prosecutors also alleged that he disrupted her finances and daily life and, in one incident, damaged the tires on her vehicle.
John Paul has pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing him of cyberstalking and lying to investigators.
In the docuseries, Mica’s friends and relatives also alleged a years-long pattern of control and abuse. John Paul has forcefully denied those accusations.
“Never once in any way shape or form. Not any type of abuse. Not physical. No type of abuse ever,” he told ABC 11. “I took better care of her than any man could have possibly taken care of her in every way.”
Oxygen reached out to John Paul’s attorney about the allegations raised in the docuseries, but did not receive a response.
For years, Mica had also been open on social media about struggling with her mental health and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, according to the docuseries. Yet friends said she was also eager to start a new life.
When Did Mica Miller Die?
It all came to a tragic conclusion on April 27, 2024 when Mica was found dead in the water at the Lumber River State Park after suffering a fatal gunshot wound.
She was captured on her doorbell camera leaving her apartment at 11:38 a.m. that day before walking into Dick’s Pawn Shop in Myrtle Beach at 12:12 p.m, according to a statement from the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office. There, she was seen on surveillance footage purchasing a hand gun.
Mica was seen on surveillance footage again at 1:27 p.m. entering a convenience store in Mullins, South Carolina where she purchased a drink and gas.
Then, at 2:54 p.m. the sheriff’s office said Miller called 911 to report she was planning to commit suicide.
“The caller asked the dispatcher if her phone could be located because she was going to kill herself and wanted her family to be able to find her body,” the sheriff’s office said. “During the conversation with the dispatcher, the caller hung up the phone and the dispatcher was unable to contact the caller.”
Her body was discovered in the water after a fisherman heard crying and a gunshot.
Why Do Mica Miller’s Friends and Family Suspect Foul Play in Her Death?
Mica’s family and friends were immediately suspicious about the circumstances of her death, pointing to years of alleged emotional abuse and John Paul’s seemingly inability to let her go.
“Mica told me and my husband she was afraid for her life,” Mica’s friend Bruna Pabon alleged in the docuseries. “She’s sitting in our living room, and she’s saying, ‘I don’t wanna die.’ She says, ‘He’s gonna put a bullet in my head and then tell everybody I killed myself.”
Just one month before her death, on March 11, Mica called the Horry County Police to report that someone had placed a razor blade in her tire, according to a police report obtained by The Sun News. At the same time, she told police that she’d observed “strange activity and what she believes as people following or watching her.”
She had also reportedly applied for a restraining order against John Paul, Time reported.
Her family also pointed to her own words before her death, including a social media video shared in the docuseries where Mica asked, “Does abuse hurt people? How do you think God feels about that?”
In another journal entry provided to the docuseries by the family, Mica allegedly wrote, “Since the da we became husband and wife I have been abused in every way I can think of—emotionally, sexually, spiritually and physically.”
Mica’s family and friends believe their could be more to the 30-year-old’s death and have questioned why she chose to drive to a park so far from her own home.
“I feel like Mica was lured to where she was found,” her sister-in-law Victoria Francis explained in the docuseries. “I just have a gut instinct that she did not do this to herself.”
Her sister Sierra Francis added, “I think something happened. I think somebody killed her and tried to make it look like a suicide.”
John Paul has adamantly denied any involvement in her death. The sheriff’s office also confirmed that he was not in the state of North Carolina that day.
“Following the untimely death of Mica Miller, unfounded rumors and false accusations began circulating on social media and in various media outlets, suggesting Pastor Miller’s involvement in her demise,” his attorney Russell Long said in a statement to WPDE. “This created a buzz, causing local and national media outlets to begin proliferating these falsehoods, on a mammoth proportion. Our client refutes any report that suggests he ever abused his wife.”
What Did the Sheriff’s Office Conclude About Mica Miller’s Death?
After reviewing surveillance footage, interviews, physical evidence and the report from the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office concluded in May 2024 that the death was a suicide.
“Unfortunately, rumors and conspiracy theories were spreading quickly, and assumptions were being made. However, in the end, we must make decisions based on the facts, and evidence that has been gathered,” they wrote in a statement. “While I know it’s not what many people wanted to hear, the evidence is quite clear and compelling, and we are as saddened as anyone that this occurred.”
They went on to add, “There are many factors that we have reviewed that occurred over an extended period of time that are probably related to the reason for this investigation, but in the end, sadly, a tragic decision was made by Mica that ended her life.”
What Do Death of the Pastor Filmmakers Believe Happened to Mica Miller?
That’s the same conclusion filmmakers Julia Willoughby Nason and Mike Gasparro reached after their own investigation.
“I believe that Mica took her life,” Gasparro told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think it’s important that we say that because I think there’s mental health stuff here, and I think if we say anything else, then it’s a disservice to this person’s life and what she went through.
He added in an interview with Time that a part of their goal had been to examine the evidence and speak to those closest to Mica.
“Once we had done that, our focus shifted from questioning the official ruling to examining the much more complicated question of why: How a 30-year-old woman who was actively trying to reclaim control of her life reached a point where she felt she could no longer go on,” Gasparro said. “To us, understanding everything that preceded Mica’s death was the heartbeat of the story.”
