Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #50 - Exposing The Evil That Ended Mica Miller’s Life + Michael Colucci’s Retrial POSTPONED

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

Investigative journalists Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell untangle the very strange — and very heartbreaking — death of Mica Miller, a 30-year-old pastor’s wife from South Carolina whose body was found in a North Carolina state park a few weeks ago.  Over the weekend, journalists, true crime aficionados and people hoping for justice learned about Mica’s death, accusations of marital abuse and her in-progress divorce, along with one very strange sermon in which her estranged husband — John Paul Miller — announced her death to his flock by telling them to stand, listen and don’t talk about what they’re about to hear after they hear it. Internet sleuths worked overtime, convinced the road to Mica’s death would lead them back to her husband. When Robeson County Sheriff’s Office deputies released details about why they had ruled Mica’s death a suicide, they provided an answer, but many more questions still linger.  Through suicide, Mica Miller pointed the world toward her husband, who she feared would “put a bullet in her head.”  This week's episode of True Sunlight looks at the investigation into Mica’s death and digs into police reports that outline what Mica’s life looked like in the months and weeks before she took her own life.  Also on the show, why was Michael Colucci’s murder trial postponed AGAIN? And Premium Members get an extended version with more information about the decision to delay the Colucci case. Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ Learn more about how you can help us fund FOIA’s, dive deeper into cases and experience the investigation first-hand on lunasharkmedia.com all in one place. CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE. In May we’re offering your first month of Soak Up The Sun membership for 50% off. Join Luna Shark Premium today at Lunashark.Supercast.com. Premium Members also get access to searchable case files, written articles with documents, case photos, episode videos and exclusive live experiences with our hosts on lunasharkmedia.com all in one place. CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE. And for those just wanting ad-free listening without all the other great content, we now offer ad-free listening on Apple Podcast through a subscription to Luna Shark Plus on the Apple Podcasts App. Or become a Premiere Member on YouTube for exclusive videos and ad-free episodes. SUNscribe to our free email list to get that special offer for first time members, receive alerts on bonus episodes, calls to action, new shows and updates. CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3KBMJcP Visit our new events page Lunasharkmedia.com/events where you can learn about the upcoming in-person and virtual appearances from hosts! And a special thank you to our sponsors: Microdose.com, PELOTON, and VUORI. Use promo code "MANDY" for a special offer! *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email [e-mail] and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** For current & accurate updates: TrueSunlight.com facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/ Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod Twitter.com/mandymatney Twitter.com/elizfarrell youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spring is here and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a Wellgroom lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered. A cabana? That's a no. But a banana? That's a yes. A nice tan? Sorry, nope. But a box fan? Happily yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. This episode is brought to you by New Balance Running. New Balance believes if you run,

you're a runner. Whether you're going for your first ever run around the park or going for your personal best in a marathon, Speed, strength, stamina. Whatever goal you're working toward. New Balance has the running shoes, clothes, and accessories to push your run further and help you run your way. Find yours at newbalance.ca slash running. New Balance, run your way. I don't know how many women have to die before the system changes.

But my heart is broken for Micah Miller, for Sarah Lynn Colucci, and for women across the country who desperately tried to leave an abusive relationship in a system that does not protect them. My name is Mandi Matney. This is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corruption, previously known as the Murdoch Murders Podcast. True Sunlight is a Lunar Shark production written with journalist Liz Farrell. It has been a really long few days. I want to start by saying thank you to the hundreds of listeners who have messaged tweeted tagged and emailed us to cover the Micah Miller

story. I tell y'all all the time to be pesky and that is exactly what you did. Y'all bugged us about this story until we could no longer ignore it. I am grateful that you brought this story to our attention because no matter how Micah Miller's life ended, we owe it to her to bring her story of escaping an abusive controlling husband into the sunlight for the world to see. This episode covers a lot of triggering topics from mental health to domestic abuse to suicide. And I want every person listening to please take care of yourselves first. You are not alone, and this episode is dedicated to every person struggling. I know it is hard to have conversations about these topics,

but Micah Miller's death has taught me that we must make noise before we lose more women to abuse. The system, by all accounts, failed Micah Miller. Just like it failed Sarah Lynn Colucci and Dallas Stoller and so many other women whose stories we have shared on this podcast. Micah's story has made headlines around the world and even though her death was ruled a suicide yesterday,

which we still have questions about, to be clear, there are people with blood on their hands that need to be exposed. There is a system that needs to change, and there are women around the world ready to fight for that change. So let's get into it. So let's get into it.

["The Last Supper"] Like Mandy said, this has been one long and emotional week. While we were in the middle of reporting on the heartbreaking story about Micah Miller, which we'll get to in a minute, we received news that Michael Colucci's retrial, which was scheduled to begin Monday with jury selection, is now getting postponed. Why? Well, the court had only scheduled a week for the trial, and it's going to take longer than a week.

But the court can accommodate that in May. It's your typical nonsense from a system that puts victims last. Shortly after we began looking into the Kaluci case, we learned from a source that the attorney general's office had told people close to the case that this time around, they would only need a week to try this case, a week. That was part of why we wanted to get more sunlight on this case immediately,

because a week didn't seem long enough. The original trial took a total of 10 days in 2018 from jury selection to the time a mistrial was declared. Now, most murder trials in South Carolina do take only a week. Jury selection is done on a Monday morning, a hearing might be held after that for the judge to rule on motions and limine, then testimony starts. Typically, the prosecution offers a handful of witnesses and the defense might offer a few as well. Oftentimes, though, they don't because a. most murder cases involve public defenders and their non-existent budgets don't generally provide for a whole lot of expert testimony. But also b. it's

not on the defendant to prove that they didn't do something, it's on the state to prove that they did. Again, most murder trials often take less than five days, but this one stars Andy Savage and that fact has never changed. Andy has been on this case since shortly after Michael's arrest for Sarah Lynn's murder in 2016. And Uncle Andy isn't coming to this barbecue with a single side dish. He's got a whole hog on a spit and a catering company. I mean, you guys, in the first trial he had 16 witnesses. 16! Including an expert on manicures!

On the night Sarah Lynn was killed, she lost the tip of her nail in what the state says was a struggle with Michael in the car. So Andy had a woman come in to testify about the kind of acrylic nail Sarah Lynn had on that night and what it would have taken to lose one. And this is after Andy crassly indicated on cross-examination with another witness that women do cocaine sometimes using their long nails to deliver the substance to their nose. I guess he was trying to insinuate that this and not a physical encounter with Michael was how Sarah Lynn might have lost her nail that night. Anyway, this is just to say that it was

pretty foreseeable that Andy is going to have a number of witnesses again this time around. So while we thought five days was too few to try this case, we assumed that the ability to go longer existed when the AG's office confirmed the trial date this past March. Meaning we and other media believe that the court was prepared for this to extend into the next week that the AG's office would have appropriately docketed this for that likelihood. Well, they sure didn't. This is a lesson for those hoping to become investigative journalists by the way. Always ask the question. We should have asked the question but also it's kind of

like asking if a restaurant that serves french fries has ketchup. It's not a question of if they have it because duh. It's just a thing that materializes. It's either on your table or it gets brought to your table. You don't walk into a restaurant and before you get seated say to the hostess, I just want to make sure you have ketchup here. I know I sound angry. That's because I am. We both are. Why? Because of what post-pilaments do to victims and their families. Victims arrange their entire lives around court dates. And it's not just with things like work schedules and getting babysitters and putting their lives on pause.

Which all of that is a big deal. I don't mean to sound snotty when I say this, but not everyone can afford to take six weeks off like the Murdoch family did. In fact, most people can't. There is also an emotional attachment to a court date. It signifies a light at the end of the tunnel. It mentally serves as a demarcation for victims and their families. I will have an answer and whatever that answer is I will finally know it and can focus on healing.

Bishop Vieira, Sarah Lynn's smart, witty, beautiful 20 year old daughter who has lived almost half her life waiting for justice, is set to get married in June. Because of this screw-up, she will not get the peace that would come with being at her wedding where she will marry the love of her life and having this trial be in her rear-view mirror. To finally know the conclusion to this nightmare. On top of that, there was talk of rescheduling this trial for the end of June where it would most likely have meant her getting a verdict right before her wedding weekend. Mandy and I are both so sick of watching people who have already had the very worst things happen to them repeatedly

get beaten up by a system that pretends to care about them. People who so badly want to believe that the system has their back. Not only has Sarah Lynn Calucci's family been waiting nine years for justice, they've had to suffer through the past six years waiting for Michael to be retried. Our hearts go out to Sarah Lynn Calucci's family. Sarah Lynn's father died waiting for justice to be done.

He died waiting for the person the state says murdered his justice to be done. He died waiting for the person the state says murdered his daughter to be held accountable. And it's really hard not to think about the emotional toll this has taken on the family as a whole. They've lost so much already and they're once again asked to take it on the chin. Meanwhile, like we said,

the only person who seems to benefit from this delay would be Michael Colucci. Why? Well, because the witnesses. Every day that passes is another day for a law enforcement officer or first responder or pathologist to retire, to quit, to move, to pass on. Every day that passes is another day for a witness to leave the state, fall victim to an illness, or simply forget everything they saw or heard or know about Sarah Lynn, Michael, and or the investigation. And boy, will Andy seize upon any moment that pops up where it's clear a witness can't quite remember what happened in 2015.

Where a witness momentarily falters on their testimony or says something even slightly different from what they might have testified to six years ago. Andy will be there listening, ready to zoom in, teeth-first, like the great white shark that he is. So that said, there is a bright side and the bright side is that the universe is giving the AG's office an opportunity to knock it out of the park. As of today, we don't know when the new trial date is. Once we learn that date we'll post it on our Twitter accounts. To stay on top of the news subscribe to Lunashark Media's newsletter. Now we need to talk to you about the Mica Miller tragedy and the

ensuing social media circus that occurred before an announcement was made Tuesday afternoon about how she died. But more than that, we need to talk to you about what Micah's life looked like leading up to the day that it ended on April 27th. Again, this story involves domestic violence. It involves mental health issues. It involves domestic violence. It involves mental health issues. It involves suicide. So please take that under your consideration before you continue to listen.

And please take care of yourselves. Every single story we cover is triggering in different ways. But this one. On April 27th, Micah Miller, a 30-year-old woman from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was found dead with a gunshot wound in a state park near Lumberton, North Carolina. Lumberton is about an hour and 40 minutes away from Micah Miller's apartment, where she moved in in October 2023 after first filing divorce from her husband, John Paul Miller, who was a pastor of Solid Rock Community Church in Myrtle Beach.

Micah's death became national news last week for a few reasons, chiefly because of the bizarre sermon her estranged husband gave on the Sunday after her death. Listen to this on Sunday, April 28th, one day after Micah was found dead at the end of his church service, John Paul Miller told his congregation that his wife died. I want you to hear this clip. We're not going to alter call today. Instead, instead I'm going to have you stand up and I'm going to do an altar call today. Instead, I'm going to have you stand up and

I'm going to make an announcement. And after the announcement, I'm going to ask that you leave church quietly and don't talk about the announcement here in the building and so you all can stand your feet. Before I make the announcement, I also want to say that my request to you is that you will continue to come to church and serve and give for the next little bit. I'm taking a little bit of a break and I don't want to have to worry about the church. My break may be a few days, a few weeks, I don't know. I got a call late last night. My wife has passed away.

It was self-induced and it was up in North Carolina. We're going to have a funeral for her next Sunday here at 3 p.m. And so I'm it's all I can yeah, I'm just kind of going on adrenaline right now, so Y'all pray for me and my kids and everybody and she was she wasn't y'all knew that she wasn't well mentally And then she needed her medicine that was hard to get to her. And so I'm sure there'll be more details to come. But just keep our family in your prayers.

And I'm going to let Pastor Randall, my bishop, he can pray. I'll get a microphone and he'll pray out. And if you have anything you want to share as well, I'd appreciate it. So as we have said many times before on this podcast, it is hard to judge a person's reaction to a tragedy like this one. It is hard to say what a normal, non-abusive person would do or say in this situation. However, considering the well-documented allegations of abuse here, I want to point out what aren't just red flags, they are alarm

bells ringing during this speech. First of all, there is something incredibly disturbing about a man commanding a sea of people to stand to hear that his estranged wife died and to see the congregation just doing that and complying. It shows what kind of control and power this man is used to. It is disturbing to hear this man's immediate concerns about his church members, who are ultimately his money makers,

leaving him because of his wife's death. But the most disturbing part is how quick he is to accept that her death was a suicide. How did he know for sure in that moment it was a suicide? And why publicly blame her mental illness before knowing all of the facts? Why did he feel like his congregation needed to know that? And since they were estranged, shouldn't her family be the ones to announce what happened to Micah?

We weren't the only ones horrified by how glib and strange this was. Over the weekend, we got flooded with so many emails and messages from our listeners, asking us to look into this case, to put sunlight on it. So that is what we did. We dove into the sea of red flags left in the wake of Micah's death.

We will talk about that more after a quick break. Since you're listening, you already know that we're investigative journalists, so our sunlight starts with the facts. But we also advocate for a victim's first approach in our reporting and in the justice system, meaning we are also whatever the podcast version of an opinion columnist is. We do the reporting, we do the research, we FOIA for documents, we cultivate sources, we provide the context and then connect the dots and then offer our take on it. More than anything, we believe in holding law enforcement accountable to investigations

and we do not give the good old boys in our system a pass simply because they are powerful or simply because they're just doing what's always been done as so many other legacy media outlets seem to do. For instance, with stories like this one, legacy media reporters too often approach the details surrounding the narrative with the base assumption that our system is not broken. We've had a lot of experience there so our brains immediately go to scanning cases for red flags. Obviously, a weird sermon does not a murderer make. And as it turns out, the evidence shows that JP wasn't near Micah when her life ended. In fact, the evidence released by police seems to absolve JP from pulling the trigger. But we'll get there because there is more than one way to end

to life. When we took on the Murdoch murders in 2021, we were quickly and suddenly immersed in the true crime world, something neither of us were at all familiar with having backgrounds in journalism. Beyond documentaries and news shows, we really didn't know that social media has a true crime ecosystem that comes alive during these big true crime events. That ecosystem drives a host of media organizations to cover different angles of the story. From what we've learned, there are, let's say, five major pieces to this ecosystem. First, you have the victims' families who are simply trying to get answers and attention for their loved ones' cases. Second, you have the victim's families who are simply trying to get answers and attention for their loved ones' cases. Second, you have the journalists who gather facts and tell the story according to a code

of ethics that includes official sourcing, documentation, and attribution. Third, you have the uber true crime fans who stake out their territory on social media to be the first page moderators or create content related to their own reporting and research which unfortunately oftentimes turns out to be not entirely reliable, and to share their opinions about what happened. Fourth, you have the people digesting this news and this content who express their support of the victims and their families who use their own platforms to put pressure on the system to do the right thing. And lastly, you have the devil's advocate. For every person

who knee jerks into automatically believing a person is guilty of something, there's a person who knee jerks into automatically believing that a person isn't guilty of something. So all of this, the good, bad, and ugly of the true crime ecosystem came alive over the weekend and the internet all but indicted Micah's husband and information started emerging about him, his history, and his church. On Monday, the board of the church that he started, quote unquote, released JP from quote, all ministerial functions for a time of healing, counsel, and guidance pursuant to our governing instrument. What does that even mean? I'm not sure. The church took down its website after the news of Micah's death went viral. Considering that he started the church,

chances are highly unlikely that he is going to face any repercussions from that institution. unlikely that he is going to face any repercussions from that institution. Now again, the evidence provided by the Robeson County Sheriff's Office appears to show that JP did not pull the trigger that ended Micah's life. But before that evidence was released Tuesday, there was a surplus of fact and fiction being circulated that seemed to make him look like an immediate person of interest. Why? Because of the red flags that we are telling you about today. And frankly, those red flags are still telling us something, and that is that Micah's death

will not be in vain. The red flags feel like Micah is speaking to us from the grave to expose the evil that ultimately ended her. Again, evidence appears to expose the evil that ultimately ended her. Again, evidence appears to show that he did not kill her. But even so, Micah was pointing all of us in this direction for a reason. Like she knew what she was doing in leaving a powerful man was a dangerous and deadly road to walk. So she left pieces of her life for the world to see in case something happened.

Starting with her Facebook page. Underneath Micah Miller's profile picture, where she is flashing a confident, subtle smile, like a woman on a mission, a tagline reads the words, Seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. Micah68. On April 19th, eight days before her death,

Micah posted a selfie with the caption, when terrible, terrible things happen to you. Y'all know what I'm talking about. RPF, resting peace face. Hashtag still blessed, hashtag God is good. Religion played a central role in Micah's life and she posted about navigating her religion while also leaving an abusive relationship. I want to be clear here, Micah never said her husband's name in those posts.

On March 22nd, just a month before her death, Micah posted the following caption. Please share this with anyone struggling with a dangerous situation because they think God will be mad at them. Hashtag abuse awareness. Hashtag God loves you. With that, she posted a video of herself in a baseball cap and a braid. So today my heart's a little heavy. 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. Before anybody else's bride, male or female, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what gender you are the bride of Christ. And my Bible says that he took all the abuse you could think of for you so that you didn't have to live that life of slavery and bondage and pain. and pain. Jesus took it all for you. So you don't have to stay in an abusive relationship, whether that's sexual, whether that's somebody forcing you to take illegal drugs, or alcohol abuse or physical abuse, psychological abuse, making you think that this is all your fault or you're a bad mom or you're a bad wife or you're a bad husband or you're not giving it your all when you know you are. 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? So I want to remind you, like a bunch of people have been reminding me lately that I'm God's bride first and even an earthly spouse who's a good spouse when they know that their bride is being hurt.

Just imagine what an earthly spouse does. What do you think your heavenly spouse does when you're the bride of Christ and he sees his bride going through abuse and hurt? What do you think he thinks about that? So encouragement in all this is you are the bride of Christ first before anybody else's and he's got you and

he sees you and he sees you. And he loves you. This video tells us a lot about Micah. She did not want to go quietly. She wanted to use her suffering to help other women who were experiencing abuse, especially those who were taught harmful religious beliefs that trapped them in abusive marriages.

This was her way of saying it is okay to put yourself above your marriage because God truly loves you and God doesn't want you to suffer in an abusive relationship. It is important to note her estranged husband JP Miller filed a police report about this Facebook post, which we will talk about in a minute. But that gives you an idea of the kind of coercive control J.P. had over Micah Miller's life. According to court records, Micah had been in the process of divorcing J.P. since at least October 2023. But because we live in South Carolina where women are still second-class citizens and our laws are designed to make divorce difficult and

dangerous, Micah's divorce filing was dismissed by the court in February. She filed for divorce again in April and just two days before she was found dead, JP was served with divorce papers, which is another giant glaring red flag in this case. Micah was taking control. She was leaving her husband. She was entering the most dangerous period in an abusive relationship for women. But even in her death, JP still managed to take control of the narrative, or at least

he tried and it backfired deeply. Which brings us to the next red flag, Micah's obituary, which sources have said was written by J.P. and it certainly appears to be written by him. Micah Miller's obituary was written as if her husband was stomping all over her grave and continuing to taunt and torture her after her death. Despite Micah's well-documented desire to leave her husband and start a new life, her

obituary, presumptively written by her estranged husband whose photo is oddly featured in a selfie at the top of the page covers none of that. Instead, true to what we believe shows John Paul Miller's narcissistic, manipulative, and abusive personality, J.P. Miller took the opportunity to craft a narrative about Micah's life that was far from reality, starting with the third sentence of the obituary, where he lists himself first among those who are survived by her. He complimented her in some places as abusers do and stabbed her in the heart and others. Here is a sentence to give you an example. Micah was energetic, affirming, adventurous, faithful, loving, giving, forgiving, talented, joyous, creative, assertive, bold, determined,

authoritative, passionate, hard-working, a risk-taker, and so much more. Sounds nice, right? But he couldn't help himself. He is mentioned in the next sentence as if her relationship to him was her most important quality. She and JP have been friends since 2009, married in 2017, and spent most every single day and night together. Whoa, red flag. Because first of all, Micah was around 15 in 2009

and JP was around 30 and he was married to another woman. Why would he mention a detail like that in which most of society would think was really weird? And of course, that isn't even the full truth of it. In a police report in February of this year, Micah told police that she met her husband when she was just 10 years old and that he quote unquote groomed her. The National Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children defines grooming as when someone builds a relationship, trust, and emotional connection with a child or a

young person so they can manipulate, exploit, and abuse them. The fact that Micah used this term in February to describe her relationship shows how far removed she was from her own marriage at that point. It shows to me that she sought some sort of professional support to process her relationship for what it was. The obituary went on to say that she loved her dog, outdoor activities, running, and was known to take on challenges.

Then, of course, it goes again back to JP, and it gets exceedingly weird. Micah was a great stepmother and an amazing wife and helpmate. She helped Pastor J.P. with the church in every way. Micah was the worship leader, graphics designer, youth leader, women's ministry leader, and pastor's assistant. And she did all of this with the utmost integrity and faithfulness. Micah made the greatest of efforts to always be the best wife she could be.

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. Y'all, that is seven sentences in a row used in her obituary to talk about her estranged husband. Every time I read this, I get more angry for her. Even after her death, the man who allegedly groomed Micah since she was 10 years old was

still controlling her life story. It goes on, and it gets weirder when it talks about her relationships with her family in a way that feels taunting and manipulative and reeks of jealousy. Micah loved her family so much. She looked forward to every text from her father or brother. She sought every opportunity to pour into her sisters. There were thousands of nights that she would pray out loud for God to always bless and take care of her family. They were constantly on her mind. Micah wanted more than anything for each member of her family to serve Jesus continually. Micah loved her ice bath, nice car, sauna, house, etc. But more than anything on earth was her desire to see people come to Jesus.

We want you to keep this obit in mind as we go through these next two parts. Okay, so the world was hearing about Micah's strange death and JP's strange sermon afterward over this past weekend. They were hearing about Micah's marriage, former girlfriends of JP's were speaking up on Facebook, and former church members were secretly speaking out about concerns they had about what they perceived as JP's increasingly questionable conduct at church, specifically the tone of his sermons, which they say included slights against Micah and demands for more tithing. On May 2nd, less than a week after

Micah's death, her siblings stepped in. They hired attorney Jarrett Bouchette, whose name you might remember from the Murdoch case. Jarrett was one of Cousin Eddie's attorneys from the start. Jarrett helped Micah's sister Sierra file paperwork to be appointed special administrator of Micah's estate. In other words, Micah's family fought back to keep the man whom they hold at least somewhat responsible for Micah's death accountable. And they won. The court ruled in their favor. Here's why. In the affidavit, Ciara said that she and her family, with a total of six siblings, moved to Myrtle Beach in 2007. She said she was close with Micah and spoke to her and visited her

often. Then Micah's sister documented her knowledge of the abusive relationship that Micah had with JP. She put this in a legal document which gives reporters like us a trail of breadcrumbs to follow which is what we did. We'll have David read this part. that there were people following her, keeping track of where she went. She thought that Mr. Miller hired people to follow her. Mr. Miller later confirmed this during a sermon I watched. Micah confided in me that Mr. Miller was moving assets that were in his name, such as his vehicle, changing the deed to their house, to the church, transferring interest in Crocodile

Rocks to one of his sons. It should be noted that we are still coming through Miller's finances, but it appears that he was part owner of Crocodile Rocks Piano Bar in Myrtle Beach, which is an odd side gig for a preacher, but whatever. And like a lot of the men who we investigate on this podcast, JP's financial history appears to be plentiful and complicated. In the affidavit, Ciara testified to several abusive incidents in her sister's relationship that are also documented by police reports that we will discuss in a minute. Ciara said that JP Miller allegedly took control of at least one of her social media accounts and allegedly took the evidence that Micah was planning to use against him in the divorce proceeding,

while Micah was hospitalized at a mental health facility in February. Ciara said that Micah had big plans for her life after her divorce. She wanted to move to Kenya and even ship some of her items over there in preparation for that. The affidavit just screams, I don't believe my sister killed herself and here is why. And Ciara's affidavit is backed up with convincing evidence. But perhaps most concerning is this part of the affidavit I will have David read. ended up with a bullet in my head. It was not by me. It was J.P." Micah forwarded a family group text message notifying us that Mr. Miller was served the divorce papers on April 25, 2024. On April 27th, 2024, my sister, Micah A. Miller, was found dead as a result of a gunshot wound.

There's a lot contained in that affidavit, but I want to repeat this part. If I end up with a bullet in my head, it was not by me, It was JP." Micah's sister knows that Micah can no longer speak for herself, so she stepped up and bravely put all of this in a legal document. And so did Micah's brother. We'll be right back. Micah's brother, Nathaniel, also filed an affidavit in support of Sierra's appointment, a special administrator for Micah's estate. In his affidavit, he talks about how he was a member of JP's church but left the congregation because of behaviors he observed. Nathaniel said that Micah had confided in him that JP moved her belongings to another woman's residence so that he could quote,

keep an eye on her. He said that JP told him he didn't know of any reason there should be a divorce. And he talked about an April email from JP to Micah in which JP said he was angry quote, when Micah confided or quote, put her family before him and that made him want to hurt her quote in his words, when someone hurts me, I try to hurt them back rather than forgive and instead of me forgiving you, I just attack and cause pain. Nathaniel said that Micah had told him on numerous occasions that she was scared of JP and quote,

just wanted to escape him. He also mentions several police reports that were made over the previous few weeks. Let's talk about those reports. On Monday, we had Beth Braid in Foyah, the Myrtle Beach Police Department, for every police report mentioning JP's or Micah's names. Also, she asked for every call to service made to the couple's home and or Micah's names. Also, she asked for every call to service made to the couple's home and to Micah's apartment. These reports not only supported the things Micah's siblings attested to in their affidavits, they made her obituary seem that much more cruel. We'll explain why, but let's do a quick criminal history on Pastor JP Miller. why, but let's do a quick criminal history on Pastor JP Miller.

According to a news report from the time in 1998, JP was arrested and charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature for using his vehicle at a quote high rate of speed to run over a woman twice. And that is all the information we have on that, which is weird. A police blotter item like that usually would result in an editor assigning the bigger story there because, excuse me, a woman was run over with a car at a high rate of speed twice and it's not an attempted murder charge? Okay, let me stop real quick because I know South Carolina's bevy of attorneys is already halfway to their keyboard to message us about that.

South Carolina didn't have an attempted murder charge until 2010. Before that, it was assault and battery with intent to kill. Intent is obviously always going to be up for debate, but nevertheless, it was a charge available at the time, but not one given to JP for what he did. And I say did because he pleaded guilty to it. And don't get me wrong, a salt and battery of a high and aggravated nature is a very serious charge.

It means there was significant bodily injury. Anyway, there was no bigger story that we could find. And this is the part where we wanna note that JP's father, the Reverend Reginald Wayne Miller was also a pastor at that time. He started his own church in the early 1970s and man did they advertise in the paper regularly. If you do an archive search of news reports about the church at that time, the majority is advertising for new church members and news about the

Reverend's Bible College, the Cathedral Bible College, which he started. Not to get off track here, but it's worth mentioning that JP's father pleaded guilty to indecent exposure in 2006 when he was accused of following an undercover officer into a bathhouse and taking off his pants before asking the mail officer what he was into. The reverend was allowed to complete pretrial intervention on that one and the charge was later expunged. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to having 16 foreign students who came to South Carolina to attend his Bible college work for him for little to no money, while holding their visas over their heads and threatening to go into the system to mess with their immigration status. According to a letter the Reverend wrote to the judge in 2017 asking for his supervisor released and a year early,

he spent nearly four months in prison, 14 months awaiting sentencing, 12 months of house arrest, gave 500 hours of community service and, check out the wording on this next part, quote, arranged for $70,000 to be paid according to the court decree, plus one year of probation and one year of supervised release. We'll share the warrant in this case on Discord for premium members. The good reverend was not only accused of engaging in what was for all intents and purposes slave labor at his Bible college,

he was ordered to take anger management classes because his victims recounted his bouts with rage. Okay, back to JP. According to the public index, he pleaded guilty and received a four-year suspended sentence plus three years probation. As our Cup of Justice co-host attorney Eric Bland said when we told him that, that's a great result. Meaning, that's a very lenient sentence for JP. Now, he was 19 at the time, so maybe that's why. So JP goes 22 years living as a felon, meaning he can't vote and can't purchase or own a firearm. Until October 2021, when he applied to

the South Carolina Pardon Board to have his rights restored, we had Beth ask the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services for JP's application. Here's David with what JP said was his reason for wanting his rights to be restored. I am seeking a pardon to restore my civil liberties in the community that I serve daily as a husband, father, and pastor, the right and ability to protect my wife and children as well as my congregation is imperative. Now before Tuesday afternoon, when Robeson County Sheriff's Office released its evidence showing why they believe Micah did in fact kill herself. This is what the world had. A bizarre sermon. A video from Micah talking about abuse. An affidavit showing her family was intervening with her state

because Micah feared for her life at the time of her death. An obituary that reads like Regina George from Mean Girls wrote it. The knowledge that JP's criminal history includes violence against women and his application for a pardon, which, though it doesn't say it explicitly, seems like the sole reason listed is to obtain a firearm. Plus, there were bits and pieces from his sermons being circulated where he spoke poorly of Micah and of women in general using violent imagery. In one sermon, he told his flock that women talking about their marital problems with friends is the demon in them. He said that he looked in

Micah's phone and saw that 18 people had reached out to her to say if she ever needed to talk about her husband, they would keep it confidential. He talked about wanting to shoot someone with a bazooka using the example of, did you intentionally wear those shoes with that dress? And he talked about praying to God for money and to get a quote, hot wife who loves Jesus. In the meantime, a woman purporting to be a former girlfriend of JP's who said she was 14 at the time and he was 19, put a pin in that one for a second. Posted online that JP was a philanderer and very into state and national parks. So again, there was a circus occurring with people on Facebook and TikTok believing that

there was a path that was going to take the police straight to JP. And as disturbing as social media circuses are, I think you can see what they were seeing. Okay, back to the police reports. The first one we want to talk about is perplexing. Even though we submitted our FOIA request for reports to Myrtle Beach Police, it appears the same reports we received were also released to other media on Wednesday. In our FOIA request, we asked for calls to service and reports involving JP's church, of which only a few were included, but all of those seemed to involve either him by name

or by reference to the pastor, with his name redacted. They certainly don't appear to be the sum total of what we might expect when asking for calls to service to sum total of what we might expect when asking for calls to service to a church of that size. When Beth Braden asked Myrtle Beach Police a question that we had, she was told quote, I sent you all the incident and CAD reports that we have for the two of them. You can read them and see if any say anything about that. That made us realize that the FOIA that we got back appears to only be for reports that mention Micah and JP by name in some

capacity and not for calls to service to the church itself. I note this because I don't know why this report was included. It is not clear how it is connected to JP or Micah directly in the way that Myrtle Beach seems to think the FOIA release is because so much of that report is either redacted or not included. Here's what it says. In August 2022, police wrote a report in reference to something that allegedly happened at JP's church.

The victim's information is redacted, and so is the person of interest information. The report states that a caller from New Jersey said that she had received lewd text messages and photos from the offender and that she received a video call from the offender while he was performing an obscene act. The officer spoke to this unknown offender who stated he was in Myrtle Beach during the time of the video call. And that was it. The investigation is still listed as active. Another report that is merely interesting. In April 2023, JP was cited for driving through a grass median, changing lanes multiple times without signaling and going 70 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour speed limit. Not sure what was going on there, but that seems extra.

A year later, three days after Micah's body was found, the Myrtle Beach Police Department was called to Micah's apartment by JP. According to the report, he, quote, stated that his wife passed away and that he was trying to get her belongings out of the apartment, but that leasing manager wouldn't let him do it due to her not liking him.

The report notes that a redacted person's name was given an indefinite warning for the entire complex and that, quote, the male moved along with no issues. This is a good time to tell you how absolutely inconsistent South Carolina law enforcement agencies can be when it comes to what they choose to redact. In this stack of reports we got from Myrtle Beach PD, it is sometimes hard to tell who the victim is and who the complainant is because of the strange redaction. Police are allowed to redact personal information such as birth dates and social security numbers in the names of minors and information related to active investigations that can compromise the investigation if

released. Information that is generally pertinent to the report such as the name of the person who was warned against returning to Micah's apartment complex after her death would most likely not be redacted. But alas. Alright, as they relate to Micah, let's talk about a report that she made on February 21st of this year. I also want to note that when we say Micah was 30, she had just turned 30 before her death.

In February, she was still 29 years old. Micah called police to tell them that her car had been stolen. She had been separated from her husband since January 2023. Quick note that I wanna mention, the timeline of Micah's divorce and separation seems to start in October 2023, according to court documents.

But like with any failing relationship, particularly one with significant age difference and power differential, the timeline has some hiccups in terms of their back and forth. Remember, Micah was dealing with abuse and a pastor husband who had members of his flock backing him up. Plus, he was a devout Christian

and highly concerned about all that entails. Anyway, on February 21st, Micah told police that she was involuntarily hospitalized earlier in the month, on February 8th. She was released two days later. Now, it is not clear why she was hospitalized. It is not clear how that hospitalization came to pass. Who brought her to the hospital?

But we do know this. It happened in a Walmart parking lot and the police were not involved. Beth called over to the Myrtle Beach Police Department and they have no record of anything other than a traffic-related incident happening in that location. Additionally, as we told you earlier, Micah's sister said that when Micah came back from the hospital, she found all of her evidence of JP's alleged abuse and bad behavior had been destroyed. According to Micah's sister, JP was using Micah's accounts to message others as Micah those few days. According to the police report, when Micah was taken to message others as Micah those few days. According to the police report,

when Micah was taken to the mental hospital involuntarily, again, by who, we don't know, her 2019 Silver Honda Accord was left in the parking lot of Walmart. You might notice that a Silver Honda Accord is different from the black Civic that she was driving on the day of her death. And you might also recall that strange line from her obit that referred to her nice car.

We have seen a few unconfirmed reports that claim Solid Rock Church owns several cars. We plan on combing through all of the church's assets in a later episode. According to the police report, hospital staff told Micah when she was discharged that her husband had come to get her purse and her car keys when she was hospitalized. She said that she returned to the parking lot and discovered the vehicle was gone. She told police that she believed that JP had quote, fraudulently initiated her involuntary hospitalization and stole her car while she was in the hospital.

Now this next part is going to be difficult to hear but at the core of everything. Quote, Complaint stated that she has known her husband since she was 10 years old and that he quote groomed her while she worked for him at Solid Rock Church. That is the police report I was mentioning earlier. She knew enough to get that word on an official document. According to the police report, an officer called JP and JP told them that he and Micah were not legally separated and that Micah suffers from quote mental health disorders. JP told police that Micah experiences quote episodes on an annual basis around Christmas time. Does that sound familiar?

He said that this is when she quote becomes reckless and spends large amounts of money and she stops taking her prescribed medication. He told the officer that he had Micah's car and that he had to prevent her from selling it during that episode. He pointed out to the officer that the car was joint marital property and that he was not going to give it back to Micah for a month because of how long those quote, reckless episodes last. The officer ends his report by saying that his hands were tied because the car belonged to both JP and Micah.

I cannot imagine how diffused and devastated Micah felt in that moment. At every turn, he reminded her how hard her life would be if she chose to go through with the divorce. Now let's talk about a report that was made on March 14th. A GPS tracker was found under the chassis of a blue Volkswagen Jetta owned by, according to the redacted report, an 80-year-old woman. It doesn't give a name.

Before officers arrived at Micah's apartment complex, Micah and or her brother had removed the tracker, apparently leaving handprints in the area where they removed it, which the officer noted. According to the report, Micah and her brother were the only drivers of the car, so it appears that Micah might have been using a neighbor's car or maybe another family member's car and it ended up with a tracker on it. No mention was made in the report of who Micah or the victim believed to have placed the tracker. The report does note that no one knew when the tracker was placed and there's no note indicating whether police took the tracker into evidence. Then on March 26, just 12 days later

and just over a month before Micah's death, Micah called police to her apartment and told them she found a GPS tracker on her black Honda Civic and she believed it to be her quote soon-to-be ex-husband who put it there. The tracking device was collected as evidence, according to the report. The next day, JP called police to tell them that Micah and her family were harassing him by text and on social media. But he was unable to offer the officer any evidence of this alleged harassment, according to the report. The report notes that JP had no text or any example of getting harassed on social media. What JP claimed to be harassment was actually the video of Micah when she spoke about abuse in which his name was not even mentioned. We're pleasantly surprised to read that police sent JP packing and didn't try to mess with

Micah over this, at least not what it seems like from the report. On April 8th, less than 20 days before Micah's death, she called police to report that JPE had posted a nude photo of her on a Facebook page called Big Boobs and Nice Curves and tagged her old Facebook account that he had access to. According to the report, Micah told police that she had taken the photo of herself for her husband six months earlier and that her husband was the only person she ever sent photos like that to. Because her nipple was blurred out in the photo, police said that the photo did not meet South Carolina's code of law for nudity and that because the photo was posted anonymously,

there was nothing they could do. The report ended with the officer's note that he advised Micah that once a photo is sent, the person who the photo was sent to is now the owner of the photo. I am not sure that would withstand the test of copyright law, but the bottom line was that they told her that there was nothing they could do about it. It is so hard to read that because when we do our minds start racing. Is there a resource out there for women that could have helped in this case? Because this had to have been humiliating and devastating for Micah and obviously we know she's not the only one who experiences things like this.

Could someone have subpoenaed Facebook for an IP address of whoever posted the photo? Could someone have helped her retrieve her old Facebook account so that he couldn't have access to it anymore? If you're an IT person and you're looking for a volunteer opportunity, maybe consider offering your services for free to women who need help regaining their digital footprint from their alleged abuser. On April 15th, the police are again called to Micah's apartment. Another tracker was found on Micah's black Honda Civic and she wanted police to take it as evidence. This time police did not take it as evidence according to the report because quote, the two are still legally married. So these police reports, they were made

available to us on Wednesday and they give us a brief look at what Micah's life was looking like leading up to her death. On Tuesday before the Sheriff's Office released its evidence in the case, all the public had to go on was most of what we just told you, plus an uncountable number of tidbits about JP, his father, and their churches, as well as stories pur number of tidbits about JP, his father, and their churches, as well as stories purporting to be about JP's former relationships. And that makes sense. When there's an information vacuum, people tend to fill it. And information was spilling in. We're only sharing facts that we can substantiate here, but we heard all sorts of things from

private planes being used, accusations of embezzlement, stories about sexual abuse, strange real estate transactions. Additionally, a man came forward on Facebook to say he was fishing near where Micah killed herself at the time of her death and heard the gunshot. Turns out he was real, according to the report published by Robeson County Sheriff's Office, which we're very used to seeing half-assed police work and we have to commend the Sheriff's Office for their well-written and thorough press release along with their helpful PowerPoint presentation. According to deputies, Micah was seen via ring camera leaving her apartment at 10.13 a.m. on the day she died and returning at 11.

She was wearing a black hat, sunglasses, a gray sweatshirt, a backpack, and holding a water bottle. When she returned, she was carrying a white paper bag and seemed to also be holding a frappuccino type drink. Her hair is in a loose ponytail. At 11 38, Micah leaves her apartment again. This time her hair is in a single braid. She's wearing sunglasses and a backpack and is dressed in all black. She left her apartment and then drove to a place called Dick's Pawn Shop, which she apparently searched on her phone before going. She's shown entering the store at 12 12 p.m. At 12 13, she's at the cash register purchasing a nine millimeter Sig Sauer and ammo. The total purchase cost $571.16.

It's not entirely clear, but the receipt deputies provided that they found in her car seems to show that Micah paid for the gun in cash or the gun was already paid for when she got there. In the security video at the pawn shop, Micah has her glasses on top of her head and looks serious in one still shot, but then appears to be smiling in another. She has almost a Lara Croft look, akin to the kind of outfit one might wear if going to a lesson on how to shoot a gun. It's hard to tell if she looks resigned or resolute. Perhaps she was both. Was she simply going through the motions of her plan

or was it something else altogether? According to deputies, Micah left the store at 12.34 p.m. It took her 22 minutes to obtain the tool she would use to end her life. From here, the timeline goes very quickly. Micah seemed to be moving fast. A lot of listeners have wondered about why Micah's stint in the mental hospital wouldn't have flagged her in a background check at the pawn shop. We don't have an

answer for that. We don't know if Micah initiated the purchase on that day or was simply picking up the gun on that day, and we don't know how she answered questions on her background check forum. After Micah left the pawn shop, she stopped at 41 Grocery and Grill in Mullins, South Carolina. Mullins is on the way to I-95 from Myrtle Beach. It was about a 54-minute drive for Micah, according to deputies. Micah arrived at the gas station at 1.27pm. According to deputies, she got gas and a drink. Photos show that there was still an open can of an energy drink in the console of her car when police arrived. According to a receipt found in the car, Micah charged $25 at the gas station at 1.33pm. Whether that was $25 in gas or $25 in gas and the drink is not clear. But, and we know it's really hard to analyze

the actions of people who take their lives and the lead up to taking their own lives. The question has to be asked, why get that much in gas? That's potentially over seven gallons of gas or more than half the capacity of the gas tank on her Civic. Oram, where Micah died, was only 30 miles from the gas station. Deputies say that Micah searched her phone to find national parks near me. As you know, she was found in a state park. Again, it's not clear why she chose the spot if it held any meaning for her. According to deputies, Micah got to the park and walked a mile to the spot where her body was found. At 2.54, she made her call to 911. As part of their investigation, deputies looked into JP's movements. According to their

report and automated license plate readers showing a pickup truck with heavily tinted windows as well as an unnamed eyewitness statement. JP was in Charleston on the night before Micah died and did not return to Myrtle Beach until 2 22 p.m. the day she died. According to the report JP was also traveling with unnamed individuals. So yes, the evidence presented by police so far seems to solidly point to Micah ending her own life. But at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, it is also fair to say that it is not entirely impossible for Micah to have been killed by someone else, based on the evidence shared by the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. We are not saying that she was murdered. We

are saying there are still unanswered questions here. Was there a note? Why call 911 when she also appears to have dropped a location pin, according to the report. Why did she get what seems like to be a half tank of gas? Why did she smile like that at the pawn shop? Why go through the trouble of divorce filings and shipping items to Kenya? Has the 911 call been analyzed to be certain that it was not produced by AI software

that allows for deep fakes. Have her calls and messages been looked at to see if she was corresponding with anyone that day in the days leading up to the day that she died? What about the other cell phone evidence? The kind that usually takes months to get from cell phone companies? The kind that can show deleted phone calls, texts, etc. And what about her social media accounts? What about JP's phone data and accounts?

We know where JP's truck was on the day of the murders, but what about him? Are there any witnesses who were not church members confirming that he was far away from Micah that entire day. Is it possible that she had plans on meeting someone at a secluded park to learn how to shoot a gun? Could she have forgotten the name of the park, which is why she Googled it? Was her phone unlocked when police got a hold of it?

Did someone unlock it? I know how we sound when we ask these questions. It feels necessary to ask them considering the amount of circumstantial evidence pointing away from suicide, at least for now, because we are still dealing with a system where abused women are at a heavy disadvantage. We didn't know Micah, but we feel like we owe it to her to look at this from all angles.

We have foyered for the investigation and we will continue to foy for more documents and talk to sources so we can get a better picture of what went down. Please reach out to us if you have information on this story. We are still pulling at a lot of strings. Micah's story is a heartbreaking one.

Did she take her own life to escape the hell that she felt awaited her? Did she believe her estranged husband would never let her go? Or was something else happening? Micah's story is one that has really captured people's attention because it details how painfully

hard it is for women in this country to leave their abusers and how little accountability abusers face in our current justice system. Every time I have looked at Twitter in the past three days, I have read different women's survival stories that are being shared in response to what happened to Micah. Micah's story could be a watershed moment for survivors of abuse to change the justice system. Now that they have ruled her death a suicide, are we going to choose to pack up and move onto the next hot story in the true crime world? Or are we going to choose to do something about it? Every time I look at Twitter, I see more women who survived abusive relationships telling

their stories of how the system failed them in light of what happened to Micah. This could be a system shifting moment for women. We are going to end this episode by playing the 911 call that deputies say Micah made right before ending her life. It is very difficult to listen to knowing that a person is about to die, knowing that a life is about to be gone forever. Robertson County 911, what's the address of your emergency? Hi. Are you able to trace the location of my phone? Um, let me see. You don't know where you're at?

At National Park. What's the phone number you're calling me from? 843-655-5242. Um, I'm sorry. What's the phone number you're calling me from? 843-655-5242. Um, where's the park located at? In Fairblough. Let's see. I have my location on, I think, on my phone.

Find my phone is on. I just did my location. Okay, I'm showing...hold on one second. I don't think you are in Robeson County. Are you at the Lumber River State Park? Yeah, that's where I am. Okay, tell me what's happened. I'm about to kill myself and I just want my family to know where to find me. Okay ma'am, just listen to what I'm saying, okay? Let me make sure I got the exact location where you're at, okay? Just one minute. Like Micah's story, the 911 call ends just like that, abruptly, and like a punch to the gut that you can't turn away from.

We aren't turning away, Micah. We see you. We hear you. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. True Sunlight is a Lunashark production created by me, Mandy Matney, and co-hosted by journalist Liz Farrell. Learn more about our mission and membership at lunasharkmedia.com. Interruptions provided by Luna and Joe Pesky.

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