Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #51 - What Happened To Mica Miller? Best Friend Gives Haunting Details Of Abusive Relationship

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

Before South Carolina pastor’s wife Mica Miller was found dead in a North Carolina state park at the end of April, her best friend tried to get church officials to step in and do something about Pastor JP Miller’s “volatile” behavior toward Mica. They admitted seeing it too … but they did nothing. Investigative journalists Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell continue to look into what Mica’s life looked like leading up to her suicide. In this episode, Mica’s best friend speaks out about what she saw happening in her friend’s marriage — from a November 2022 blow-up in which JP’s friendly mask came off to Mica’s attempts to escape from his control to JP’s continued attempts to control the narrative — and about Mica’s frame of mind as she started to gain independence from him. One thing is for sure: Mica was a beloved member of JP’s church and when she filed for divorce two days before her death, the thing he feared the most — that Mica would leave him and cause a split in his congregation — was about to happen. 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

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I don't know exactly how Micah Miller's life ended, but I know it is important to take a closer look at her life, the relationship she was trying to escape from and the bizarre details surrounding her death before jumping to conclusions. 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 Lunashark production written with journalist Liz Farrell. ["The Last Supper"] Last week, as the Micah Miller story was exploding, I felt like I was treading water. It hit me how much the true crime landscape has changed since 2021. TikTokers and YouTube are out scooping journalists. They're filing FOIA requests and working with attorneys in the way that we did in the Murdoch story. Legacy news outlets are being outpaced and outworked, especially by up-and-coming media like News Nation.

The old media editorial process that typically includes more than one person to check the story for airs and legal matters. That just can't keep up with the pace of the 24-7 social media true crime obsession that is happening today. The constant flow of information becomes dizzying and hard to sort fact from fiction. And the explosion of AI only makes things more confusing and complex. But as much as things change, some stay the same. In a complicated story like Micah's, one source close to the situation

can change everything for a journalist. Without sources close to the fire, it is merely a guessing game. It's like putting pieces of a puzzle together without knowing what the full picture actually looks like. Sure, FOIA requests, social media deep dives, criminal records, tax records, and lawsuits can paint a decent picture of the story. But sources connect the dots, add the color, and make the picture complete. Last Thursday night, that special source in this case serendipitously landed in my inbox. The email was titled, Micah Miller and JP I Know Too Much To Be Quiet, sent by one of Micah Miller's best friends, Charlotte Korn. Charlotte had listened to our episode last week on Micah, and she said that she appreciated

our gentle, fact-based, victim-focused approach, and she decided that she wanted to tell us everything that she knows. We will hear from Charlotte in a minute, but I wanna take this moment to thank the brave people like Charlotte for sticking their necks out to help share Micah's story with the world. Stories like this one take a village before we see accountability.

We learned that in Murdoch. And before we get into it, I wanted to do a quick update on the Michael Colucci case which was supposed to be held this week. As we told you last week, the case got postponed because court wasn't available for the trial to extend past a week. The trial still has not been scheduled. We will keep asking and we will update you on social media as soon as we know. Before I joined Mandy's podcast in November 2021, I worked for the Sheriff's Office for just over a year. During that time, I visited a death scene, which was also a crime scene. A man's body

had been stuffed inside of a suitcase and whoever had done that also attempted to burn the whole thing and the man and the suitcase were left in a parking lot by a church. The area was cordoned off by two sets of tape. I obviously didn't go inside the inner set where the body was, but I was really there to answer questions from the public, from onlookers, which included family members of a man who had been missing for some time. And that was really hard. That made me really understand why some members of law enforcement get steely when they're on the job because a lot of this is incredibly heavy stuff. But in addition to

it being heavy, it was just really sad. I could really and truly feel the darkness of whatever had happened there. It unsettled my soul in a way that's just very difficult to explain and that feeling lingered. That is how I feel about this story. It's unsettling in a way that neither Mandy nor I can explain but we both feel. There's just a darkness here. And that darkness is felt over and over with each new development. For instance, last week, after our last episode aired, one of John Paul Miller's attorneys, a man named Russell B. Long, issued a press release on his behalf. And we all get to see the world through Micah Miller's eyes. We all get to see a sample

of the sort of boot-on-her-neck pressure she might have been feeling at the time of her death. The statement was menacing and whiny, bullying and full of threats. And not just like basic threats, you guys, he drilled down. Here's David with a particularly chilling section. David We hereby demand that all individuals and media outlets cease and desist from perpetuating these harmful falsehoods. Any further dissemination of defamatory and libelous statements will be met with legal action. A complete inventory of these defamatory and libelous statements has been conducted. Those that have, to date, violated Pastor Miller's right to live in peace and to mourn

the passing of his wife respectfully will be held accountable. Those that choose to allow any previously posted or published false statements about Pastor Miller to remain in the public domain can expect to be served with civil litigation against them individually, and when appropriate, their media organizations and managerial supervisors can expect the same. Talk about the wrath of a God complex, right? Now like we told you last week, JP was all but labeled a murderer by some content creators on social media. So we totally get why he's salty about that. But also it's clear from the rest of the press release and how he was sort of lumping media together with those content creators. He doesn't seem to understand

that expressing opinions isn't defamation, neither is restating what's in a police report. It's called reporting what a police agency, which is a public resource that the public pays for, wrote down about the times they were called into service for incidents involving JP and or Micah. JP can't change the fact that several accusations were made about him in the lead up to Micah's death. In the release, JP's attorney denies that Micah was groomed by JP when she was 10.

He goes on to qualify that by saying that JP didn't even meet Micah until she was 15, which, like Mandy said on Twitter, we're not sure that's the argument you want to make when you're being accused of predatory behavior. On News Nation this week, Micah's sister Ciara clarified that point, by the way. A Myrtle Beach police officer had written in his report that Micah said that JP had been grooming her since she was 10, but that couldn't have been true because Micah hadn't moved to Myrtle Beach at that point. Sierra guessed that Micah had told the officer that JP had been grooming

her since 2010 when she would have been 15 or 16. Regardless of Micah's age, the accusation still stands. She believed that her husband, the man who appears to have been stalking her in the lead up to her death, had groomed her. Remember, he was around 30 when he met Micah. He was also the owner of a church and the pastor of his congregation. He held a lot of power and continues to hold a lot of power. In using the word grooming, it's not clear whether Mike meant that their relationship was sexual at that time though. There's obviously a sexual connotation when you use the word grooming in reference to an adult man in a power position and a teenage girl,

but no accusation has been made of JP crossing that line with her back then that we know of. It's also worth noting that JP was later the officiant in Micah's first marriage when she was 18 years old. Micah was also the babysitter for JP's kids. JP has five kids, by the way. One he had when he was in high school and four from his first marriage. You'll hear more about all of this in a minute along with how he allegedly weaponized Micah's desire for children of her own. So JP's press release. It was something to behold. It was meant to strike the fear of God or a God complex into the hearts of anyone who dared to continue to cover this story. It was meant to silence people. Luckily, it has achieved neither. Reporters are still reporting and church members and former

friends of Micah, people who unfortunately are blaming themselves for not speaking out sooner, are continuing to come forward. What makes this case so difficult is that it's really, really hard to reconcile some of the facts that have come out. And it's really hard to understand where Micah's head was that day. When questions started to arise about JP's whereabouts at the time of Micah's death, Robeson County Sheriff's Office hopped to it to clear JP's name. They seem to have gone the extra mile. They put together a tidy PowerPoint presentation and published a very detailed press release of everything that led them to believe that Micah had killed herself. Now remember, from the 911 call forward, police had every reason to

initially believe they were dealing with a suicide. Robeson County Sheriff's Office isn't in South Carolina, so when they searched for Micah's name in their system, they weren't going to immediately see all the accusations that were in Myrtle Beach's system. Instead, they were given a road map of sorts. Micah's call telling them that she was going to kill herself, the receipt for the gun in the car, the receipt for the gas. They were able to use those and the license plate on the car she was driving to trace her steps. And they were able to use JP's license plate and unnamed witness reports that JP was in Charleston on Friday night and through Saturday afternoon, the day Micah killed herself. According to investigators, JP arrived home in Myrtle Beach about 30 minutes before Micah's strange phone call to the Sheriff's Office

in North Carolina. And again, Micah was in a state that was not her own. Investigators would not have immediate access to information about her divorce and therefore immediately begin to suspect potential for foul play. Everything seems super neat, right? Packaged up perfectly. But then you start to see the weird stuff. Such as the medical examiner, Dr. Richard Johnson, the man who told ABC 15 News that quote, based on the nature of Micah's wound, it was consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. We're not clear on how the nature of a wound would be in and of itself indicative of a suicide without the other context guiding him in that direction, but that's not even

the weird part. ABC15 also reported that Dr. Johnson told them he wasn't the on-call medical examiner that weekend. He went to assist the on-call medical examiner. It's not clear why that came up in the reporting or why he went to the scene. Was he asked to go? Did he go on his own? Was the other medical examiner inexperienced and needed his help? Did the other medical examiner think that maybe this didn't look so clear-cut and they wanted a second opinion?

I hate how I sound when I ask those questions, but that's what happens when you feel like you can't fully trust that a victim's truth, that their narrative of what was happening in their lives at the time hasn't gotten totally twisted and trampled on. This is what happens when you feel like law enforcement isn't honoring the central truth of a person's existence in the moment their life had been taken from them, whether by themselves or by someone else. This is what happens when you sense that the prevailing narrative has been accepted as fact simply because the person offering that narrative has the most power in the equation. Last week, we mentioned that it doesn't appear

that the Sheriff's Office considered the possibility of Micah's phone call to 911 being a deep fake, as in produced by artificial intelligence, AI. Again, it sounds crazy to say that. I know. I get it. But it was an odd call. Micah was supposedly by the water at that point. Yet, there doesn't seem to be any background noise. How many times have you been out in nature and taken a call where the person on the other end is like, where are you? There are also a few long gaps of silence in that call. There was no

nervous chit-chat. Micah's voice was emotionless and steady, almost disjointed or staccato sounding. And the call was cut short once a dispatcher tried to green more information. Does that mean anything? Maybe not. But also, who knows? And frankly, all indications are that Micah was a planner and intentional with every move. She was also incredibly considerate of those she loved, as her best friend Charlotte will tell us about in a moment. She was also incredibly considerate of those she loved, as her best friend Charlotte will tell us about in a moment. She is someone who would have had a meaningful spot picked out, a note for her family,

and a pen dropped to a loved one's phone at that last minute. Obviously, it is hard to put ourselves inside Micah's head at that moment though. Did she randomly pick this spot, then worry that she would never be found because of how random it was? Did she worry that dropping a pin would mean her loved ones would come and try to find her themselves and she didn't want that to happen?

Regardless, given what investigators would later learn about Micah's life, it is worth a check, right? It's worth a consideration. Was this Micah on the phone, or was this a call produced by AI somehow? It is going to be a thing that police are going to have to consider moving forward in their cases, because we are literally in the future of robots as we speak.

Oh, and AI specifically becomes a consideration when you find out that one of JP's attorneys, a man named Thomas Winslow, the same attorney who drew up Power of Attorney documents, allowing JP to have control over Micah when she was involuntarily hospitalized in a mental institution, Power of attorney documents that were drawn up and weren't filed for two years until this past March that he at least has a passing interest in AI, according to his blog anyway. His blog covers all sorts of hot topics,

including a less than compelling piece about social media and defamation, which he published this week. Huh, wonder why. Three blog entries in the last year have to do with AI, including one titled, Man Ends Own Life Due to AI Encouragement. As he notes in that blog, if suicide is a serious issue, so serious that we have laws that create a felony if you encourage it,

then what are we going to do when AI encourages death as a solution? Who is responsible for that death? Obviously, I am not suggesting that the lawyer had anything to do with Micah's call. I'm simply pointing out that AI is on people's minds. So us asking whether the Sheriff's Office considered this as a possibility is not as crazy as it sounds. Could someone have used AI to clone Micah's voice from the many videos she posted online so that there was a record of her wanting to kill herself in that moment? That is a question that we are asking.

Now, another thing that doesn't add up is why she went to the pawn shop that day. According to a source close to the situation, Micah was scheduled to work at noon that day that she died. She was a waitress at a restaurant called J.P. Peters in Carolina Forest. She left her house at 1138, which is around the time when she would have normally left for work.

Dick's pawn shop, where she's on camera buying the gun she used to kill herself, is on the way to the restaurant. Now, there are a couple weird things here. One is that one of the still shots pulled from surveillance video at the pawn shop shows Micah's right hand, where there should be a tattoo of two crosses, but there doesn't appear to be any tattoos on that hand.

Now it is entirely possible this is due to some fluke of lighting or the angle of her hand or the graininess of the camera not picking up detail. But it is worth noting. It's just another weird thing that we can't really make immediate sense of. In addition to that is the fact that Micah is wearing all black. It appears like she is dressed for work and had the intention of going there right up until she went to the pawn shop at the last minute. Police even found a sandwich in a Ziploc bag in the passenger seat of the car, meaning it looks like she packed herself a lunch.

Also, she stopped at a gas station to get what amounted to more than a half a tank of gas to drive just 30 miles. Could that be a miscalculation on her part? Or could it be that she maybe just didn't care at that point? Maybe she just picked a round number, gave me $25 in gas, and went with it. But the question is still, what made her keep driving past her workplace? What made her head north to a random state park that, according to her father in a News Nation interview, she had no attachment

to. It was a place that held no special meaning for her. What happened in the lead up to her death that day? We told you about what was happening in the days, weeks, and months before that, and we have even more insight to that now, which we will share in a second. But what was happening in that moment when she decided to change the plan for her day? Because it seems like she left her apartment with the intention of going straight to work. And we will be right back. Investing in your future often gets put off because it doesn't seem urgent. But time flies if you want to enjoy the comforts of life later down the line.

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Brokerage services are provided to clients of Acorns by Acorns Securities LLC. Member F-I-N-R-A slash C-I-P-C. For more information, visit acorns.com. This episode of True Sunlight is brought to you in part by Wild Grain. Wild Grain is the first ever Bake from Frozen subscription box for sourdough breads, fresh pastas, and artisanal pastries. And wow, y'all, it is so good. Every item bakes from frozen in 25 minutes or less. No thawing required. And you can now fully customize your Wild Grain box

so you can get any combination of breads, pastas and pastries that you like. For our most recent box, we selected the Bavarian pretzel buns, the fresh rigatoni, and the sourdough rosemary garlic loaf, all spectacularly good. For a limited time, you can get $30 off the first box,

plus free croissants in every box. When you go to wildgrain.com slash mandy to start your subscription. You heard me, free croissants in every box. And $30 off your first box when you go to wildgrain.com slash mandy. That's wildgrain.com slash mandy. Or you can use promo code Mandy at checkout. Now, another little weird thing is that according to the Horry County property tax database, Micah owned two cars, or at least had two cars in her name at the time of her death. The database shows the last four digits of the VIN numbers of these cars.

One is a 2014 Honda, which we believe to be a CRV, according to the model number in the database. That car had a VIN with the last four digits 9668. At the time of her death, Micah owed $132.16 in taxes on that car, which were due in June. The other car is a 2019 Honda with the last four digits of 7697. She owed $232.92 in taxes on that car. And tell me this isn't odd, appears to have paid those taxes the day before her death. The taxes were more than four

months overdue. So the day before she died, the long overdue taxes were suddenly paid on one of her cars. Here's the even weirder thing. The black Honda Civic she was driving on the day of her death had a VIN with the last four digits 6236, meaning it appears to be a different car from the ones the county believes she owned. According to police reports from the Myrtle Beach Police Department, this is the same car she was driving on April 15th when she discovered that another tracker had been placed on her vehicle. As you know from last week, Micah was driving a 2019 silver Honda Accord when she said JP had taken her to a mental hospital against her will in February 2024.

That car was left in a Walmart parking lot raising the question of how did Micah get taken to the mental hospital and what precipitated that. Again, we asked Myrtle Beach Police for more information about that and they said the only call for service they had to that parking lot that day was traffic related. So did someone help JP take Micah to the hospital and if so has that person ever been questioned by investigators? That said, when Micah tried to get the car back two days later, it was gone. According to police reports, JP admitted to taking it and said that he had planned to keep it for two months until his wife's so-called psychotic episode was over. What's frustrating about this is that Micah had told the officer that she was separated from her husband and going through a divorce.

J.P. told the officer that this was not the case and he said that he was afraid Micah would sell the car. What J.P. didn't tell police is that this car appears to have been in Micah's name only. According to the Horry County Property Tax Database, J.P. doesn't seem to have any cars or trucks registered to him. Instead, he appears to drive one or more of the eight vehicles registered to his church. Here's how the officer ended his report by the way. Quote, due to both parties stating they were legally married, I made the determination that the Honda Accord was considered marital property.

Therefore, I could not establish a criminal offense. Unfortunately, even though the car was registered in Micah's name only, it was purchased after she and JP were married and therefore a law enforcement rightfully considered it marital property and a matter for the courts. But it's yet another way that Micah was handcuffed by this system.

She didn't have a car to drive. Another weird thing in this case is that Micah's father told law and crime that investigators found multiple shell casings and a live round near where Micah's body was found. And yet that did not prompt them to do a full investigation. We'll say it again, there needs to be a policy at law enforcement agencies across the country that forces investigators to treat all suicides of women as suspicious until proven otherwise. Because once again we're in a situation where police did not conduct a thorough enough investigation before JP had Micah's body cremated.

A full toxicology does not appear to have been done, nor a full autopsy, according to Micah's father. In addition to the strange circumstances in this case, there are also some notable coincidences. For one, according to property records, JP's attorney, Thomas Winslow, appears to be the registered agent for CJTW Holdings, which owns a tract of land 10 miles from where Micah's body was found, just

over the border in South Carolina. That tract of land is along the Lumber River and appears to have been previously owned by Hopkins Gardner Charles, who was once solicitor of the 15th Circuit in South Carolina back in the day. Meaning, he was the top law enforcement officer in Horry County, which borders the North Carolina county where Micah died. Additionally, Mr. Charles was a Myrtle Beach Councilman for about a dozen years. Again, this doesn't mean anything specific, it's just notable. Okay, now let's talk about the FBI. Reporter Beth Braden spoke with an agent at the Columbia office several times this week. The FBI confirmed that within the past three days or so, the Robeson County Sheriff's Office

asked them to get involved, but they said they weren't investigating Micah's death. Robeson County Sheriff's Office told Beth that they had learned information in the course of their investigation that was best suited for the FBI based on jurisdictional issues. The FBI would not confirm or deny whether they were investigating any financial crime,

but it's clear their involvement isn't going to change anything about how police believe Micah died, meaning by suicide. What does this mean, right? Is this a reason to feel hopeful that there could be accountability for Micah's suicide? The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office are almost exclusively concerned with cases involving federal law. The FBI can also get involved when a case involves potential crimes in multiple states. It's really not clear what they could be looking into here. We got confirmation Wednesday that the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation is not involved in Micah's case at all. So that means this does

not appear to involve a breach of North Carolina law. There is a federal law involving assisted suicides, but nothing that specifically addresses incitement to suicide, meaning the idea that someone might encourage or cause another person to kill themselves or bully them into it. We're not saying that's the case here, but it's certainly something on our minds as we continue to look at police reports and talk to people who knew what Micah was dealing with in her marriage and in her attempts to finally leave JP. Which brings us to one of Micah's best friends,

Charlotte Korn. Before we hear from Charlotte though, I want you to keep a few things in mind. The first is for you to pay very close attention to what Charlotte says was a huge fear of JP's. That Micah split from him would result in a significant loss of members to their church. Members means money and it's

something he experienced when his affair with Micah was discovered in 2016. Some of you might have seen that very bizarre video of JP writhing on the ground and speaking in a high-pitched voice crying about his life. A friend of his had posted this video on Facebook with a lengthy note about how it was time to expose JP for what he was and who he was. This video is believed to have been taken during the collapse of JP's first marriage and the subsequent fallout at the church, if that's any indication for what that looks like. Now, the second thing we want you to keep in mind when you're listening to Charlotte's interview

is this quote from a Facebook post that was made on JP and Micah's Facebook account. The message appears to be from JP, and it's not clear when he posted this. He's tagged himself as being at a place called True Blue Computers. It starts with the hashtag pornography and says, quote, Men, please bring your devices to hashtag true blue computers and

Myrtle beach for $25. You will never be able to look at anything that could a destroy your destiny, B destroy your marriage. And then in parentheses, he has sex life, C destroy your mind. Then it says, quote, wives, you must be incredibly giving and incredibly is in all caps and encouraging and never reject or deny your husband. David, Samson, Solomon all struggled in this area. No matter how spiritual, strong or wise a man is, this is a battle that the enemy knows could ruin his life forever.

And here's the part that is perhaps the most telling. Quote, thank you to all the wives who are willing to help their husbands to be overcomers and winners in life and in the bedroom. Thank you to Micah for always being so giving. So yeah, that was pretty manipulative, painting men as victims of pornography. And it definitely gives us some insight

into how JP might view women, particularly wives. And honestly, it feels very much like a violation of Micah's privacy. It's almost him saying to the world, my wife gives it to me. There's a theme in JP's life, and it's centered around sex, sex and the church. The church that provides JP with a steady source of income, or that would provide him with a steady source of income so long as Micah didn't mess it up for him by divorcing him and exposing his secrets.

Now, dozens of people have come out of the woodwork in the last two weeks to say that they knew Micah, but few people knew her like Charlotte did. Charlotte Korn met Micah in Myrtle Beach through solid rock at Market Common Church in 2017, the same year that Micah married J.P. Miller. So I'd met her in 2017, but then we really started attending weekly at the beginning of 2018.

And Micah reached out to me pretty quick and asked if I wanted to go on a walk on the beach with her or just get to know each other. And that led to about a three hour hangout. And we just talked and just immediately hit it off. And from then on, I mean, we hung out on almost a weekly basis. We started going to a gym called Nine Rounds. And she said, the only way that my husband's going gonna pay for this is if we go five days a week. So are you in?

And I said, sure, I'm in. So five times weekly for, it was a whole year that we were doing it. And we just got to know each other so well and kickboxing kind of led as kind of a precursor to us opening up to each other after the workout and talking about things or frustrations and us opening up to each other after the workout and talking about things or frustrations and just getting to know each other. But even after the workout

class, we hung out on a weekly basis and talked regularly on the phone, you know, text, funny things throughout the day. And so, yeah, she was a very dear, very dear person to me. Charlotte said that Micah idolized JP in the early days, but she saw the first red flag in their relationship back in 2017 when she noticed that JP was clearly hiding their relationship in front of the church congregation. She was. My husband and I were actually very confused because during 2017, when we only attended about four times,

JP made a reference to wanting to find a wife. So if you know anybody kind of joke, which, you know, now seems some of his most recent sermons where he's talking about finding a hot wife with his wedding ring on. That doesn't surprise me that they were dating at the time and I just didn't know that. Because then once we started going in 2018, consistently all of a sudden it was like, oh, this is his wife.

And we were like, oh, wait, when did that happen? So I did not know that they were dating at the time in 2017, but I found out that they were married in 2018. So it turns out they quietly got married in 2017 and then they had a full real ceremony in 2018. JP allegedly wanted Micah to have a certain surgery before their big ceremony. It was about a month, maybe a month and a half before their actual wedding ceremony. They had a very small ceremony in Market Common, but not at the church. There was no wedding gowns or anything like that. But she was getting surgery that, like the next day or that following week.

And so the reason that they had this private ceremony was he claimed that they wanted him to be able to take care of her and not be living in sin, basically. But then after her recovery, that's when they had their official wedding with the dress and bridesmaids and everything at the church. This is important and completely captures JP's skewed sense of morality. He wanted to have a secret ceremony to officially be married so that he could take care of her without quote living in sin post-surgery. The surgery that he allegedly wanted her to get before their real wedding. But in fact, Micah's friends and family say that that surgery

served as a catalyst for what JP labeled as Micah's instability. And that surgery is what shifted the power dynamics of their relationship, which were already heavily in his favor due to his position as a pastor and their 15-year age difference. From Charlotte's understanding, Micah was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after she had a bad reaction to that surgery. No, she, I always questioned whether she actually was bipolar, and her siblings did too. And I think she just recently started having those, those doubts as well. But the reason she was declared bipolar is because after her surgery, she had a really bad reaction to the anesthesia and the pain medications that she was put on. I mean, and she told

me about, you know, she was having hallucinations, she wasn't sure where she was, and just, you know, having a terrible reaction. Well, during that month of her recovery, he took her up to the hospital twice, just saying like, this is not the moment I married, she's acting crazy. But the second time that he took her up there, he basically told her and she she's told she told me all this story, by the way, this is not speculation or secondhand. But he took her up there the second time and said, I'm not bringing you home until we get you help with something.

I think you're bipolar. So we need, you know, unless you actually agree to, you know, this diagnosis and getting on medication. I can't deal with this anymore. So I'm not coming home unless you basically agree that there is something mentally unstable with you. During that first month, she'd never been on any kind of, especially, you know, especially those kind of medications before this time. And I mean, she was 23. So, you know, just the fact that she got that diagnosis during the first month of their marriage was another red flag. Charlotte saw a few other red flags here and there in the beginning stages of their marriage. As Charlotte and Micah grew closer, Micah opened up about how she met JP and that she

actually babysat for his children when he was married to another woman. That other woman who looked a lot like Micah and even attended the same high school several years before. Well, she said that she'd met him around the age of 15, and they started going to the church, and she quickly got involved with the music, which as you know, you've heard her voice, that just suited her so well. And his best friend was the music director there. So she got married at 18 to the music director. But then, unfortunately, I want to say two years later,

she and John Paul, he's very involved with the music too. So they were spending a lot of time together and she was getting more immersed in the church as well. And I remember the day that she told me, and she said, I'm just so ashamed, but I know you'll probably hear this at some point. I'd rather you hear it from me. But JP in my relationship started through an affair.

And after the affair was, after we were outed, his wife left him. He pursued her for about a year trying to rekindle the marriage and restore it. And then that was a hard no on his first wife's part. And so then he started pursuing me kind of officially, we dated, and then now here we are married. At 23 is when she got married. So it kind of came out of, you know, not the best circumstances,

but she was very upfront when talking about it and honest about it. Notice how Charlotte said JP pursued his ex-wife for an entire year. After she found out about the affair. You know, the affair that he chose to have. Charlotte said Micah described his behavior of that year trying to win his ex-wife back as very similar to his behavior in the year leading up to Micah's death.

She remembers hearing about grand gestures that were masked as romantic, but really were just harassment. Like sending singers to serenade her at work, and flowers and notes. And ultimately, she described behavior of JP just simply refusing to be left. Eventually, with his ex, he gave up and he moved on to Micah and quickly married her. But as many blended families do, Micah and the Millers struggled with their roles at the beginning, according to Charlotte. He does. Four with Allie, one when he was just his first wife, and one when, I don't know the person's name, but one he had when he was in high school. Yeah, it's his oldest son, who's I think only about three years, two or three years younger

than Micah. And at first, there was a lot of animosity in the house. Just, you know, obviously, the kids, they just went through a very traumatic time in their life. And the mother won primary custody, but he did have them. It was like every other weekend and on Wednesdays. So, you know, she was around a good bit, but she really was such a great stepmom to them.

And I mean, to the point where she had a great relationship with at least the younger half, I would say. I mean, one of his sons was actually at her memorial for Solid Rocks Memorial, which I think really speaks well of him and their relationship and that, you know, he loved her too. I don't believe we mentioned this in the last episode, but Micah had two memorial services at the same time. One at the church held by JP and one at the beach hosted by her friends and family.

It is telling that one of JP's own children attended the memorial at the beach. And that makes me want to know what that son really has to say about his father. And we'll be right back. It is important to know that Micah wanted kids of her own and JP allegedly used that desire to manipulate and control her. Charlotte said if they were fighting he would say things like, let's work on this. Remember, I'm even willing to have kids with you.

And he dragged her along and dangled that carrot for years. Charlotte could see the strain of Micah's marriage weighing on her over time. But in 2022, things took a sharp turn for the worse. I'd started to notice just little signs of, I mean, even just things like her face started changing somewhere. I mean, she consistently had bags under her eyes

and she was just, I don't know, more stressed than usual, but she didn't really outright come and tell me anything specifically. But in November of 2022, I text her, we were getting ready to go out of town for Thanksgiving shortly. So I said, well, hey, let's hang out before we leave and catch up and everything. She texts back and said, actually I'm getting out of town for a couple of days. I'm gonna go visit my sister in Gaffney.

Things are not good in the Miller household right now. And I didn't know what happened or what was going on, but I said, well, goodness, I'm sorry to hear that. Let me know if there's anything I can do. And she just said, just keep an eye on JP for me, which I took as he had the kids that night or he was getting the kids the next day. So if there's anything you can do to help, help out. So I said, I absolutely will. And I text him and said, hey, Micah said she's going to town and that you are going to have the kids tomorrow.

So you know, if there's if I can order a pizza for you guys or help out or something, let me know. And his immediate response was, I think Michael left me. I said, no, no, you know, I think she just wants to go see her sister. That's what she told me. And then I mean, the floodgates opened. And when I say floodgates, I mean, he and I have a whole message stream going,

but then he also includes me in a text message to Micah. And he told me it was for accountability. He said, you know, I'm including Charlotte in this message so that she can hold me accountable, which was honestly just a falsehood because in my own direct message with him, I kept telling him throughout the night of getting, of him texting her, just, JP, stop messaging her. You are making this so much worse. And if you want things to work out, if you want to resolve this, stop texting her.

But if anybody who knows JP, knows he texts about, I mean, he could send you 20 text messages within a minute. And that's exactly what was happening. But the things that he was saying were just shocking. I mean, coming from anybody, but let alone knowing that this is your pastor who's talking to his wife. I mean, I was blown away. It was, I mean, from the manipulation tactics, basically the whole gist of his message was, come home right now. They had had a fight the night before,

which I did not know what it was about. And so she was trying to get some distance and just clear their head. But he was not having it. And I mean, come home right now, or I'm going to come to you. I can't believe you're doing this. You're a horrible wife. If you don't come home right now, then all of your stuff is going to be out of the house by 9

a.m. And he actually did pack up her stuff. She told me later on that she had 20 bags of her stuff in his truck. And okay, fine, if you're not coming home, I'm going to come to you. We're going to be at all night. Me, you, Matt, Sierra, Aries, which that includes her sister, her sister's husband and their little boy, Aries, which is shocking. In my mind, she had not written back in this message at all yet until he said that.

And she said, if you come here, you're trespassing. And then it just got, it started just getting almost like this manic psychotic behavior. I mean, more psychotic behavior where after she wrote that, he said, ha ha ha ha ha, a bunch of ha ha's basically. And I don't care. We're gonna be up all night. Let's see, I wrote some news down. You can call the cops, you did this.

And Micah wrote back and said, you can't come to someone's house threatening with a gun. There's kids involved. And so Sierra, her sister, and Micah, and him were all in a group message as well that I was not a part of. So I did not see where he threatened that, but she wrote to him in my message that, you can't come here with a gun.

And he said, a bunch of ha-has again. I don't care. LOL. I have no gun. Crazy. See you soon. And Micah said, you just text my sister, you're armed, psycho. And he said, that doesn't mean a gun, which, okay. Everyone's going to be awake all night. Bye, can't text and drive. And Micah said, I don't feel safe coming home right now.

And he said, there's only one way with this work. You come home now. And she said again, I don't feel safe coming home right now. And he said, cop out, liar, three hours and seven minutes, as in he was on the way. And that was the last message that was sent in that group message. Text messages obtained by Luna Shark and a 911 call from Gaffney confirmed this incident. In the 911 call, Micah's sister told police that her brother-in-law was threatening to come to her house, quote, armed and ready, and that he told her he was going to, quote, get her back, her being Micah. Charlotte was stunned and speechless. She was worried about her best friend's safety.

And she was also confused. Why did JP bring her into their fight like this? I mean, I was just totally blown away. And Micah and I were also exchanging messages directly at the time. And she was just so embarrassed, which again, I think that was the point of him including me, is not for the accountability like he so claimed. It was to embarrass her and kind of isolate her even more from another good friend. But she had asked me to, you know,

go and check the church if I saw his car there, because again, we lived just right across the street. I did not, she'd asked my husband to go over there and just make sure he wasn't there, or you know, that he was there and not on his way to see her, which my husband did. And he was there, but he just kind of slammed the door in my husband's face.

But then he wasn't responding to anything and that anybody was texting him. So, Micah was asking me, you know, what should I do? And I said, honestly, you know, with everything he's saying about turning the gun on himself and, you know, just all these threats, I'd call the cops and do a wellness check. And so that's exactly what she did.

And then she said, you know, he's still not responding. I haven't heard from the cops yet. And this is at like 1 o'clock in the morning at this point. So I text JP again, and I said, hey, you know, I'm about to drive over there right now if I don't hear from you shortly, which again, I would not have done. I would have sent my husband again.

But his response back was, and I'm just going to abbreviate here and let the blanks fill in, effing B just tried to get me arrested. And I said, first of all, my mind is just blown that you just texted me about that, or that about your wife. But I said, you know, JP, she was trying to do a wellness check. After everything you've been talking about, you know, she's concerned and I would have done the same thing.

Then, of course, he texts my husband, which my husband had not been in any messages at that point, but he texts my husband and includes me in the message and says, well, please tell your wife to stop texting me things when she has no effing clue what has happened or is happening. She's sending wisdom out of her mouth about how she would do what Micah did, blah, blah, blah. I've had enough of people demeaning my pain or agony or what I'm going through who know nothing. You literally make me want to pull the trigger. I want to pause right here for a moment so that we can all just think about Micah. Charlotte is describing a very deeply disturbing time when she witnessed the monster behind JP's

mask. This was a moment she would never get past. We kind of got like a halfway apology. Apology was basically like, oh, you know, you all are great friends. I'm sorry. We just, you know, then an excuse. We just never hurt each other's heart and we're working on things. Thank you for being a great friend. And I'm sorry if I made you feel, sorry if I offended you somehow. That was one of his favorite buzzwords of the offended person. So that was the big, you know, I mean, seeing a glimpse of his true character and the man behind seeing a glimpse of his true character and the man behind the guy on stage and the man who was leading our church. And I mean, it was just shocking, absolutely shocking.

From that moment on, Charlotte and her husband were done with JP's church. They knew Micah had to get out of that relationship. And then somehow it all got worse. She called me, I want to say it was either the next day or two, I think it was two days later. Yeah. But he'd cut her phone off. So she was calling me from Sierra's phone. But then the next day she went back

and they were going to supposedly work it out, even get counselor involved or something. He committed her to a mental hospital and we're getting texts left and right from Sierra a couple of days later. She's telling us that J.P. has basically put policemen outside her door that are not allowing her family to see her or talk to her. This was November 29th, Sierra said, we just found out the reason why we can't get to Micah, the reason why there are

guards outside her room keeping us out of the hospital. This is the part of the story we're going to need to go back to because how is this man able to get his wife who by all other accounts in her life seemed to be doing fine, committed to a mental hospital more than once. And how was he able to prevent her family who were very important to her from seeing her? We have so many questions and we're going to have to go back and get those answered. But back to November, 2022, after Micah got out of the mental facility, she apologized to Charlotte. And we think this is really important when it comes to showing how Micah was. It

shows that she is considerate, thoughtful, and that she had respect for people. And it shows you how she treated people whom she loved. It was about, it was probably the week after I got back from my travels for Thanksgiving. We went to dinner together to talk about everything. Thinking back to this dinner, I just felt so bad for her, for multiple reasons, obviously. But she just kept apologizing to me for bringing me into the mess that I witnessed. And I kept saying, Micah, you did not bring me into this. JP was the one that included me in this message.

And I'm sorry on your behalf that he did that. But this is not your fault. Why are you apologizing to me? She said that they were working on things and they were going to start going to counseling twice a week and all that. And I said, well, you know what? That's really great. I'm glad they're taking steps. But I have to say that I am so not okay with what I witnessed. And I am just totally disturbed and shocked by what I saw, especially after that big fight. We never went back to the church and had no plans to go back to that church.

But I tuned into his, the next Sunday after that fight, the recording, because there were a couple of people from the church that were involved in, or that knew about this big blow up and everything. So I just was curious, you know, what are you gonna preach about today? Are you going to be straightforward and upfront about the VR having issues? And he was not, he was, his words were, you know, my wife had a mental breakdown,

so she's in the hospital, be praying for me. And, but just, you know, she's trying to lay low and, you know, I'll keep you updated. But basically just blamed the whole thing on my wife had a mental breakdown, which I talked to her the day, two days after that night. And she was totally her normal self. She wasn't acting crazy. It wasn't until she went home that all of a sudden she's having a mental breakdown. A few days later, Micah finally told Charlotte what started the fight in the first place and why she was involved.

It was actually something so ridiculous. I was a little shocked when she told me. Basically, she said that he liked it when she took gummies with him. I don't know if that means just straight up THC gummies or if it was like a Delta-9, Delta-8, but it was something along those lines to where they could have this little experience together and ask question off the wall questions

and stuff like that. But the question that started a blow up, which again was so ridiculous, but it was, he asked her, if you had to kiss a girl, who would it be? And she said, you know, that's ridiculous. I'm not gonna answer that question. I wouldn't kiss a girl. And he kept harping on it and harping on it. And she said, fine, if I had to choose, I guess Charlotte, because she'd never tell. So that was funny.

But us being such good friends and spending so much time together, all of a sudden that just, he flipped on her. And well, have y'all kissed? Well, have you? What kind of feelings do you have for her? Again, I found out about the cause of this blowup after the fact, but then some of the texts

made a little more sense to me because at one point, and she had not responded in the text yet, he said, maybe you wanna live with Charlotte. Why don't you tell her why you would want to live with her? Or should I tell her? Go ahead, Shar. Ask Marca why she would want to stay with you. I'd love to hear how honest she is since she knew or since she threw me under the bus with the elders today. I don't know what that was about. But it was just, you could tell he was just trying to humiliate her and just, you know. So as many of you know, abusers use isolation as one of their tools. It is one of their

best weapons. And we're not saying that's what happened here. But we're saying it's possible that JP noticed how good of a friend Charlotte was to Micah and saw that friendship as a threat to him. So it looks like he was trying to maybe drive a knife through that friendship. So I saw that he was cutting people out of her life, kind of left and right, family to, you know, saying, you know, she just needs good influence and supportive friends right now. So I was trying to tread lightly on how I went about discussing this and handling it. After my dinner with her, I said, you know, I have seen no accountability on his part. You know, in the church service, he basically blamed the whole blow up on

you that you were having a mental breakdown. So, you know, where is the accountability on his side? And she said, well, you know, we're going to talk to the elders about it and everything. And, you know, where is the accountability on his side? And she said, well, you know, we're gonna talk to the elders about it and everything. And, you know, we're doing the counseling again. And it was just, you know, totally unsatisfactory, honestly. But she said that they were meeting with the elders about it and that they would know everything. So in JP's church, Charlotte explained how the elders act

as a board of directors over the pastor. Kind of like a city council is there to keep a mayor in check. But JP owns the church and the land in this case. So his elders really don't have all that much authority besides biblically over JP. But Charlotte knew that going to the elders was her best chance at getting through to JP and helping her friend. She was terrified. She had small children and lived close to the church at the time that she wanted to go to the elders. But Charlotte and her husband saw JP as a dangerous person. Going to the elders in that church was risky. So they waited until they moved in early 2023. So Will took another job and moved in January,

and I was going to take my information to the elders, but I wanted to do it strategically. I knew if I set up a meeting with the elders, that JP would be there, and, you know, having learned that I was meeting with them. So I just wanted to take set up a meeting with the elders that JP would be there and having learned that I was meeting with them. So I just wanted to take it with a couple of the elders that I actually trusted. And Will was very adamant that I wait until I moved up. So again, being in such close proximity to the church and having seen the kind of total psychotic behavior

that he witnessed and he did not want me with my two kids going to the elders before I moved up here. So I moved in February and then I reached out to three of the elders that I trusted and gave them everything. And unfortunately nothing happened. It was really sad actually because they were all like, yeah, we've seen that behavior too.

And you know, that he's just so volatile. And I just felt so bad for Micah. And it was just so disappointing. You know, I just was shocked that nothing was being done. I felt at that point that my role, I had done everything that biblically I was supposed to do to hold him accountable. But now my whole goal was just to look out for her

and try to get her help. This is the part that makes me so sad, to think about the amount of people who knew that this was happening to Micah and did nothing. Another thing that is important to understand is that the solid rock at Market Common Church community adored Micah, and JP used that against her, especially when she wanted a divorce. Oh, she was beloved. I mean, everybody, everybody loved Micah. She was a part of so many ministries

and a part of so many just, you know, I mean, obviously she's singing and everything, but, you know, we did short groups together where we facilitated groups. She was in groups with, she did everything at the church or was a part of everything. He definitely did use that against her. And he knew, he knew that she was a beloved person because, and again, back to the call where she told me that they

were, she'd filed for divorce. She said, I know he's going to be really mad because, you know, he told me that if I divorce him, he said, you know, if you divorce me, the church is going to split again. And her response was, I know. She said, and I know that it would. I know that it would split again if we get a divorce. So him having that information, I think he slowly started to, and you can watch his previous sermons over the last year and see that he was starting to kind of build this narrative of, you know, my wife's mental health, my wife's mental health, and just making himself kind of like victimized by certain scenarios or relationships. And so you can, I mean, for months back, you can see this narrative

that he started to build up against her. Throughout 2023, Micah and JP's marriage was a roller coaster. She even moved to Kansas to stay with some family for a few months while they decided what to do. Every time I talked to her, she was just, it was like she was just waiting for him to make up his mind. You know, what do you want from me? Are we going to, you know, officially divorce? Are we working toward this or not? But so she had this Africa trip coming up in October and she was going to wait until after the Africa trip to file divorce because she really wanted to go. But she called me two days before she left,

it was actually Friday the 13th in October, and said, you know, I filed for divorce today. I said, wow, you know, what made you, you know, I filed for divorce today. I said, wow, you know, what made you, you know, do it before the Africa trip? And she told me about so much horrible things that she found out about him from affairs and that she found and, I mean, had confirmed through multiple people

that he had sent out nude photos of her to his buddies at the church, which I don't know, it's horrible. Yeah, and that she just couldn't do it anymore. Can't keep waiting to do this when so much bad stuff just keeps happening. So I was very proud of her and she was excited too. She started talking about, you know, I've never really, you know,

I've never really thought about what I want in a husband and not that I want to start pursuing one, another one anytime soon, but if and when that day comes, I want to have my own list of what I myself want rather than what's presented to me and made to look like a good idea. So she was thinking forward, you know? According to Micah's family, at the time of Micah's death, she was planning on spending time in Kenya doing missionary work,

and even sent some of her possessions there in preparation for that. When she initially split with JP last fall, she left the country for Kenya. But she initially split with JP last fall, she left the country for Kenya. But it was there that JP's church members allegedly convinced her that she needed to give him and their marriage another chance. I was shocked. She went to Africa. I text her the next week saying, you know, hey, let's catch up soon. I didn't get a response, which was, you know, fine. I knew she was trying. I didn't get a response, which was fine.

I knew she was trying to get back to normal life. But then I finally, I called her the next week and she didn't answer. And, but the, the new picture that came up as kind of her, I guess, contact picture was of them too. I was so confused. I was thinking maybe her phone went through an update and it just kind of assigned a picture or surely they're not back together. It's been what three weeks since you filed and you were so gung ho about this and so determined and you know, not even not even didn't even sound sad about it.

You were just ready for it. So I texted her and then I saw a picture that the church posted of them two. And it basically was captioned, you know, our wonderful pastor, John Paul Miller and his beautiful wife, Michael Miller. And that was just like the confirming moment of like, you're kidding me. So I screenshot that picture and I sent it to her and I said, hey, call me soon. Don't be embarrassed. I just it to her and I said, hey, call me soon, don't be embarrassed, I just wanna talk. And she did later that week. And she said, basically when I was in Africa, there was people talking to me

and I realized I had not exhausted all avenues of trying to heal our marriage and make it work. So I really want to, if I'm gonna make that move of divorce, I really wanna make, if I'm going to make that move of divorce, I really want to make sure that I feel like I have done everything I could to make it work and it still isn't. So I had already kind of said my piece to her when she told me about filing for divorce. I said, Micah, I'm so glad that you finally are taking this step. I said, honestly, ever since last year,

I have been so worried about you. And I don't mean that gener step. I said, honestly, ever since last year, I have been so worried about you. And I don't mean that generically. I mean that literally, like I've talked to my sisters about everything and we all said, you know, she needs to get out and if she doesn't, he's going to kill her. I said those exact words to her. Charlotte said those exact words about her friend Micah,

who was found shot to death just a few months later. Obviously, Charlotte walked a tight rope and did everything she could to keep her friend Micah in her life. And that brings us to February 2024, when things got really bad. That was in February 17th. Sierra text me. And the reason for her text is because I had text Micah, her phone that day, and said, hey, call me soon.

Let's catch up. And I immediately get a phone call from her number. And I'm thinking, oh, perfect. You know, let's catch up now. And it was JP. And he said'm thinking, oh, perfect. You know, let's catch up now. And it was JP. And he said, hey, Charlotte, I just want to tell you what's going on. You know, Micah left me again.

She's having a psychotic episode. So she went into the mental hospital again. And when she got out, she totally drained the African Mission Fund. And she is with her family, who's telling her she doesn't need her medication. And I have her phone, obviously, so I can't get a hold of her. But if you talk to her, please tell her, I'll do anything. I'll sign whatever she wants.

And just again, his whole narrative of, she's just on this mental break. And I text Sierra and Sierra responded and she said, well, she said, hey, just so you know, JP has Micah's phone, Facebook, email, all of that. It's been since February 6th. And that's when she said the message, it's a whole mess, even the cops won't help her.

He got her locked up. I've already read that message, you know, it's a whole mess. Even the cops want to help her. He got her locked up. You know, I've already read that message to you, but the takeaway was, you know, as you would guess, he's losing his mind trying to manipulate her since he can't get to her. He's very set on leaving. That was her sister's words. And about a week later, I get a text

and it was from a new number and she said, "'It's Micah, call me when you have an hour to talk.'" So I did and she basically said, I was starting to get suspicious about certain things and learned about, again, these affairs that continuing in his behavior and I was just, I'm done with it. I'm done with being treated like a mental person. And I told her what he had told me, you know, about the Africa Mission Fund.

And, you know, so she would know the accusations that he's putting out there about her. And she said, you know, he's such a liar, you know. And she actually said the FBI was looking into it, which I thought I took that as an extreme. I thought she meant the FBI should look into it. But now, I mean, what's come out? They have been. But it wasn't even a week later.

I mean, maybe two weeks later that she sent us a message saying, you know, hey, I'm about to text you from another number. JP got my number again a third time. She said she'd gotten 53 no-caller ID phone calls in one day. Like we said earlier, the FBI won't confirm whether they're looking into anything related to JP's or the church's finances. But here's something we want to mention. After our last episode, there were news reports that Micah stood accused of stealing from the church, according to police reports that we had all received. But no police report that we can see specifically says this.

The reports that we have were redacted. Though this much is clear. Right when JP had taken Micah to a mental hospital against her will in February, he also reported to the police that a church employee had stolen $1,200 in donations to their Dare to Care African Mission funds, which were being collected for a mission to Kenya. Two reports were filed about this incident, one right around the time of Micah's hospitalization and then again a month later and it appears another call was made again at the end

of March. Again, the reports are redacted and don't mention Micah by name or even by relationship to JP and they all came in as she was reporting his increasingly disturbing behavior to police. So not only was Micah jeopardizing the future of JP's church by attempting to leave him, she appears to have been aware of some sort of investigation into his handling of money at the church, and she feared that he was trying to set her up. We'll be right back. Making matters worse at that time, it was so hard for Micah to find a lawyer, which is yet another part of the system that is broken. It was so difficult for her. It was almost, first of all, when she left, she had absolutely nothing.

She talked to me about how, you know, you don't think about all the things that you don't have until you need them, like a toothbrush or socks or soap or general small things that you don't think about on a daily basis. And so she did not have money, first of all, and she had just started back at Jay Peters and she was loving it. But, I mean, she did not have money. He had her credit cards, her wallet. And on top of that, he's so well connected that any lawyer she talked to, even the

previous lawyer that she went to, basically would not take the case. And she finally found one, which I found out about on March, she asked actually March 12th, she asked me to type out an affidavit for her, um, about the financial things that I knew about. She said, um, and I was kind of confused, I said, well, you know, what do I know about? And financial, financially wise, and she said, you know, when I told you how he sold the house, I found out he sold the house to the church, and he's been hiding assets. He is, you know, how he's a nightclub owner. And I think he's

probably going to start putting like putting those shares in somebody else's name. So it doesn't look like he's part owner of that, that how he buys expensive guns, vehicles, vacations. She said, he's going to make it look like he makes nothing. So I have, so I can pursue nothing. And, but then she, I think, talked to a different lawyer. So she said to, you know, hold on that.

And she would give me updates about what she needed from me. And that was March 12th. On March 18th, she was talking about visiting me within the next month or two. And to come get her birthday present, I said I could send it to her, and she said, well, why don't I just come up to visit you and get it in person? And I said, you know, that'd be wonderful.

I have something this weekend and the following weekend, but then after that, choose a day and come up. And she said, by then, I should have my restraining order against JP, so it'll be better anyways. But yeah, that trip never happened. I brought it up to her again, but she said, I've had some troubles here. Just started back at JPeters and they've been so good to me and finding out now that there's

a lot of harassment that they were having to deal with with her working there. So I think she was just trying to tread lightly about, you know, I don't want to give them more of a reason to fire me than they've already been given by, you know, all this behavior from JP. But so she said to, you know, hold for the time being and come up sometime this summer. But anyways, then her last text to me was on April 5th. And she said, thank you for your gentle warnings throughout the years regarding my relationship with JP. I know that you knew I wasn't ready to get out. But looking back, your warnings were very helpful in trying to make tough life decisions. Definitely have played our convos in my head over and over throughout the years and wish there was something I could do to

get out. And now I've done it with a big smiley face. I wrote back to her. I said, well, I'm so glad that you never felt as though I overstepped and that you heard my heart when I said things that I was coming from a place of love and concern and not judgment, malice or gossip. And I'm so pleased that you're in a better place now. Of course, it would have been great

if things did not end in divorce and your marriage could have been healed. But I feel like this new trajectory of your life is going to have such a profound impact on the kingdom of God. And her last message to me said, yes, things are looking up and are headed in a great direction. Things were looking up for Micah as far as Charlotte knew. She told me how that Africa mission ship really sparked a new purpose in her life. She said, and she told me that she told JP that she said,

look, I truly believe that I'm supposed to be a missionary now and continue going back to these places. And I have a heart for these people now. Missionaries, they go. They do not have roots in the ground anywhere. But pastors, they're planted and they stay. And so we just, we're on different paths. You know, she was trying to be, take this gentle approach

during one of their conversations about, you know, let's just go like, let's go forward at the force. Like, let's just be done with it. But she had, she was all fired up about that. And again, she was loving her job and she just seemed so happy. The last couple of times that I spoke to her on the phone, which my last phone call to her

was actually on the night that she died. I called her around 6.30 that night. I was in the car and had a drive. And that's usually the times when, you know, we would talk is either really late at night where nobody else is awake or we're in the car or we just have a couple, you know, even just a couple of free minutes, we'd call and we had 30 minutes just to catch up briefly.

And she didn't pick up and I left her voice now, telling her to call me back and that I missed her and was thinking about her and that I loved her. Around 1.30 a.m. on April 28th, a friend texted Charlotte and told her the news. A few hours later, she heard from JP. At 6.30 in the morning, we get a text from JP. And he did not know that I knew at the time. He thought this is how he was gonna tell me

or I was gonna find out, which was shocking the way that he decided to do that. But he said, I thought you two should know, Micah killed herself today. She needed her lithium because she's been having a three month psychotic episode. I'll keep you posted on the funeral. So again, thank God I found out from anybody else but him in that way. But

we did not write back, obviously. The way JP announced Mike's death to his congregation was also disturbing. At the end of the service, he had the congregation stand and he told them he was going to share an announcement with them and that he was asking them not to react, to instead remain silent and walk out afterward and not talk about what he was sharing with them. Then he said, I got a call late last night that my wife had passed away. Yeah, it was self-induced and it was up in North Carolina. After that he was seen with a woman rumored to be his mistress and then he called Charlotte. And you know I'm pretty much just crying all day but then at 1 30 in the afternoon JP calls me

and I'm telling you I've only had it happen a handful of times, but when his name came up on my phone, my blood literally ran cold. Like, I don't know, just like, I don't know. I can't explain it honestly, but my only word that came to mind was just evil. And I already knew a lot that put that word into mind, before I even started talking to him. word that came to mind was just evil. And I already knew a lot that put that word into mind, you know, before but it just, it gives me goosebumps anytime I think about it. But he called

me and he said, Hey, Shara, are you surviving? And I was just thinking, you know, yeah, why are you calling me? He said, well, I have some more details for you if you want them. I said, okay. He starts telling me about, she drove to a pawn shop and bought a gun and drove up to Lumberton and parked and got a mile or, you know, walked a mile into the woods and that's where she did it. And, you know, I mean, you know, she was off her medication and I've been begging

with her for her to get back on her medication. And I'm just thinking this whole time, like, do you have nothing better to do than to call me right now and try to push this narrative at me. And I mean, this is the actions of a grieving husband. So I was just totally, I don't know, blown away by that. But he, I said, well, JP, something doesn't add up to me. About a month ago when Micah was talking about divorce stuff with me, she said that she had originally tried to get off her medication or wanted to get off her medication back in

December. But in pursuant to divorce, she didn't want that to be used against her, like some insanity plea where it could be denied. So she was taking her medication in front of her roommate every single day so that she would have a witness to the contrary. And he said, well, she wasn't taking her lithium. She was just taking her Seroquel. You know, she tried to go off of it in December, but I begged her to get back on it. But then in January is when she actually, she hasn't taken it. And again, I'm just thinking, that's not how that works.

And during that conversation, he said something that shook Charlotte. He did make a very odd comment to me. He said, you know, she went and bought a gun and she was driving up to Lumberton. I thought she was coming to see you. And he paused there and I said, no, she wasn't. And he said, well, did you have plans to see her anytime soon? And I said, well, yes, kind of, not officially, but I've had her birthday gift on my dresser

for the last month. And we talked about her coming to get that in person. And he said, well, is that what she was doing? And I said, no, is that is that what she was doing? And I said, No, like for the third time, but, but the way that he stated that comment, it was just really weird to me that she was headed up to Lumberton. I thought she was on her way to see you. Like, you don't have her number. How are you tracking her? And I know

Michael's told me before about tracking devices, but I, you know, I guess the police didn't check for tracking devices. And I know, Micah's told me before about tracking devices, but I, you know, I guess the police didn't check for tracking devices. So I haven't heard anything about if that was the case in this on this day or not. But that comment really just kind of raised the hair on the back of my neck how he, it was almost like he was watching her. In a recent episode of Ashley Banfield's show on News Nation, reporter Rich McHugh read a text he had gotten from JP in which JP appears to be trying to offer a more noble explanation for the trackers on Micah's cars, which she found to be threatening. Here's what he said, and it's a little

wonky because it's over text, but I'm going to read it word for word. Quote, I even hired P.I. to put trackers on her car to know if she was going to go to a gun store, and then this part's in parentheses, because she kept trying to get a gun for the past few months. And then there's an ellipsis, and it says, I have never once in my entire life ever hurt her in any way. And then there's a period and then it says ever period. Then last week when Robeson County Sheriff's Office concluded that Micah's death was a suicide, nothing made sense to Charlotte.

Really? I mean, the whole thing. I mean, first of all, she'd never been to Lumberton State Park before. So it wasn't like this, wasn't this nostalgic or beautiful place that she always loved going to. Nothing. Micah was just such an intentional person. The fact that there was no note, and this wasn't just a spur of the moment, she made up her mind to do something and she did it. I mean, she had three to four hours to drive up there and then walk into the month and the fact that, you know, over the course of that four hours, you know, she would have had time to think about the fallout and that there weren't those

things, there was no last call or last, you know, and the fact that she would have called the cops so that her family would have, would know where her body was rather than just sending one last text to her family. But then in the call, she didn't even know where she was, you know, she didn't know what state park, but part of the evidence that was, you know, produced to prove it was suicide was that it was in her GPS. And so if you've typed this into your GPS, you get there, you walk into the woods, and then you have no idea what state park you're in. And then rather than sending out one last text,

like again, Micah was so intentional and she loved her family and all of her friends, but there was no last anything other than a 911 call apparently, but also the fact that she was broke. She had asked another friend of ours to help her pay for her car taxes, which she did the day before this happened. She was needing money, but then she was able to purchase a $500 gun. It's just nothing, nothing about it made sense to me. And, you know, the one scenario that I could wrap my head around her being the one that pulled the trigger herself is, you know, she'd filed a no contact order 48 hours before this. And he did not, at least to my knowledge, still did not have her newest

phone number. But if he had gotten her phone number or had showed up somewhere after this no contact order had been filed, the one scenario that makes sense to me is she felt totally helpless. Like this is never going to end. This is, it doesn't matter what I file. The police are not helping me. He won't stop. So that is the one scenario that I could somewhat understand why she would do that.

But there's like 20 scenarios in my head where it doesn't make sense and she wouldn't do that. But either way, regardless of the scenario, whether she was the one that pulled the trigger or not, to me, that never affected the reason that she's dead and who that responsibility lies with. And the responsible person in my mind for her death, regardless of who pulled the trigger, is John Paul. A video was posted showing part of JP's eulogy of Micah in which he

claims to have laid with her body after she was found dead. How? Great question. He also said he tried to raise Micah from the dead and thought he succeeded at it when he saw a woman who looked like Micah but it turned out to be Micah's sister. J.P. said that he called out her name. It was another one of his shocking sermons. No, and then he stated, you know, at her funeral that he laid with her four times that week, which was again disturbing because I'm like, this person was trying to get away from you, trying to divorce you, trying to have nothing to do with you, and you violate her body like that, you know, and take advantage of, you know, this.

I don't know if he actually did or if he's just trying to make himself look, you know, get a little bit more pity on stage, but it was kind of a vile thing to hear him say. JP appears to be doing everything he can to change the narrative of Micah's story. He tried his lawyer's cease and desist letter that essentially said, thou shall stop being mean to me, which backfired immediately.

That definitely didn't help. He tried telling News Nation that he casually had a PI put a tracker on his estranged wife's car before she died. That also did not help. His church tried to post on Facebook Tuesday a message that they were, quote, alive and well, and, quote, moving forward with a new building project which they've raised over a million dollars for and that we have a lot

of questions about. That post, also, you guessed it, did not help. Then on Tuesday night, an account that appears to be J.P. Miller, according to sources close to the situation, started posting photos of his dead estranged wife and very odd interpretations of Bible verses. The first post said the actual truth is about to come out. Get ready. But less than 24 hours later, the entire TikTok account was removed. Which obviously, you guessed it, also did not help.

But while JP continues on his crusade to shape the story, Charlotte wants the world to remember Micah for the beautiful person that she was. The selfless Christian, the friend who apologized even when she didn't do anything wrong, the beloved co-worker who wouldn't miss work, the sister who would have left this world thinking of her family. She is the one that was setting the Christlike example. But I mean, she was one between, you know, her pastor husband and

her walk with God. She was the Christian example, not him. She was just such a beautiful presence to be around. She had a laugh like, I'll never forget her laugh. I hear it in my head quite a bit these days when I think about her, but she was so helpful to anybody. She always wanted to be doing something. I've never seen somebody be so busy and with things that not just your own life or your own, this is what I wanna do today,

but just helping people and being involved and wanting to glorify God. I mean, you know, every single conversation we'd have, we would talk about some spiritual element of what we're going through or, you know, I'm trying to honor God in this way. And so she was so focused. That was her primary goal in life, was to bring glory to God. And I think unfortunately that was used against her in a way that was meant to control her and to manipulate her.

And it's just a shame because it was such a beautiful element of who she was that it could be taken and distorted for somebody else's, you know, horrible use. But she was, she was just a beautiful friend to everyone that she came across. And I'm very blessed to have been one of those people. been one of those people. We have learned a lot more about Micah's story. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. Thank you.. Confident driving starts at Midas with top quality tires and expert services from our techs.

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