Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #63 - ‘The Scariest Thing Of Our Entire Lives’: The Horrifying Truth Revealed From JP Miller’s Evidence - Part One

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Investigative reporters Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell continue their in-depth coverage of the Mica Francis case.  Earlier this month, exhibits filed with Horry County Probate Court by Mica’s estranged husband, Myrtle Beach Pastor JP Miller, were made available to the public. To JP Miller, they are evidence that Mica Miller was a sick woman and he only wanted the best for her — that her estrangement from him was the result of family pressure and not because of anything she felt.  He is adamant that he bears no responsibility in her April 27 death. But does the evidence show what JP says it does?  Over the next few episodes, Mandy and Liz will analyze the exhibits piece by piece and discuss what this newly revealed information actually says about JP’s relationship with Mica.  In Part One, they explore the first two months of Mica’s marriage to JP and specifically the events that occurred in the 30 days between Mica’s surgery on Dec. 1, 2017, and their church wedding at the end of the year. JP maintains that Mica experienced a bout of post-anesthetic psychosis and that the effects of this lasted in some form or other until her death. But is that really what happened? A look at emails and texts from that time seem to point to something else … and that something looks a whole lot like coercive control.  Also on the show, a FOIA request from Luna Shark reveals new information in Mica’s case. In February of this year, Mica Francis reached out to the South Carolina Secretary of State’s Office to report that JP had allegedly stolen her notary seal. Premium Members get an extended episode with analysis of the so-called “undecipherable email” from 2017 that JP claims shows the depth of Mica’s break from reality.... 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. Episode Resources: Mica's List Alison Williams Emergency Custody Motion JP Miller's Bizarre Incident Crying On The Ground Flo Daddy Tik Tok Video Mica and JP Wedding Vows and Celebration Video  Mica Francis Miller Healthcare Power of Attorney South Carolina Code of Laws - Freedom of Information Act If you are in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. What We're Buying... Hungry Root - https://hungryroot.com/mandy to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies.. Hungry Root is the easiest way to eat healthy. They send you fresh, high-quality groceries, simple, delicious recipes, and essential supplements. CBDistillery - https://cbdistillery.com with code “COJ” for 20% off. No fluff. No fillers. Just pure, effective cannabinoid products. Over 43,000 Verified Reviews. 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee. Free Shipping Over $75. Subscribe & Save Up To 30% Task Rabbit - Use promo code "mandy" at https://www.taskrabbit.com/ for 15% off your task. Task Rabbit connects you with skilled Taskers to help with cleaning, moving, furniture assembly, home repairs, and more. Here's a link to some of our favorite things: https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn And a special thank you to our other amazing 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

This episode is brought to you by Mazda. When you drive a Mazda, you'll find out why RSUVs won more 2024 IIHS Top Safety Picks than any other brand as of June 2024. Find out what makes Mazda different at Mazda.ca. In Pure Michigan, a fresh dash of fall really spices things up. Elevating every moment amid a blaze of color. Breathe in that crisp air. Savor every nuance and every note. Then kick it up a notch as the aromas of autumn fuel your inner fire. Add some spice to the season and let fresh bring the flavor in Pure Michigan. Keep it fresh at michigan.org. I don't know if I will ever believe

that Micah Francis died by suicide. But after pouring through JP's own evidence that shows the trauma and turmoil in their marriage beginning on day one, we now see a crystal clear picture of what coercive control looks like, especially in the early phases. Now we are more determined than ever to shine sunlight on coercive control until we see change and accountability for what happened to Micah. My name is Maddie 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. I want to start this episode off on a happy note. I am loving our new show for Lunashark Premium members only, called Girl Talk, Liz and Mandy's version. As y'all know, we have both struggled with mental health issues throughout the entirety of this podcast, and we are both very open about our internal struggles with work.

We love the work that we do and the positive impact of Lunashark Media, and we are grateful, trust us, for the opportunity to continue to do this meaningful work. However, the job is heavy, the work is hard, the subjects we cover are often very triggering. But Girl Talk has reminded me that the work that we do doesn't have to be traumatic, that we can share parts of ourselves that we normally wouldn't on other platforms. Because at the end of the day, it is important that we all decompress. Just listening to some of these JP episodes can be extremely draining. Anyway, we are loving the feedback on Girl Talk. One listener described it, quote,

"...like a glass of wine for your ears listening to the two best journalists chill." Girl Talk is available to Soak Up the Sun members only. Check out the link in the description to sign up for Lunashark Premium today, where you will find new case files in the Micah Francis case, extended episodes where we dive deeper, invites to premium-only events both virtual and in person, and so much more. Thank you to all of the current and future Lunashark Premium members. Y'all keep us going and keep us pesky. Thank you. Today we have a lot of important stuff to get through.

But before we do, we want to update you on something that is also important that we found after last week's episode. Last week, we shared 911 calls with you that were not released through FOIA and were instead made public through a TikTok user named Justice and Truth for SE Courts, which obviously Lunashark Media takes issue with because the police still haven't given anyone a reason as to why these calls and reports were held back from FOIA. And of course, the ones that were held back are some of the most egregious and important calls

we have gotten so far. In one of those calls, while waiting for police to arrive at his house because Micah and her father were there to pick up her things. Because according to the report, JP had told Micah to come and get her car, so he appears

to have pulled a fast one on her. JP told the dispatcher that Micah had emailed the South Carolina Secretary of State, Mark Hammond, to report their patrol officers. JP's 911 call was made on February 25th. At this point, Micah had called the police at least four times, trying to get her things back from JP. Every single time, JP had the upper hand because his church now owned their house, muddying the waters enough for law enforcement to declare this a civil issue for the courts. Also, they just, you know, believed whatever he said.

I want her to come back, I want her to have a happy marriage, but she has to take the lithium. Right. Because she could kill one of my kids in the middle of the night. She thought the dog was, she tried to kill the dog one time, she thought it was baby Jesus, she said, and she had it drowned in the oil. That must have been scary.

She just emailed Mark Hammond, the Secretary of State, last week, I have the email where she sent an email saying to investigate the two police officers that came here a few days before and kicked her out of the house. Well, she does these things when she's mentally ill that aren't normal. I have all the paperwork from the police officers

that were here last week and the week before. I have all the notes and everything. We'll talk about this incident more in the future. But the reason Micah was emailing the Secretary of State is because JP allegedly would not give Micah her newly issued notary and bosser. The Secretary of State's office is in charge of certifying notary publics in South Carolina, and Micah had just been certified in January so that she could earn commissions. So Micah was reporting the loss of her embosser.

She was understandably at her wit's end at this point. She had filed for divorce in October and was reconciling with JP when she decided enough was enough. As a result of that, in the buildup of stress that she was experiencing, in early February she got hospitalized against her will. Then she was discharged from the hospital to find that JP had evicted her from their home and was holding on to her car, her phone, her laptop, wallet, and other items. She had already reported JP for impersonating her through social media, emails, and text messages.

Micah worried that JP was going to use her notary and bosser to forge her name on documents. Anyway, reporter Beth Braden voyyered for emails sent to the Secretary of State that mentioned Micah Miller. And thank you to Mark Hammond and staff because that foyer came back quickly and without any nonsense, which was really refreshing. We discovered that on February 17th, 2024, Micah had filled out a contact form on the Secretary of State's office website. The address that she listed as hers is actually her sister Ciara's. As for the topic of the message, she wrote,

John Paul Miller, my husband, will not tell me the location of my seal. And by seal, she means the embosser. In the message, she tells the Secretary of State about what happened to her embosser and why. And she says that she had tried to report it as stolen and had asked police to escort her to the marital property to retrieve it to no avail. Here is an excerpt from the letter. By the way, this is a general AI female voice. AI audio is a topic that we are going to get into later because wow, it is scary. But here is our AI robot Natalie reading Micah's email from February 2024. My soon-to-be ex-husband has been trying to force me into signing a post-nup that after six years of marriage

and 15 years of being an employee of Solid Rock Ministries, Inc. he's trying to leave me with nothing and he won't sign divorce papers until I agree to these terms. Because of this, I have reason to believe he may try to use my seal for his gain. Also, I started a charity called Dare to Care Missions and collected donations under the watch of Solid Rock Ministries, Inc., tax-exempt, and 501.

And after searching for my charity in the public records, I found out that Solid Rock Ministries, Inc. never filed the charity and made it official, and they are sending threats to my family saying they will arrest me because they are claiming I stole $4,000 from my own charity, which I have proof that the only money that has been deposited into the charity bank account was my own funds.

And it was only $159 in total. The church is also trying to make some large purchases that I believe to be illegitimate, and that would require a notarization. I am asking that you please put a hold on any document with my seal because I have never used it since the date I received it. And to also investigate the two officers that escorted me into my home since I feared for my life around my husband due to past documented gun violence, intimidation, and

domestic violence. And they would not even allow me to ask my husband for the location of my notary seal. And they began shouting at me to leave my home and said they would arrest me and kick me out forcefully if I didn't leave immediately, even though I was in my own house, which is marital property." She signed off with her name and the words, God bless. So this adds a whole lot of context to what was going on in February. Again, when Mike was in the hospital, JP used that as an opportunity to kick her out of their house. And then he kept her from her stuff. We've talked so many times about that one February 21st report when J.P. told the police that he and

Micah were not separated, that her car was marital property when it was in her name only, and that basically Micah was a crazy person. And the officer just believed him. We keep getting more and more evidence of JP seeming to be able to use the police force like it was his own personal security. And also more and more evidence of JP not letting go of the emotional leash he had looped around Micah's neck, not just not letting go, tightening it and yanking it. Remember how he was accused of responding to people Not just not letting go, tightening it and yanking it.

Remember how he was accused of responding to people as Micah, including a legislator with his own young daughter? According to court documents about a week or so after that 911 call, he had a full-on conversation with his daughter as Micah, using Micah's phone number on Micah's birthday. It's sick. Remember also how he was monitoring her emails and social media at this time? Well, as JP told the dispatcher, he knew that Micah had sent this email a week earlier. How did he know that? Well, gee, because just like Micah had been telling

the police over and over, JP had her laptop and he had her phone. So in a way, JP is telling on himself in that 1911 call. If you saw the message to the Secretary of State's office, it's because he was going into Micah's Gmail account and had seen the Secretary of State's office's response. Kataria Watkins, the director of notaries, had written back and let Micah know that they had made a note in their records about her stolen embosser so that she wouldn't be

held accountable for any potentially fraudulent activity involving her notary supplies. And Kataria ended her email by saying that she strongly encouraged Micah to consult with police and an attorney regarding the other matters. Guess what JP did? Guess what the guy who continues to say he didn't do anything wrong did. The guy who says he wasn't abusive toward Micah, the guy who was clearly monitoring Micah's emails. Within minutes,

minutes of Kataria Watkins' response to Micah, JP forwarded her email to his own account and then sent his own email to the Secretary of State's office on February 20th. Here's David with the full email. Greetings, Kataria. My name is JP Miller. I'm Micah Miller's husband.

I have also included our bishop, Charles Randall, on this email. I saw the included our bishop, Charles Randall, on this email. I saw the email that you sent to my wife and just want to assure you that she is in no danger and all is well. She recently left the mental hospital here in MB at South Strand and since getting out she has not come home and is still suffering from bipolar and schizophrenia. We are doing all we can to help her. And her seal that she is so worried about is perfectly safe.

Thank you, JP. I mean, the chills I got when I first read that email and the pit that forms in my stomach every time I reread it. It really seems like Micah spent the last few months of her life with JP around every corner. It seems like he was hiding in every shadow, every gigabyte. It seems like he was lurking, ready to start trouble. And in the weeks leading up to Micah's death, it really does seem like his sole focus was on making her life as miserable, as confusing, and as hopeless as possible. J.P. Miller had a metaphorical boot

on Micah's throat while yelling at her to get up and at the very same time telling everyone else in her life, her friends, her family, and every person she sought help from, that Micah was mentally ill and that is why she was on the ground struggling. It was her mental illness, not the metaphorical boot on her throat. The very next day after he found out that Micah had messaged the Secretary of State's office and had seen what she had written and intervened with his own email, JP Miller went to the and intervened with his own email, JP Miller went to the Waccamaw Center for Mental Health and began the process of getting the state of South Carolina to declare Micah mentally unsound

to have her institutionalized. That very next day, he was once again weaponizing Micah's mental health and using it to retaliate against her, leveraging her hospital stays as evidence that her own narrative could never be trusted. When in truth, he's the one who seemed out of control. He's the one who seemed like he shouldn't have been trusted. Today we're going to talk about JP Miller and what

his own evidence filed with probate court says about him. Evidence that he thinks exonerates him and that he thinks proves that he was a loving husband who deserved to be in charge of Micah's estate. When really, all it proves is how he utterly trapped Micah from the very first days of their marriage to her very last day. Last week, we sent a courier to pick up the latest filings in Micah's probate file. Since we have been talking a lot about FOIA requests lately and how these actually work

and how expensive they are, we want to keep showing you how this works. To get public documents from probate filings in Horry County, you have to go in person to get them. There, they allow you to photocopy them for 50 cents a page. Obviously, we don't live in Horry County, so we've had to send a courier to get them. We have done this several times since May 3rd, when Ciara Francis first petitioned the court

to be appointed as MICA's personal representative instead of JP. It's sort of a messy process because it's hard to tell what has actually been filed and when. Like in Colleton County, for example, where Maggie and Paul Murdoch were killed, we can see individual filings that have been made in their probate cases and for the most part,

get a copy right there on the internet without having to physically go anywhere. But in Horry County, when you pull up the case file for Micah, it shows no filings. In fact, under filings, it literally says, no filings. Which we obviously know is not true. That said, it can cost up to hundreds of dollars to send a courier each time. Lunashark Media is not only paying for the courier's time in the probate court's copying fees, but also a larger per-page fee to receive an electronic copy of what the courier has retrieved.

This last delivery was about 125 pages. So a big shout out to our premium members and our sponsors because it is your support that makes this possible. So that's the rundown on that. As you can see, there are huge inconsistencies between counties in terms of how accessible public information is. So far, our experience with Horry County has been dismal. I really hope there are pesky Horry County folks out there listening who will start demanding better transparency for their citizens. Anyways, as we were finishing up episode 62 of True Sunlight,

we received the latest probate files from our courier and the second we were done recording, we began tearing through them. These documents were tough to read, to say the least. We will talk more about those documents after a quick break. And we'll be right back. Hungry Root is the easiest way to stay healthy. They send you fresh, high-quality groceries, simple, delicious recipes, and essential supplements. It's like having someone else do all of the planning and shopping so you don't even

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and cheesy ground beef keto tacos. And y'all, I love these tacos. Right now, Hungry Root is offering true sunlight listeners 40% off your first delivery and free veggies for life. Just go to hungryroot.com slash mandy to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies. That's hungryroot.com slash Mandy. Don't forget to use our link so they know we sent you. DQ presents Picture This. Picture the Reese's extreme blizzard back for a limited time. Reese's peanut butter cups and Reese's pieces blended together with world famous soft serve

in one blizzard treat. It's a dream treat for choco peanut butter lovers. Wait, are you dreaming? Well check, are there any dinosaurs around? Are you riding a unicorn? Are you back in high school? No? Then oh yeah, this Reese's Extreme Blizzard is real! Hurry in to DQ today. DQ, happy tastes good. So, the probate documents we got last week were sickening and difficult to read. But also so incredibly important when it comes to the core of this story which is exposing and identifying abuse. This is what we're learning about people accused of being coercive controllers. Their alleged abuse isn't just experienced by their targeted victims.

Even just reading these primary documents from JP, reading his own words to Micah is difficult. The manipulation is relentless. Re-lent-less. The manipulation is relentless. RELENT-LESS. And when you're reading it from this helpless position that we're in right now, this position of only knowing about Micah because of her death and knowing that there is nothing that any of us can do to save her, it is only more difficult to bear.

Because you are reading JP's words and realizing, oh my god, this is the burden that Micah had been carrying on her shoulders every single day of her relationship with this man. You're realizing that what you're reading is sentence after sentence of gaslighting. Micah's story isn't just about what happened between February and April of this past year. It actually starts 15 years earlier when she was just 15 years old. JP told Micah who she was over and over and over. And he told her how she was supposed to be, over and over and over.

And he told her when she fell short of those expectations put on her by him and by God. And though JP clearly thinks that this probate evidence exonerates him, that this is his moment of hallelujah, now everyone will see that I am all but a misunderstood hero. He would be very mistaken, very mistaken.

This latest file from probate court references more than 65 exhibits from JP. Remember JP's claim that he had over 350 pieces of evidence showing that he had nothing to do with Micah's death? What's 350 minus 65? Does this mean we can expect 285 more pieces of evidence from JP? God help us if that's the case. 8 of those probate exhibits remain sealed at the request of the Francis family, but the rest, they are aggressively not sealed. We're going to talk about everything we have learned from these documents over the

next few episodes. We both really want to stress that the most important thing for you to do is to pace yourself and take care of yourself. We know that this is important that people hear this. Change will not happen if people don't hear this. Not only will you better understand Micah's story, but you will likely start to see pieces of that ring familiar in your own lives, maybe in your past relationships, or current ones, or in your friends and loved ones' relationships. This is going to be a difficult listen, but behavior like this needs every drop of sunlight

on it. The only way to get coercive control laws passed in every state is for us to talk about what this actually looks like and when we think it is happening. The biggest favor J.P. Miller has done the public is in making this information available. Because not only do we get to see for ourselves what he's been talking about for months, there is now a bigger trove of evidence to dig through. And the bigger trove of evidence, the more patterns that emerge, right? The more you see contradictions.

We are seeing things, like differences in signatures, used both by JP, Micah, and allegedly Micah. Oh yeah, there are three people that we are going to be referring to now. There's JP, there's Micah, and there is allegedly Micah. Because not only is it well established at this point that there are multiple accusations against JP in which he was impersonating Micah, and not only did we hear that fear in Micah's own voice last week that he would do this, this big trove of exhibits from JP is allowing us to see some pretty giant inconsistencies in how Micah, and allegedly Micah, communicated. But we will talk more about that in a later episode. Now JP lays out his role in Micah's life in an affidavit. It's seven pages of sworn testimony

that basically serves as a key to the exhibits and a timeline of their relationship. This affidavit was filed in Micah's probate case where JP, who obviously was estranged from Micah at the time of her death, still argued that he should be appointed to control Micah's estate, which he ultimately did get in last month's settlement. Many of JP's exhibits are missing important contexts like dates and full names, and many of them do not prove what he says they prove. Like to a really pathetic degree.

Almost every instance is about as ridiculous as someone coming up to you and saying that they saw Travis Kelce in McDonald's and then handing you an empty fry cup as proof of that. JP appears to have redacted information in the exhibits, which again contributes to the lack of context, and he includes things that are meaningless without forensic data, such as emails he says were sent at specific times and dates by him and, allegedly, Micah. Today, we want to talk about the earliest days of Micah's marriage to JP and what JP himself has shown those to look like.

JP and Micah were married on November 7th, 2017. On Tuesday, Beth confirmed with the Horry County Clerk of Court that a marriage license does exist for JP and Micah and were waiting on receipt of their marriage certificate. There's a question about whether this was ever properly filed. According to sources and recordings, Micah questioned

whether she was actually married to JP because of a document that she had allegedly come across at Solid Rock. Our understanding is that this document had something to do with the marriage certificate. That said, soon after JP began getting criticized in the public realm, a voicemail purporting to be from Micah was mysteriously posted on TikTok. In the voicemail, she's like, I don't even know who I am. Am I Micah Miller? Am I Micah Francis? The implication back then was, look, Micah was crazy.

She didn't even know who she was. But we're certain that this voicemail is Micah referring to her suspicion that their marriage certificate had not been properly filed. Now, JP has said in multiple interviews at this point that one of the clues to him that Micah was having one of her manic episodes was that she would begin talking about paper trails, which that's awfully convenient when you consider that in 2024 she was starting to question a lot of things, including the church's financial transactions. JP says paper trails, we say receipts. At any rate, one of the biggest things we have learned from these files is that, like we said, the alleged coercive control started even earlier.

Which isn't a big surprise, obviously. Micah herself put it on the record that she believed JP had been grooming her since 2010 when she was about 15 years old and he was about 30. Real quick, I know JP denies that he ever groomed Micah. He doesn't see it that way. But here's how we see it, without even knowing what her relationship with JP looked like from ages 15 to 18. We know that Micah says she worked for the church starting at age 15. We know that when she was 18,

JP was the officiant in her marriage to her high school sweetheart. We know that from ages 18 to around 21, Micah was a fixture at JP's house. She was a nanny to his kids and sought counsel from his wife. We know that around age 21, possibly earlier, Micah began a sexual relationship with JP while both were still married. We know that around age 21, her affair with JP was discovered by the church. And we know that two years later, at around age 23, she married JP. Think about that. It's a mudslide right into his arms, right?

The generous view would be that they were so inexplicably drawn to each other that they ran toward their destiny together. But we already know the ending to that and it is no fairy tale. So did he groom her? We don't know, but it does not look good from where we're sitting. We are highly suspicious of any married man in a position of power who befriends, as he put it, a 15-year-old child who idolized him. So we think this is important context to everything you're about to hear, especially when you take in what the early days of their marriage look like. According to sources, Micah was set to have breast augmentation surgery in late 2017. We're told that JP insisted that he be the one to take care of Micah post-op

and that to do that, they would need to get secretly married before her surgery so that they wouldn't be living in sin when she moved in with him. Micah's family has said that JP pushed her into getting this surgery. JP contends that Micah was the one who wanted the surgery and that he didn't want her to have it, which sure, Jan. Now, why is this important? Because there are a few ways to look at it. The first way is that JP cared so much about Micah that he wanted to open his home to her and begin their lives as a couple ASAP and as part of his new husbandly duty,

care for his wife post-op, which by the way, post-op care for breast implants is typically just a few days. Most patients are able to return to work within five days after their surgeries, meaning it's a little extreme to suggest getting secretly married as a remedy to a recuperation

like that. It's not like she was going to need months of care. Except that's what happened, isn't it? This simple recovery became a complicated one and it morphed into something else altogether. That said, the second way of looking at this is like this. JP had just come out of what could be considered the lowest point of his life. Over the course of the previous two years, he had, according to court records and police records, gotten caught having an affair with Micah, allegedly admitted to molesting teen

girls at church and allegedly using sex workers while married to his first wife. His first wife filed for divorce and the court found him in contempt for not paying child support and alimony. He hounded his first wife repeatedly to get back together. He fell out of a tree, allegedly up there carving his ex-wife's initials into it. He had the police called on him several times for allegedly harassing and stalking his first wife and over custody disputes. He was found crying and squeaking like Minnie Mouse, lying, curled up in the field position in the grass by his

first wife's house saying he wanted to go be with Jesus, something he says was a result of mixing his medications. And he had lost the vast majority of his congregation, i.e. most of his revenue stream. Sources have told us that in 2015 and 16, JP seemed stunned that his first wife had actually left him this time, that she'd finally had enough. And he was greatly affected by this. Let's not forget that police reports show that he moved into a house across the way from his first wife and would surveil her home from there, allegedly, even, allegedly, shining a green laser into her windows, even allegedly trying to poison a tree that blocked his full view of her house. And yet, this man's word continued to be trusted. It is enough to make you want to rip paper into confetti with your bare hands. Okay, let's put ourselves in

JP's mindset in 2017. He had just built his church back up and the new congregation loved Micah. Is it possible that he entered into this marriage with Micah with a fear that he could lose everything again? Is it possible that he knew his behavior as a husband was probably going to be egregious? That he'd struggled to be faithful to a wife? Did he feel pressured to marry Micah because it would legitimize him in front of his flock? And did he go into the second marriage in abject fear that she could leave him at any time and possibly would, that she wouldn't put up with his antics? These are all speculative questions, obviously, but they're important ones to consider

because a pathologically insecure man who is afraid to lose a woman who is too good for him tends to try and trap her, right? We have plenty of stories of that happening throughout history. I mean, good Lord. The foundation of the women's rights movement is really about freedom to

live, right? Freedom to earn and spend money, freedom to pursue any career, freedom to buy property, freedom to divorce. It's fundamentally about having agency and not having to rely on a man or be trapped by one ever. Oh, and how about our entire legal system? There are so many examples of laws that seem to have been created by Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater. You know him, right? Had a wife and couldn't keep her. He put her in a pumpkin shell, and there, he kept her very well. So, did J.B. Miller try to put Micah in a pumpkin shell? Did he use what should have been and likely was a transient health scare in late 2017 to handcuff her?

Did he exaggerate her behavior to fit a narrative? Did he fill her head with ideas that she was sicker than she thought and then use that to reel her in whenever he felt like she had stepped outside his tight emotional boundaries. Let's take a look at what his own filings have to say about this. We are going to allow JP to serve as our guide here. In the first paragraph of his affidavit, which he swore on July 26, just three days before his settlement with the Francis family was announced, he says this, quote, Micah grew up in an unstable home with about 10 stepparents total. She lived with people unrelated to her

for many years of her life before turning 18 due to problems with her mother. As evidence of this, he provided a screenshot of a single text message from Micah in his response to it. There is no date attached to these messages, but it looks like Micah wrote, quote, I am very, very, very lucky to have found a female that I'm okay with, considering my issues with women,

basically being molested by my own mother. So yes, we both have deep issues with the same sex. I was willing to compromise and go without you You've given no compromise So one we have no idea what Micah meant by molestation there Especially because she qualified it with the word basically We have found no records that Micah's mother was ever charged with anything resembling this accusation from JP. We know from sources that Micah had issues

with her mother throughout her life. But according to multiple posts on social media over the years, it appears that they had periods where there was not estrangement. That said, this is not evidence of his assertion that Micah grew up in chaos, but it is evidence of JP trying to exert control over Micah. Because it appears Micah is telling JP that she's trying to see a male doctor and he's

been making that difficult on her. She's making a point to say, listen, I was lucky to have found one female doctor and I'm trying to work with you here. I want to see the male doctor and you can come with me, but you're not making this easy. In text, JP responds to Micah, find your man, go talk to him. And if you like him, I'll come along and listen, even though it brings me anxiety, stress, pain, and." Then he redacted several words there. He goes on, quote, But I'm going to do it because you fought so hard to have that even when I told you what the result would be. If you

really wanted a man and were not okay with a woman, we could come up with other options, but the only reason you want a man." Then he redacted the rest. It is not clear when these texts were sent because there is no date attached, but the takeaway is this. Did you notice the manipulation? In our opinions, the subtext is this. Yes, you can do the thing you want to do, but just know that you're hurting me when

you do it. And I'm allowing you to do this thing even though I've already told you so on how it's going to end. So, you should plan on me throwing that in your face later on. Also, I'm going to gaslight you by saying that you are not being honest about your motivations here. Did you notice the phrasing of find your man? Isn't it wild how manipulation can be contained in so few syllables? JP doesn't say, go and find a

male doctor. He makes it personal and attaches meaning to it by saying, your man. He says it to escalate things and for our listeners in Ireland, I promise you, find your man means something very different in this case, especially when it's a husband saying it to a wife who appears to be doing something that does not please him. It's a tripwire where there didn't need to be one. It's another eggshell for Micah to tiptoe around. So this was JP's big proof that Micah came from a chaotic upbringing. A single text with a vague reference, absent any context, but that's actually about his own insecurities and Micah seeking a male doctor. Right out of the gate JP seems to be serving us a big old backfire.

It's so sad that he doesn't seem to know that women can go see whatever doctor they want to go see without the permission of their husbands and that a supportive partner doesn't make that hard on them. A supportive partner says, great, do you want me to come as moral support? Not you wanting to see this doctor causes me anxiety, stress and pain. I mean, grow up. In paragraph two of his affidavit, JP goes on to say that Micah and he married

at the end of 2017. Like we said, their first marriage was on November 17th in a civil ceremony. Their church ceremony was on December 31st. Which, we'll both post links to their wedding videos on social media so that you can see it through this new lens with this new information. If you had seen the videos before, you might have noticed a few red flags in terms of the vows and how Micah and JP appeared to relate to each other in the reception. There seemed to be a tension there that we originally ascribed to the fact that they

were paramours now getting married in the church that their affair nearly destroyed. But when we watched them again, with the context of everything that was going on at that time, in his affidavit JP says that on December 1st, 2017, Micah decided to have an elective surgery. In the exhibits, he's provided an invoice for a plastic surgeon's office. But to be more accurate, and again, according to JP's own evidence, the decision on the surgery occurred back in September, before they were married. The surgery cost around $5,300. A deposit was made on September 29th and the balance was paid on November 29th.

The surgery was scheduled for December 1st. On November 29th, Micah signed her surgical release form, Micah Francis, not Micah Miller. JP goes on to say, "'When she awoke, the doctors informed me "'that she was having a psychotic episode.' "'Micah began writing undecipherable emails on December 15th, 2017.

I know, that was a whiplash pairing of two sentences. Does JP provide evidence that doctors told him she was having a psychotic episode? No. Instead, we have one so-called indecipherable email, which we'll get to. I just first want to reiterate that Micah's family says that this surgery changed Micah and this is when JP began telling them that she was mentally ill. It appears that Micah was suffering from post anesthetic psychosis. According to JP, again he's provided no actual evidence of this and this is something that can last hours or

days but usually disappears. This is when JP says doctors diagnosed her as bipolar and schizophrenic by the way. Again, to this day he has not provided any concrete evidence that she was diagnosed as schizophrenic in December 2017. Additionally, there are multiple inconsistencies in his own recounting of that December 1st through December 31st timeline when you put all the pieces together. In his July 15th interview with TikTok user flow daddy, JP said that two things happened after this augmentation surgery that he totally didn't push Micah into getting. One is what we talked about the post anesthetic psychosis

he says that she had. JP says in the interview that Micah began speaking in tongues. Two is that a few weeks after the surgery, one of Micah's breasts hardened. JP says that he wanted to sue the doctor, but that this doctor's practice had shut down from lawsuits immediately before he could do anything. Okay, back to the affidavit in the undecipherable December 15th email that JP says that Mike has sent, which JP included in his exhibits. So the email is actually from someone else.

JP refers to this person as a friend. The sender's name is redacted. We don't know for sure, but we have been told that it appears to be from Trisha Ross, who is JP's right-hand woman at Solid Rock. Now, mind you, in December 2017, 23-year-old Micah Francis, 23 years old, is about to marry a 38-year-old pastor in her second marriage. She is planning her wedding,

and it's going to be at a church that he runs in the church that fell apart when news of their affair came out two years earlier. That is a lot for a 23-year-old woman to be dealing with. On top of that, turns out, she married an alleged coercive controller. Add to that, she just had major plastic surgery. And according to JP's own words, two weeks later, which would be December 15th, the same

day of this strange email JP is referring to in the affidavit, one of her breasts hardened to resemble a bowling ball, which means that Micah appears to have had a very serious infection. Post-surgical infections can result in fevers and high fevers can cause hallucinations. This isn't even accounting for the pain medication she was likely on. In the email, JP's friend, likely Tricia,

tells him that we really have to help Micah. Quote, I told her before you two can work on things. She has to get well by seeing a psychiatrist. End quote. She says Micah needs help ASAP and quote, I would consider this a manic episode. I am worried about her because if her mind, thoughts, and energy continues like this, she is going to crash so hard. I thought listening would help her, but the mania is at a point it cannot be controlled.

I am praying." So we know from sources that Trisha had met with Micah around this time and told people that Micah went on for hours and was making no sense. Again, it is not 100% clear that this is an email from Trisha, but it does track with other reporting that we've done. Did you notice the part where the person said, quote, before you two can work on things? Work on things?

They're newlyweds. They haven't even had their actual wedding ceremony yet. But whoa, it's not only a sign that there were problems from the get-go. It shows that JP was involving other people in their five-week marriage and in Micah's private health issues with a person who was not family, by the way.

In our opinions, this is just more evidence of how JP catastrophizes things when it comes to Micah. Let's pause and consider a few things before we move on to the next piece of evidence. You know how there's a video of JP squealing on the ground for several minutes talking about going to see Jesus and telling the person filming him to leave him there? And how there is an entire stack of police reports that outline some pretty bizarre behavior on JP's part, behavior that we have shared with you in past episodes.

And yet, he likely would not agree with anyone if they suggested that he was mentally ill and needed to be hospitalized. And if police had listened to Allison, if they had listened to Micah the way they seemed to listen to JP, then this story would be looking a lot different right now. The evidence is there. It is not she said he said. But the mentally ill needs to be hospitalized label doesn't stick, does it?

It slides right off JP despite his collection of strange behavior that we have seen. Not for Micah though, JP called her crazy, so it was. Plastered on her forehead and coloring every interaction that she had with police when she tried to get help. He branded her the second he married her and now we have proof, which we will discuss and dissect right after this short break.

Wow there are so many pans at home since. These are non-stick made in Italy. It's a sign. We need a new pan. We already have a pan. It works. What we have is an extra stick pan made of, I don't know what, everything sticks and burns. Do we seriously have to eat burnt food to save 20 bucks? It's 20 bucks? 20 bucks, need I remind you, made in Italy. You don't need to tell me, we're getting this pan. Deal so good, everyone approves, only at HomeSense.

Who's Beetlejuice? Don't ever say that name. Beetlejuice. So good everyone approves only at home sense. The wait is over. Thank you all for coming to this very special occasion. I feel so tingled. Yeah. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice September 6th. In the affidavit, JP goes on to say that after the December 15th email, the doctor, he doesn't give a name, put Micah in a mental hospital. He provides no exhibit to prove this. Then he says that Micah was discharged and then readmitted because her sisters allegedly convinced her not to take

her prescribed medication. Again, he provides no exhibit, no admission or discharge forms, no prescription history, no text between Micah and her sisters. Then he provides no exhibit, no admission or discharge forms, no prescription history, no text between Micah and her sisters. Then he says, quote, the doctors then prescribed lithium, olanzapine, lamotrigine, seroquel, and other medications over the years, but lithium has been the best and most consistent. He cites three pieces of evidence to support this. One of them has been sealed. One of the exhibits is a string of texts with a guy named Derek with

no explanation as to who Derek is. On December 20th, 2022, Derek texted JP and said, he had just gotten off the phone with someone named Dr. Lynn, and she recommended starting mica on 300 milligrams of lithium twice per day with a follow-up office visit in two weeks. So this is after Myka was hospitalized at Waccamaw in November, 2022.

Reminder, JP had to be stopped by the police because Myka's sister, you know, sister who didn't care about Myka's health, according to JP, had brought Micah to the hospital and that's not what JP apparently wanted. The hospital and EMT said Micah appeared to be drugged and JP was trying to drive away with Micah before police stopped him. On the day she was discharged, Micah appears to have signed a health care power of attorney giving JP decision-making power over her medical care. So this is a few weeks after that. Derek insists text to JP by saying that they can

come pick up a lab order after JP and Micah get back from quote the trip. JP then texts Derek back with a picture of a blister pack of norethondrome, which is birth control. Under it, he writes, that seems like a lot of lithium. Derek responds by saying, that is the starting dosage. JP, ever the mental health expert, writes back, in other words, start with a lot, then taper off? And Derek writes back that this dosage of lithium they're prescribing for Micah is the lowest treatment dose and it might need to be increased depending on her lithium levels. According to these texts, Micah was also on

Cypraxa, which is a drug used to treat bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, and Micah had been taking 450 milligrams of lithium once a day for the past five years. So since 2017, which let's talk about that. A drug that can be used to treat both bipolar and schizophrenia. Is it possible that JP saw the drug's applications and glommed onto the word schizophrenia? Is it possible that he then cultivated that word and used it with new doctors and new hospitals telling them that this was part of Micah's diagnosis and then it just sort of stuck? Not sure, but those are questions worth asking. Again, we have no idea who Derek is. There is a family practitioner in Myrtle Beach whose first name is Derek, but we don't know if

that's him. So if you have any ideas about who JP was texting, please feel free to email us. The third piece of evidence he's given is an email from allegedly Micah. I say allegedly Micah because this email includes the word so with five O's, which might seem familiar if you remember Micah's obituary where it said that Micah was so close to her family that so adding a bit of sarcasm and obviously it is believed that JP wrote that obit. Anyway, this email was written in February 2018 and the name of the recipient has been redacted but the subject line says, hello doctor, please read with an old school frowny face emoji.

Allegedly, Micah tells the doctor that she read their review on bipolar medication. That she was recently diagnosed with bipolar 1, which let's talk about that real quick. Bipolar 1 means that a person has had at least one manic episode in their life. A manic episode being a disruptive period in which someone is experiencing an elevated or irritable mood and high energy. It's usually associated with out-of-character behavior. With this comes depression. Notice how Micah didn't use the word schizophrenia when she was talking about her diagnosis, even though JP says she was diagnosed with

schizophrenia directly after her breast augmentation surgery. According to several sources online, people with bipolar 1 can live normal lives, and you likely know someone who has it because about 3 out of every 100 people have this diagnosis. Allegedly, Micah tells this unknown doctor that she had a manic episode and was hospitalized where she had been put on 600 milligrams of lithium, but because her body wasn't metabolizing it properly, they had reduced her dose to 300 milligrams. Lately, she says, I am so depressed and they can't figure out what to do. Any advice, she asks? I'm crying as I write this email

as I have no clue how to help myself because I'm so depressed and feel like there's no hope for a normal life. Please comment back with anything that can help my situation. So again, this is less than three months after her initial issue. According to her family,

Micah was normal and healthy before her December 1st, 2017 surgery. And in three months' time, she was already, if word to believe she wrote this email, feeling desperate. In his affidavit, JP goes on to say that Micah has been diagnosed, quote, many times and that the most consistent diagnoses were schizophrenia and bipolar 2 with severe psychosis. As evidence of this, he included three exhibits. One remains sealed. The other two are a collection of bills. One exhibit includes three bills from South Strand Medical Center for unspecified services. The other is from Grand Strand Behavioral Health,

again for unspecified services. The bills are dated January 1st, 2023, January 16th, 2023, January 19th, 2023, and March 10th, 2024. And they total up to more than $5,000. Now again, where did schizophrenia and bipolar II with severe psychosis come from? Is it contained in one of the sealed pieces of evidence? Because these bills tell us absolutely nothing except that Micah was an American

woman with medical debt. JP then goes on to say that Micah's medical records reside at four different hospitals, which JP was fighting for control of Micah's estate and fighting the public perception that he contributed to her death. And at the time, he was facing a potential wrongful death suit. Did he not subpoena for those records? It seems like something he would have wanted to have on hand. Don't get us wrong.

We don't doubt that Micah struggled with her mental health. We both can relate. But we don't believe the picture that JP has been trying to paint here. Because it feels like the things he considered to be signs of Micah's mental illness were actually signs that Micah was not acting according to his roles and his expectations. Okay, let's talk about what else happened in December 2017, in the days between Micah's surgery and her church wedding. So just 21 days after her surgery and soon after this alleged mental health incident,

and just 9 days before their church wedding, JP decided to quote unquote help Micah. He wrote in his affidavit that on this day in December, quote, while Micah was back in the mental institute, I gathered from professionals on how to take care of her. I emailed her about the details of the event because she wasn't in her right mind, end quote. Think about this. She had, according to JP's own evidence, just been diagnosed with bipolar one. Bipolar is a disorder that can often be managed

with medication and or therapy. According to accounts from her family, Micah had been a healthy young woman before this surgery, and yet JP appears to have decided that this was his own personal Chernobyl. It was an opportunity for him to hammer Micah and an opportunity for him to assert himself as the ultimate authority over her life. According to the exhibit, J.P. sent this email, titled Our Life, to Micah at 8.33 p.m. on December 22nd, 2017.

The email is three pages long and divided into five sections. One, our future. Two, the past 10 days. Three, help. Four, the real world. And five, the truth. To us, this email reads like a manifesto to Micah, who he is already legally married to.

To convince her that she is bipolar and that this is dire. To put on the record that he is a loving and supporting husband. To gently remind her how little control she has over her own life right now and that she should get used to all of this because this is how her life is going to be like now. That is how it reads to us but we're going to go through this letter and y'all can decide for yourselves. Context is key here. Again, a reminder, this is triggering content for anyone who has ever experienced abuse. Here is David reading as JP. Hey baby, this has probably been the most difficult time of my life.

I don't know what I'm emailing you for other than to help explain in words what has happened and how I feel and how much I love you. One, our future. Let me say first that many doctors and nurses and caseworkers and friends with experience in being in relationship with someone who is bipolar have all been preparing me for what could be the worst case scenario.

One of your nurses even told me, quote, You may only see the wife who you married once every several months. Her personality disorder could regularly become someone who you don't even know, end quote. They have warned me about making sure you take your medicine. They warned me about your water intake and helping you get proper sleep and how I may have to watch you and take care of you the rest of your life. Several professionals have talked to me about getting a counselor who I can go to on a regular basis about my emotional needs and my stress and fears all in dealing with all of this.

What they mean is that it is difficult to love someone who doesn't love you back in the same way that they did before they had the psychotic episode. They tell me that there's a chance that I would have to hold back secrets and intimate things that I would normally share with you in fear that you could repeat it in irrational settings or in public. They told me about cases where people have ran outside naked or where the bipolar patient thinks that their spouse is crazy. There have been so many different scenarios that I have been warned Okay, we need to pause because as hard as it is to stomach, we can't just let the is a liar. Okay, we need to pause because as hard as it is to stomach this man's words,

it is also important that we look at what he is doing here to manipulate Micah so that we can identify similar patterns of abuse in our own lives. Notice how important it is for him to communicate to Micah how her mental illness affects his life and how ultimately she needs to know that she is the burden in this relationship. This is the controlling part of coercive control.

In order for an abuser to gain control over their partner, they have to ensure that the power dynamics of the relationship are unequal. Laura Richards is a world-renowned expert on coercive control who you can hear on episodes 62 and 86 of Cup of Justice defines controlling behaviors as a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate

and or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape, and regulating their everyday behavior. Yes, well I'm so glad you're spotlighting Coercive Control, Mandy, with Micah's case. Unfortunately, it's too late for Micah and many women across the world because we know that coercive control does correlate significantly with suicide, with homicide, and with familicide. When I first started to realize that actually there was something much more insidious than what we understand when we use the term domestic abuse,

I was reviewing lots of murders of women and some suicides as well, and murders of children. And I was understanding that actually often women become entrapped. It's not just about a physical act that happens, it's about the psychological and the emotional entrapment, but also wider society that keeps her entrapped, the gender inequality. And it was when I was working at New Scotland Yard that I became aware of it, from reviewing lots of the murders and realizing it was much more like the spider's web that kept a woman entrapped and that she, people would say, well, she kept going back Laura, she kept going back to him and I would look at the reasons for why she would go back and I would see that on average it would be about seven times that she would love that individual,

but she wanted the abuse to stop, But it was all the other things that kept her entrapped, i.e. that the abuse got worse when she left, and that people would tell her to go back, that she wouldn't have her own financial independence, that the children would also keep her entrapped. So actually, I started to realize there was something far more insidious at play. We will be right back. Only Murders in the Building is back for a new season on Disney Plus. Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez return alongside a star-studded guest cast

as the trio takes on Hollywood, where a studio is making a film about their podcast. Amidst all the glitz and glamour, there's a new mystery. Who tried to kill Charles? Only Murders in the Building Season 4, streaming August 27th, exclusively on Disney+. Sign up now at DisneyPlus.com. Your teen requested a ride, but this time not from you. It's through their Uber Teen account. It's an Uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers.

Add your teen to your Uber account today. Keep in mind as we are listening to JP's own words to Micah at the very beginning of their marriage, Laura Richards defines coercive behavior as a continuing act or the pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish or frighten the victim. Continuing patterns of acts used to humiliate, intimidate, and frighten the victim. Remember that too. In this part of the letter, JP is saying things that I'm sure terrified Micah. He is saying, one, you are going to have to depend on me for the rest of your life.

Two, if you question me ever, your opinion doesn't matter because you are now bipolar. Three, you will always be the burden and you will always owe me due to the suffering that your illness has caused me. In the next paragraph, he continues to drive fear into Micah when he says, quote, or if things got so tough that if you were in a place to where I could only visit you one hour a week for the rest of

our life, which is what one of the nurses said could possibly happen." Laura Richards defines coercive control as, a strategic pattern of behavior designed to exploit, control and create dependency and dominate. I want you to also keep that in mind while you are listening to the rest of this letter, some of which we will paraphrase to keep you all from puking. The next few paragraphs of section 1 show what Laura Richards calls love bombing, an

effective tactic of coercive control used by the abuser to entrap their partner through fake charm. He says quote, I want you to know I will always be true to you. I will always love you. I will always take true to you. I will always love you. I will always take care of you No matter how hard it gets no matter how much it costs No matter how much counseling I need no matter what you want or what you think or what you are I will always love you

I will always bite my very best to honor you for the rest of my life Now the next section is titled the last 10 days which takes us back to December 12th. Micah had breast augmentation surgery December 1st so December 12th would be around the time that JP claims Micah had her post-surgery infection which could have caused her a fever and or hallucinations. Here is David reading SJP. This has been hell. It's almost impossible to explain to you

in a way where you would understand the pain because the sickness that is attacking you is in the area of your mental consciousness. I hope you can follow this because you weren't able to rationalize what is rational. No amount of rationalism would help. What I mean is, all of the pain, fear, difficulty, exhaustion, dealing with your family, doctors, nurses, caseworkers, your boss, lawyers, etc. is something that you may never understand and I want to share everything with you, the triumphs and the

tragedies. My hope is that you can look back and say, I can't believe I showed the nurses and doctor and security guard my boobs. I can't believe I would sing, everything is opposite when you believe in God, every five minutes. I can't believe I was more concerned with my makeup than I was getting out of that facility. And many, many, many more things

that the old Micah would have understood. I want you to see that this was the scariest thing of our entire lives. Again, JP is reminding Micah how much of a burden she is to him and he is subtly reminding her that she owes him for the inconvenience that she has caused him. He really wants her to know how much this cost him. Again, this email is just a tiny digital footprint of their relationship that JP believes shows

that he was a great husband. Imagine what their day-to-day off-the-record communications were like if this is how he spoke to his wife on the record in the newlywed phase. Back to the December 2017 email, JP hints that Micah might have gaps in her memory from this time and he makes sure to remind her of some of the embarrassing things he did. And then it gets weirder. After five minutes at the ER in Conway, the psychiatric doctor committed you against my wishes. He then promised me that I would get to drive you or ride with you in an ambulance to a hospital that would take care of you and allow me to be with you every single day and night.

After waiting for hours, a black sheriff pulled up in a van, and they had me escort you into a metal box all alone. I watched this van drive off with my wife, and all I could do was sit in the ER waiting room and cry for two hours. They then told me that I could only see you for two hours every Saturday. This has all been documented in group texts with your family." Uh, what is he talking about? Why did they go to an ER in Conway when they live much closer to Grand Strand, a bigger and better known hospital? And why did he say black sheriff like that? Like

an African American deputy? What? Why is that relevant? They had him escort Micah into a metal box all alone. What? Does he mean an ambulance? Why are there no records of this incident and why is he mentioning that this is documented in group text with her family? Does that mean that Micah was already doubting his accounts of reality? The bigger question is did any of this actually happen to Micah? And if it did, if she did have this very serious mental health incident involving police, then how on earth was she able to buy a gun a few years later? Okay, guys, we're still on section 2, believe it or not, and it's still getting weirder.

He goes on to shame her even more. I called lawyers, doctors, friends, etc. And the more I tried to get you back to normal, the happier you were at that facility. The pain of hearing you say that you enjoyed where you were and you wanted to stay there for months rather than come home was the most painful thing I've ever heard. Can you fathom that pain? I'm not telling you this for you to feel bad. Not at all.

I'm telling you this because I want to share everything with you. I want so badly for you to look back and say, wow, that was crazy. I want us to laugh of this one day. Financially, I was working with," redacted Dame, to get all of this taken care of. But you informed her about how much money you make, how the church pays our house, etc. When sending her our 2016 financials and November 2017 is all she needs. I guess I'm just saying I hate feeling like we aren't on the same team. I want to be on your team and I want you on my team.

I want you next to me in everything I do. I love you, Micah Miller." Can you fathom that pain? Uh, yeah, I'm sure Micah could, and sadly she will never be able to laugh about this because what happened to her in December 2017 was the first domino to fall in a series of events that led to her death. Lastly, in this never-ending section of this never-ending email, JP tells Micah that he had been working with a person, name or doctor, on finances, perhaps taxes, and that Micah had told this person too much information about how the church pays for our house. And he's saying this because he quote, wants them to be on the same team. It sounds like,

and who knows, maybe I'm stretching here, but it sounds like JP is telling Micah that she's already spilling too many secrets when it comes to their finances. And that means she's crazy and needs to be medicated ASAP for the sake of their marriage. Section 3 is titled Help, and thank goodness it is much shorter. He tells Micah that they need a quote help team in their lives and then suggests a couple whose names are redacted because they have experience with someone in their family with bipolar disorder. Notice the last few sentences of this paragraph. Item 3. Help. I don't want to be the one who always corrects you.

I don't want to spend the rest of our life telling you if something sounds irrational or unhealthy. So, I would like for us to use redacted couple name. They have someone in their family who suffers from bipolar. In fact, redacted name had to spend most of his childhood making sure that his mother took her medicine or else she would do very, very embarrassing things. Ah, yes, embarrassing things, maybe like crying in a Minnie Mouse voice on your neighbor's lawn. Or is that only embarrassing

when women have mental health crises? He says the word embarrassing multiple times in this letter, like he wanted to make sure that she felt deep shame for what she didn't remember. The next section of this letter, which again is an exhibit that JP included in an attempt to show the court and or maybe show the world that he was a good husband. This next section is titled The Real World, where he mansplains the movie A Beautiful Mind to Micah and basically says, your mind doesn't work now.

So you have to listen to me. And by the way, it is the devil who is doing this to you. And as the man, I'll make the devil pay for this. Here is just a part of that so y'all get the gist. Item 4. The real world. I can't imagine thinking the sky is blue and having everyone around me tell me it is pink. To me, that's a fair analogy to describe your pain and confusion.

Everything in you and all you feel and know and fathom is telling you that the sky is blue and then you have myself and these strangers who are called doctors telling you the sky is pink. I am so sorry for all of this. I am so sorry that you have had to go through this. Of all the sicknesses or issues that the enemy could attack us with, this is more severe than I would have concocted on my scariest day.

To attack your mind is not something I take lightly. The devil will pay for this. I will not allow him to win in any way. The final section of this December 22, 2017 email is mostly full of the same fluff and ironically called the truth. The truth is I am scared. I feel all alone. I feel like I'm fighting a battle in which I'm the only soldier and my co-captain has

left me. I am worried about the future. I am worried about my kids. I am worried about my kids. I am worried about our finances. I am worried and concerned deeply about us. I have prayed like never before. I have cried like never before. I want to say I've stood strong in the faith,

but the truth is I don't know if you are going to be okay. I don't know if I'm going to have my real wife back. I don't know how to even explain to you all my concerns. I feel like somehow I deserve this. I can't help but think that this is my lot in life and I will have to live for the next 50 to 60 years with the burden of making sure you take your medicine or don't do anything that you would regret when you are in a sane mood or mindset. These fears have consumed me lately."

There's that word again, burden. He is crystal clear with her. Micah is the burden in this relationship. JP is the hero. And Micah should be very afraid about what is going to happen to her. However, he goes on to say, but good news, I'm not going to leave you. He said he is going to make her life great and will spend the rest of his life fighting for her. He ends the letter saying I am your husband and your best friend and I will always be that for you for better or for worse for richer or poorer in sickness and in health till death do us part. I give you this promise, your husband, JP. So, even though their legal marriage occurred a month earlier,

just a few days after JP sent this email, Micah and JP were publicly married in a formal ceremony in front of friends and family at Solid Rock. Listen carefully to their vows. I'll ask you to state your vows to Mike. Did she go first? Sure. Well, we said we were going to do five promises, but I just have one that I'll be yours 100%

100% of my encouragement, 100% of my efforts to make your dreams come true, 100% of everything that I am I give to you. I'm going to try to beat that. Okay. I promise to always strive to continuously lead you to Jesus. I promise to always support your enthusiastic personality. I promise to remain faithful, loyal, and encouraging to you. And I promise to strive to love you the way Christ loved the church and gave himself for it." Unfortunately, as evidenced in JP's own emails and text messages provided in probate documents,

many of these vows would soon be broken. The first couple of solid rock began their marriage on shaky grounds. As picture perfect as JP and Micah looked in black and white celebrating their relationship in front of their loved ones on December 31, 2017, very few people would know that Micah had recently undergone surgery, suffered serious complications from that surgery, and was struggling with a very recent bipolar diagnosis and the medication her husband so badly wanted her to be on. Now that explosive email that we just shared from December 2017 was only the tenth of approximately 65 pieces of evidence JP shared in a shocking affidavit.

And it gets worse. So much worse. Just a few days after their ceremony, JP wrote Mica a shocking and scathing email where he point blank says to Mica, quote, it actually angers me at how selfish and ungodly the desire for you to come off your medication actually is." end quote. That is followed by an entire essay of JP pleading with Micah to take lithium, the medicine that she was just prescribed, according to his own timeline, just a month before. These pieces of evidence that JP dumped in the probate file tell us more about what actually

went on between Micah and JP in the years leading up to her death. JP even included an email that he suspiciously sent Micah within the hour that police say that she died on April 27, 2024, which we will talk about next week. A dark, detailed and insidious picture of Micah's marriage to JP is emerging from these documents and we will not look away until we see accountability. On the day of her wedding to JP, Micah's fate had already been sealed. Every step Micah took toward the altar

was a step closer to her own grave. Every day of her marriage meant another shovel full of dirt coming her way. And every time Micah managed to dig her way out and started to see the light again, there was JP standing and waiting for her. Ironically, the evidence JP provided in the probate file, the evidence that he thought would exonerate him, could actually end up helping the FBI in its investigation.

Which, according to our sources, is still very much active and includes a wide scope well beyond Solid Rocks Church financials. We see you, JP, clearer than we have ever seen you before, and we believe that the FBI sees you too. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. True Sunlight is a Lunar Shark 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. Thank you for supporting our mission to expose the truth wherever it leads by listening to Lunashark Media's Murdock Murders, Cup of Justice, and True Sunlight podcasts. I get messages all the time from people asking how they can help us with our mission. And now, there are great ways to do that. If you want to go the extra step, we invite you to learn more about Lunashark Plus for ad-free listening on Apple Podcasts or even better, join Lunashark Premium, a membership community for exclusive content like members-only live and virtual experiences and ad-free extended

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