Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - GORGEOUS PASTOR'S WIFE MICA SHOCK 'SUICIDE?' FAMILY WANTS PROOF

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

John-Paul and Mica Miller marry in 2017, and at just 23, Mica becomes stepmom to John-Paul Miller's 5 children.  At first, outside the home everybody seems happy, but inside the home, not so much. Mica Miller has decided she has had enough of Pastor John-Paul Miller and files for divorce.   Four months after filing for divorce, Mica Miller pulls back the divorce papers, only to file again weeks later. After filing for divorce the second time, Mica Miller says she feels like she is being stalked. Her tires are slashed twice. Police discover a tire deflator has been used on the tires. Taking her car in for service, a mechanic finds a tracking device in Mica Miller's car. Mica Miller tells police she is afraid for her life. She knows who the suspect is, but the police tell her there isn't much they can do. A report is filed, but no charges. Weeks later, Pastor John-Paul Miller announces during church service that he got a call telling him his wife is dead. Mica commits suicide, according to police.  Separate memorial events spring up for Mica Miller, one for her husband at Solid Rock and one for her family and friends held beachside. Days after the service, Pastor John-Paul Miller is relieved of his duties at the church.  JOINING NANCY TODAY: Shaelynn French - Mica's Friend Brian Foley –  Board-certified Criminal Defense Attorney, Former Chief Prosecutor in Harris County, (Houston) Texas; Author: “What Prosecutors Don’t Tell You;” Instagram @brianfoleylawpllc/ Youtube – @brianfoleylawyer/X @brianpllc Scott Johnson – Forensic Psychologist (Minnesota): 32 years specializing in addressing sexual predators Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, “Blood Beneath My Feet,” and Host: “Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;” Twitter/X: @JoScottForensic Michael Maley - Former South Carolina News Anchor in Myrtle Beach/More than 2 decades as an Investigative Reporter and News Anchor in the South    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Breaking news tonight, gorgeous pastor's wife, Micah Miller, spoke through tears about abuse on Facebook, supporting victims of domestic violence. Micah meets her future husband, age just 15. And when they marry, she takes on his five children as her own. But cracks emerge in the marriage, the marriage to a highly popular and charismatic South Carolina pastor, John Paul Miller. Then the shot discovery of Micah's body in a remote state park, Micah shot dead. And in the last hours, a war of words explodes as Micah's loved ones insist she did not commit suicide. And also in the last hours, Pastor John Paul Miller booted from that Myrtle Beach church.

What do they know that we don't know? Tonight, Micah's devastating 911 call. And P.S., did the preacher have a girlfriend? Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. I've had a lot of women that have reached out to me about situations of abuse.

And I just want to tell you what a lot of people have told me lately and reminded me because I think I forgot. I knew, but I pushed it in the back of my head just because of my situation. But you are the bride of Christ. God hates divorce, but why? According to everybody I've asked and the scriptures that I've found, it's because it hurts people. But does abuse hurt people? How do you think God feels about that? Having worked for nine years on the hotline at the Battered Women's Center, prosecuting during the day, hearing her speaking like that just twists my heart. She referred to her, quote, situation.

What situation was that? And why did this beautiful young wife end up dead, shot dead in a remote state park? Joining me in all star panel. But I just want to establish how did these two ever get together? Listen, John Paul Miller and Micah Miller are married in 2017. And at the age of just 23, Micah Miller becomes stepmom to John Paul Miller's five children. J.P. Miller is considerably older than his beautiful young wife, but they move forward like a match made in heaven at first. Like many marriages outside the home,

everybody seems happy, but inside the home, not so much. Micah Miller decides she has had enough of Pastor John Paul Miller and files for divorce. Joining me in All-Star panel to make sense of what we know right now, but first, I want to go to former South Carolina news anchor in Myrtle Beach, investigative reporter, Michael Milley. Thank you for being with us. Number one, happy, a happy marriage. What the three of them, Micah, the preacher and his girlfriend. Okay. That said, what is her situation that she refers to on that very haunting Facebook post? You know, living in this community too, we're just inundated with feelings, suggestions, you know, ideas and passion on both sides.

It's a terrible, terrible case. That family dynamic, it really came to light lately. Michael Maley, listen, I've got one hour with you. No time for euphemisms. No time to whitewash anything. What do you mean the family dynamic just came to light? What family dynamic? The girlfriend?

The alleged abuse? What? Well, it's a combination. Let's start with first Micah and JP, as she referred to him, two of her siblings. Her siblings put together some affidavits in court in seeking ownership of her estate. In those affidavits, we've just kind of learned a little more detail in that her siblings say, look, she told us in no uncertain terms about the abuse. She told us she feared for her life. It got so graphic and detailed as to her saying to the

effect, if someone finds me with a bullet in my head, it was JP, John Paul. These are statements that came out. Michael, Miley, hold on just one moment. That is a lot of information. I've found a lot of it in investigating the case, but I want you to just, if you don't mind, would you repeat what you just said that you learned from reading affidavits by family. Just kind of looking through the affidavits submitted by Micah's family, her siblings, to say the least. There's a mention of abuse. There's a mention of her fear for safety. And it gets even so graphic and so detailed as a mention of, quote, to an extent here, if I end up dead with a bullet in my head, it was J.P. who did it.

J.P., John Paul, her estranged husband. This is all coming out. In addition to that, we're getting some more information from some other siblings who talk about a March 11th incident where there was police reports filed for vandalism to her car, her tire shredded. You're giving me so much information and I've got questions on every single thing that you just said with me. You're hearing a very well-known investigative reporter joining us out of South Carolina, Michael Maley, with me, an all-star panel, but I'm going to introduce them as we go along. To Brian Foley joining me, board-certified criminal defense attorney and former chief prosecutor, Harris County, Texas. Never a lack of business there and author of What Prosecutors Don't Tell You. How many cases did you prosecute and or defend where the dead woman says, if I turn up dead, he did it because I have had many. And sure enough, by the time I got a hold of them, they were homicide cases, Brian Foley.

Yeah. In domestic violence situations, we often have these warning signs. We have victims that will reach out to friends or family members and say, hey, if something happens to me, it wasn't me. I'm not going to commit suicide. And so apparently that did happen in this case, but we've got some facts from the police investigation that look like it is a suicide. So if I'm JP's lawyer, I'd be saying, thinking from the rooftops, what the police have reported. Well, yeah, but right now I'm curious about what else the family has to say in sworn statements. And a legal word, the so-called preacher has not been officially charged. He has not been named a POI, person of interest, or a suspect. But I want to move forward with what Michael Maley, investigative reporter joining us out of South Carolina, is saying.

He's talking about problems Micah had just before her death. Listen to our friends at Crime Online. Four months after filing for divorce, Micah Miller pulls back the divorce papers only to file new divorce papers weeks later. After filing for divorce a second time, Micah Miller feels like she's being stalked. Her tires are slashed twice in a week's time. Police discover a tire deflator has been used on the tires. Taking her car to the dealer for service, a mechanic finds a tracking device placed in Micah Miller's car. Flat tires, tracking device. Micah Miller tells police she's afraid for her life. She knows who the suspect is, but police tell her there's nothing they can do. Police file reports, but no charges are filed. Okay, hold on. A tracking device on her car. Her tires slashed. She calls police to report it. They show

up at a gas station where she is to get the tracking device off her car. At that time, the alleged stalker drives by very slowly in his Honda. She says, if you find me dead, he did it. The preacher that's not a suspect, her husband. I mean, you know, to Scott Johnson joiningah committed suicide with a bullet to her head, which, of course, as we all know, is highly unlikely statistically that a female of her age would shoot themselves in the face. That said, Scott Johnson, textbook stalking. Textbook. Very textbook. And, you know, she's describing incidents which sound crazy, and yet there's evidence to back it up. And so when people get controlling and possessive, in particular with narcissism and this person's position with the church and in

the community, she's a piece of property that just will not be let go. You know, Michael Meeley, this is going to be hard for you because you have so much information to give us. But Michael, yes, no. Did the preacher, the pastor, did he have a girlfriend? I want to establish that. Yeah, Nancy, that's right. So there's several reports out there that say not only did he have a girlfriend, but that girlfriend allegedly may have been his alibi. Holy, my head's blowing off right now. Let me just try to reattach that. Here at the top of my page, what is his alibi?

Where was he? Okay, I did not see that coming, but thank you. I'm going to split your answer. I'm going to bifurcate it and go back to Scott Johnson. Boy, do we need to shrink. Hold on. So all this business you were saying about stalkers are controlling and possessive and they won't let the woman go. H-E-double-L.

If he had a girlfriend, why did he care if she got a divorce? Explain that to me. Right, but you have the misogynistic bullshit, if you will, there that he's God's gift to women. He can have as many women as he wants, but once he has them, he possesses them. And so to indoctrinate the new girlfriend, to maybe even stalk and or help kill her would not be out of the realm of what we've heard from controlling domestic batterers at all. And this all started by me very calmly asking Michael Manley, investigative reporter, what Micah's family said in their affidavits.

Man, you threw me a hardball. So the girlfriend you believe is going to be the pastor's alibi at the time Micah was shot in the head? The official police report says that JP was with a woman. So there's speculation of some sorts, but a lot of allegations suggest this is the woman who he was with. He was in Charleston, not in North Carolina, where Mike's body was discovered, not from where the 911 call was tracked in that Lumber River State Park. So this is the suggestion is that, no, he's with a woman. And police corroborate that he was romantically involved with a woman at this time. So that's where he was. And another note, Nancy, that did come up that may or may not be interesting is

one asked before the press briefing where the Robeson County Sheriff's Detective offered to meet separately J.P. Apparently through his attorney, he refused to meet them, said he would take any information delivered to him here in Horry County. Wait, wait, wait. Michael, he, the preacher refused to meet who? Robeson County Sheriff's deputies, through his attorney, through notes that I'm reading, he said, I don't wish to meet you in Robeson County. I'll be here in Horry County if you want to deliver information to me. That's kind of the gist of what we're getting. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Joe Scott Morgan is joining me. Renowned professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University. Author of Blood Beneath My Feet. Host of Body Bags, the Hit Me podcast. Joe Scott, you have handled literally thousands of death investigations, some homicides, some suicides, some natural cause. But we have read a lot of police reports, right? And when the police write in the report, the preacher husband was with, quote, a woman. Notice, you know, that's code word, right? For girlfriend. Notice they didn't say a parishioner, a congregant, a family friend, a neighbor, a coworker. They went, he was with a

woman. We all know what that means. That is police lingo for girlfriend affair. Yeah. And here's the other thing. You can also insert the word alibi too, perhaps. And people that find themselves in these positions many times attempt to alibi themselves by being somewhere else or being with an individual that perhaps can, you know, validate where they were. But if you've got somebody that's engaged in deceptive behavior, which, as we know, infidelity is at the top of the heap, you know, who's to say that they wouldn't create some kind of other fantastical story to pass off to the police? It's going to have to be verified electronically, I think, through the investigations. They're going to have to, you know, lay down the breadcrumbs electronically and talk about the digital evidence that they have to specifically pinpoint this individual.

Joining us, an all-star panel, a war of words exploding between Micah's loved ones and the suggestion that Micah committed suicide. They better have some really strong evidence that this was suicide. Back to you, Michael Meeley. And I'm about to bring in Irv Brandt, very respected former U.S. Marshal Service agent, International Investigations Branch and author of Jack Solo on Amazon. Michael, let me understand the alibi of the preacher who is not a suspect and has not been named a person of interest. The Sheriff's Office Facebook post says, quote, Miller and a female he's allegedly romantically involved with. That's one way of putting it, romantically involved. Investigators confirmed both individuals not in North Carolina the night before and day of Micah's death. Through interviews, J.P. Miller was at an athletic event in Charleston on the day of Micah's death. Let me just knock a few things down

very quickly. What time of the day do we believe Micah was killed, Michael Maley? It was the afternoon on Saturday, April 27th. The call came in around 2.45 in the afternoon around 2 45 p.m based on the 911 calls do you know what athletic event the husband was supposed to be at we don't right now nor did authorities release any information just that he was there with the woman he was allegedly involved with using robson county detective's word okay Apparently in the afternoon, coming back to Horry County, I believe on Sunday, if I'm not mistaken. So that's kind of the timeline

that the authorities have released and put out. That truck is tinted black. How do I know who's in it? Fair question. And also, how do I know he was at an athletic event? And was he there the whole time? And how far away is that event from where Micah

was killed? Fair questions, all those. Charleston, South Carolina, about an hour and a half south of us in Myrtle Beach. Lumberton County, Lumberton, rather, Robeson County, about an hour north. So I'd say about three hours to play it safe, two and a half to three hours from where Micah's body was discovered to the athletic event where, you know, the pastor allegedly was. Guys, we're trying to determine the truth of what happened to this gorgeous young mom. Back to you, Michael Milley, what more did you learn from the family's affidavits? Yeah, so, and this really just kind of came out, like I said on the onset of our discussion, and this is compelling no matter how you look at it. So the family, the siblings, Micah's siblings, she had a few, I believe up to four or five, at least two of them filed an affidavit.

This is for the actual efforts to get ownership, I believe, briefly, but March 11th, there were two police reports filed about a tire that exploded, a metal device that may have erupted the tire, a GPS device. That's when she allegedly was going to file that restraining order. That was around March 11th. Well, in this affidavit, one of the family members says they got an email from Micah where she talked about her husband apologizing for the tires and causing damage to her vehicle. And then he went on in this email, and again this is Micah's sibling saying, I got an email from my sister. My sister says this, said Mr. Miller's email to my sister continued to think that he was angry that Micah confided in her family over him. And he said, in his words, the affidavit said that when someone hurts me, I try to hurt

them back rather than forgive. And instead of me forgiving you, I just attack and try to cause pain. This was in the affidavit. So look, the family has certainly plenty to grieve over, but they're bringing up more information about just the tumult of this relationship beforehand and what would appear, again, through Micah's email, him taking ownership of some of these assaults, so to speak. Joining me right now, as I mentioned earlier, Irv Brandt, former U.S. Marshal, who has traveled the world for the U.S. government to locate wanted felons. Irv, thank you for being with us. Listen, I'm going to have toizing for it, having an affair. And the wife says, if you find me dead with a bullet in my head, he did it.

That autopsy report better be clear and convincing, leaving no room for doubt. But my question to you, Irv Brandt, is what about the alibi? You and I have both dealt with a lot of alibis that stunk to high heaven, but with those tinted windows and a girlfriend that is dug her heels in. What do you do? Nancy, that's exactly right. And I have confidence in the investigators in this matter that they're not going to overlook any possibilities. I mean, you have the perfect suspect, you know, everything that you laid out. This guy is good for it. This wasn't a suicide. So the police have to be absolutely sure that his alibi is rock solid, whether they went and interviewed people that were at that sporting event, that there's video of him at that sporting event. If his phone was at that sporting event. And then, like you said, on couple past weeks, months, years. But I've kind of had to keep my circle really small for the past couple weeks just because I'm going through a lot and it's hard. What does that mean? Scott Johnson joining me, forensic psychologist and author of When I Love You Turns Violent, among other books.

Scott Johnson, what does that mean when someone goes on Facebook just to reassure everyone that they're OK? Well, certainly that she's not feeling okay. She's feeling scared and she wants to make sure that people are hearing that undertone, that care about her, that recognize that code, if you will, that, you know, right now I'm okay, but I've been through a lot. And she references that. So she's scared and she's, you know, reaching out to people to kind of listen in and keep track of her, if you will, to make sure she stays okay. It's hurting me to think that she was turning to posting on Facebook about her fears and the pain that she was going through. She even gives it a definitive time period. She says, for years I've been going through this, clearly alluding to her marriage. Again, her pastor husband, J.P. Miller, John Paul

Miller, is not a suspect or a person of interest. As a matter of fact, he's probably looking for a job right now because John Paul Miller has been booted from that Myrtle Beach church just days after he casually reveals his wife's suicide to a stunned conversation. But you know what? Let's hear it from the horse's mouth. Listen. I got a call late last night. My wife has passed away. Yeah. And it was, it was self-induced and it was up in North Carolina. And somehow you kind of like wedge that that in to the rest of the service. To Brian Foley joining me, a veteran trial lawyer and author of What Prosecutors Don't Tell You.

Brian, I know a good defense attorney like yourself will argue, well, that means nothing. You know, there's no, how many times have I heard it? There's no playbook for grief, but it matters to me. And I guarantee you it wouldn't matter to any woman on a jury that he's talking about this and that and that and this.

And, oh, yeah, my wife's dead. She did it. And then he instructed everybody to leave in silence and don't ask him any questions. Hey, I mean, that that's a great argument for he's a little bit weird or or a jerk, if you want to say. Cheating on her is obviously not a great thing, but he's not guilty of murdering her. There's concrete proof of that. The police have her on video at 12, 12 p.m. buying a nine millimeter Sig Sauer, which which is gonna match up to the bullet that they have with her um they found bullets in the car they found uh even on her phone they have her looking up uh where the nearest national forest is that's where they found her the reason she

called 9-1-1 she says in her own voice that she is intending on killing herself. So, you know, there can be a lot of speculation, but the police and the law requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And I think you could probably prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she did kill herself. Not just that. You'd have to prove it the other way beyond a reasonable doubt that he did the killing and him not being very articulate in front of a crowd after he finds out his wife has committed suicide. That's not proof. Got a question for you. Does the name Conrad Roy ring a bell or Michelle Carter, his former girlfriend?

Conrad Roy, an extremely sensitive young man, commits suicide at the behest, the urging, the aiding, the abetting of his girlfriend, Michelle Carter. And she got convicted and did a little bit of a hard time. You familiar with that case and others like it? We're a little familiar with that, but it's not really the same here because he's his license plate reader is three hours away at the same time. You know, there's no evidence of a struggle or anything like that. And on the 911 call, had he been like in the background, you know, forcing her hand or something like that, we wouldn't expect her reasoning to be for her family to find her or something like that. We'd expect her to be crying a little more, to be more upset, maybe even blurt something out like he's here or something like that. Hold on. Did I hear Brian Foley, the veteran trial lawyer, say his license plate reader places his truck elsewhere?

Did I hear you say anything about an alibi other than his girlfriend? Is he spotted on video? Is his cell phone there at that sporting event? Do I have any other eyewitness placing him three hours away other than the girlfriend? And by the way, weren't these two still legally married? They weren't divorced yet, were they? Brian Foley? Yeah. And you know, if we want to convict him of being a jerk, that's fine, but that's not a crime. Yes, what? You said yeah. Yeah, what?

He's not placed three hours away. His vehicle is. But importantly, he's not placed when she's there buying the gun that did the suicide at 12, 12 p.m. She is on video. She's not with him. He's not captured in the parking lot. You can see on her face, she's almost smiling at it. She's, this is something that she's obviously had some mental health issues. She's going through a lot and this is her taking control back of her, her life. And

you can actually, in suicides like that, there is this period sometimes beforehand when the victim of the suicide knows that they're going to do this, where they get a little bit happier. They feel like they're in control of things. You can see that in the smile on her face in that video. Hey, Brian Foley, guess what? Michelle Carter wasn't present when Conrad Roy killed himself either. She was on the phone saying, go ahead, kill yourself. She wasn't there either, but she went to jail. Again, let me reiterate, we invited the pastor, John Paul Miller, on today to answer some tough questions. He did not respond. He's just been booted by his Myrtle Beach Church, and I'm wondering, what do they know that we don't know? If this is truly a suicide, if that church believes that Micah committed suicide, then why did they fire him?

Why? Why aren't they enfolding him with compassion and sympathy instead of firing him? What do they know? Joining me, Joseph Scott Morgan, renowned professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University, author, podcaster, and star of a hit series. Joe Scott, what would convince you in that autopsy report that this is really a suicide? I'm not saying it is. I'm not saying it's not. And the husband is presumed innocent until proven guilty. He has not been charged.

But in my world, Joe Scott, when a woman says, if I turn up dead with a bullet in my head, he did it. And then she turns up dead with a bullet in her head. I've got to think about it. So what would convince you? What do you know about the suicide other than it's highly unlikely for a female her age to shoot herself in the head? What are you looking for, Joe Scott? I'm going to be looking for the presence of soot deposition. And that is when the blast of the weapon makes contact with the skin, the proximity to the end of the muzzle. If you guys could come to me on camera just for a second, I'll kind of show you what I'm talking about here. This is a dummy weapon that we use at Jacksonville State.

When a weapon is placed to the skin like this and it is fired, okay, the deposition into the surface will be blown in and you'll be able to appreciate that as far as a close contact gunshot wound or a press contact. We do know this piece of information that was released by the medical examiner for Robeson County. He had stated in his release that contrary to what had been floating around out there, that this was not a gunshot wound to the back of the head. We generally associate those with an execution style gunshot wound. And those

in the framework of suicide, when you're talking about self-inflicted gunshot wounds, a wound to the back of the head is what we call an atypical location for a self-inflicted gunshot wound. So what we're looking for is the proximity perhaps on the temple or maybe an intraoral gunshot wound. And they haven't released that information yet. That's what I'd be keying in on relative to the autopsy results when they're finally released. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, in the last hours, a 911 call has been released that purports to be Micah near suicide. Her family and loved ones want proof, and I don't blame them.

And let me remind everyone, the husband slash pastor has not been named as a suspect. We invited him to join us and set straight the record. He did not respond, but who did respond? A very dear friend of Micah's, Shailen French is joining us. Shailen, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me on. Shailen, when did you learn that Micah had passed away? I learned two days ago on TikTok. It went viral and I was laying in bed and I found the video. And to those who are in her life group in Kansas, where she tried to come back to, to separate from her husband in early 2023, I shared it with them and we all found out right then and there.

What was your immediate thought when you learned Micah was dead? My immediate thoughts went straight to him. What do you mean by that? You felt sorry for him? You felt empathy for him? When you say your immediate thoughts went straight to him, what exactly did you think when you heard Micah is dead?

I, after the stories that she had shared with everyone about her abuse, and we all got very watered down versions of obviously everything that was happening, because when you just meet somebody, you're not going to tell them everything. We got all text messages when she was leaving that didn't make any sense sense when she was planning on staying in Kansas and she was planning on thriving. She was planning on making trips, healing. And all of a sudden we heard nothing. It was a, hey, good news. I've been reconciled.

My husband's allowing me to come back home. Praise God. Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. My husband's allowing me to come back home. He allowed her to come back home. I've been reconciled. Praise God. Okay. The abuse that she did admit, what did she say? To me personally, and she did not give explicit details. She mentioned how her husband would watch or make her watch unholy acts. And those are the exact words that she gave to me. When I tried to ask deeper, I didn't get an answer. Made her watch

unholy acts. Okay. That could be a number of things with me is Micah's very dear friend, Sheila French. Were you surprised when you learned Micah was dead? So I'm going to back up a little bit because when we met her, it was in early January 2023. She came to Kansas to live with family and she started coming to our church. When she came to our church, her testimony was first off beautiful. She immediately wanted to be on mission trips. She immediately wanted to get involved. She wanted to know everybody. She was adventurous. She was ready to just start a new life away from him. We had conversations about her taking care of her own mental health. We had conversations about her feeling like there was nothing wrong

with her, but she wanted to double check. She was so happy to be able to deal with her own mental health. She was so happy to be able to go see a therapist. We were making plans. And then in March, March 23rd, 2023, we all got a text message that said, praise God, I've been reconciled. So am I surprised that she's dead? Yes, because she was so smart and I hoped she would escape it. But this guy seemed scary. He seemed calculated. And you could tell she was definitely in fear, even being away from him. I don't understand the nature of their relationship when she was 15 years old when she met him. How did she end up mother to his five children from another woman?

I am not sure. So when she met us in Kansas, she did talk about his children. But the only thing she mentioned was that they were close to her age. She treated them like they were her age. She treated them like they were her own. She was very kind to them. She talked about missing them even, but I'm not exactly sure how it even came about that a youth pastor would go after a young teen. She never explained that, but you could definitely tell when she gave us that information that she had gone through church abuse. Question, was he the youth pastor when he met her as a 15-year-old girl?

I can't confirm that. I have heard, just like everybody else, that he was part of the teen ministry. I have no information on that. Joining me is Micah's friend, Shailen French. What do you make of the now COD, cause of death, suicide? Do you believe that? I don't want to. I don't want to believe that. I want to believe that she didn't and that this is all calculated, that anybody could tell someone to walk there. People are coming out with even so many questions about the videos, footages that have been released by the police and seeing inconsistencies there,

like seeing at the gun store and not seeing her tattoo on the right hand. Someone had posted that there was a blue truck nearby following her, although the timelines wouldn't be consistent to where he was at. someone had posted that there was a blue truck nearby following her, although I don't, the timelines wouldn't be consistent to where he was at. I truly think this could have still been foul play. However, if she did, she is the one, because she called 911, and that, honestly, that phone call was gut-wrenching to all of us. When she called 911, I could believe it.

And the only reason is because when you have been through that much abuse and you feel like now that your abuser has thrown you out and you are nothing, he finally was able to get a divorce, I could see her taking her own life and feeling like she had nothing left. However, when she was with us a year ago, this girl had to fight. She was mentally stable. She was ready to start a new life. She was ready to go on mission trips. She was ready to make an impact on everyone in her

community. To Michael Maley joining us, investigative reporter in South Carolina, what is she talking about? A blue truck was near the location where Micah was found dead. As far as the location, everything that I'm getting from authorities from their release was just tracking her car. I don't have information about a blue truck, just that her Honda was tracked there with a drone. They did locate the car there. That's JP's truck, according to authorities, based on the license plate, that's the truck that we've seen in Horry County going and coming to Charleston about three hours from the Lumber River State Park in North Carolina. So Nancy, just to clarify, that's the only information that I've got as far as a truck location near where Micah's body was was discovered. We are learning that the COD cause of death at this juncture is suicide.

I'm looking at her obituary written by her husband. He has just been released from his position at that Myrtle Beach Church. I'm curious to Micah's very close friend, Shailene French. Why is the obit about him so much? What, did he write the obit? It looks like it. So I would like to put a reminder out there. She left Kansas on March 23, 2023. Most of us in Kansas where she escaped to have not heard from her since. When we looked at that obituary where it says, I loved, she loved

her husband so much. This was not written by her. This was written by a narcissist. It is absolutely disgusting every single way. Loved her husband so much, told him he was the funniest preacher in the world. Okay. And, uh, more and more. Okay. To you, Michael Mealy joining us, investigative reporter out of South Carolina. What do you make of that obit? And what more can you tell us? Yeah, you know, Nancy, it's tough. We can't ask Micah these questions. We can't go into the detail that only she knew in her last moments.

You read this obituary, and here living in Myrtle Beach inundated in the community. People just bring up, you know, why does the obituary talk, you know, about her estranged husband, that she thought he was the funniest preacher in the world, that she, you know, would praise her husband after every church service, telling him he was the best preacher. Even analytically, even objectively, I'm sure a psychologist as well. Hold on just a moment. I mean, this thing says, I'm looking at it, quote, she and JP, the pastor, have been friends since 2009, married in 2017, and spent almost every single day and night together, I guess, except when he was with his girlfriend.

Yes, no. Were they separated? They were. They were separated. Okay. She originally had filed for divorce back in October. So it was ongoing. Then there was suggestion that they were going to try to rekindle, and so that was dropped.

So this was a tumultuous past for at least October publicly through the court record. Scott Johnson joining me, forensic psychologist. What are hypnotic drugs? Well, drugs were when people are under the influence, they're oftentimes either a unable to resist. So you're saying you want to do this. You're going to do this. Yes, I will. Even though, you know, they're not wanting to. But they look normal, sound normal. So hypnotic drugs are often used for date rapists, human trafficking, things like that. Curious. Brian Foley, veteran trial lawyer and author. Final thought, Brian Foley? I mean, if I was a prosecutor and I had evidence that his license plate reader was near the crime scene and he was on video purchasing

the gun himself and there was a 911 call where the victim said he was the one who was going to do it, you'd have a knockdown case. I don't know why it doesn't work the other way. JP's innocent. This is a suicide. Well, that's what we're hearing. And to you, Joseph Scott Morgan, what do you think? Over all my years, Nancy, as a death investigator in New Orleans and Atlanta, I worked more suicides, actually, than I did homicides. People are amazed by that, but that's the truth in America. And the reality is this. If you live with somebody and you know them and you have control over their life, perhaps, you know all of the pressure points. And you have somebody that is emotionally fragile, they're wounded. You know what buttons to press, you know, electronic

tracking devices, this sorts of things. And you can push people to the edge, Nancy. I've worked cases like that. And they are absolutely tragic. And the problem is, is that at the end of the day, you have nothing to hang your hat on other than the fact of what the evidence reveals at the end. And there ultimately is no closure. And it's very, very tragic. We wait as justice unfolds. Let's stop and remember American hero Sergeant Bill Hoosier, Utah. Sergeant Hoosier struck and killed by a fleeing suspect in a semi. Survived by his grieving wife, two daughters, granddaughter, American hero Sergeant Bill Hoosier.

Thank you to all of our guests for joining us tonight. During this moment of confusion and heartbreak for Micah Miller. Nancy Grace signing off. Good night, friend.