Even for anyone who doesn’t have Netflix and who hasn’t seen the docuseries “Death of the Pastor’s Wife”, you likely have still heard the name Mica Miller. She has been everywhere in recent weeks due to the success of the docuseries and renewed scrutiny not only on her death but on her husband, JP Miller.
For a bit of background, JP was pastor of Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, SC, married with four children, when a 13 year old girl named Mica began to attend the church. She served in the church and even babysat for the family. When she was 18 she married a protege of JP’s. A few years later, it came to light that she had been having an affair with JP. She was 21 and he was 36. They divorced their respective spouses and married in 2017.
He continued to serve as pastor and she was the worship leader.
Over the next six years, they continued to lead the church. Every indication is that she became more and more repentant of her adultery with JP, even reportedly going back to his ex-wife to make things right.
What no one knew is that during this time, JP was engaging in physical, mental, and emotional abuse of Mica. He continued to have affairs, including with women in the church. He allegedly engaged prostitutes for himself and brought in homeless men and forced her to have sex with them. He openly preached that it was a sin for a wife to deny her husband and, according to Mica, was forcing her to have sex with him up to four times a day. He even reportedly was injecting her with testosterone so she could meet his sex drive.
Early in their marriage, after a bad reaction to anesthesia post cosmetic surgery- a surgery she had for her husband- Mica was apparently diagnosed as bipolar. JP used this diagnosis and her subsequent medicating in order to further control her. Anytime she did not adhere to his mandates or tried to push back, he would call the police and say she was in psychosis so he could get her committed and have her medication adjusted.
When she learned that he had been having an affair with church member, Suzie Skinner, she had reached her breaking point. Suzie’s husband Chris, had been a quadriplegic due to an auto accident and was found in the bottom of the community pool just two weeks after he told the pastor to stay away from his wife.
In January 2023, Mica was finally able to leave JP with the help of family and friends, and she filed for divorce. Over the next 16 months, JP engaged in a campaign to destroy Mica, emailing naked photos of her to fellow church members. He repeatedly said he was coming to get her, often threatening with a gun anyone who stood in his way. She found razor blades in her tires on multiple occasions. She called the police multiple times but the laws did not go far enough to allow them to intervene. JP continuously cited her mental health as the reason why she was being resistant to reconciliation.
In April 2024, Mica told her roommate she was going to run some errands but would be back in time to get ready for work. There is video of her in a pawn shop, buying a gun. A couple of hours later, 911 in Robeson County, NC, received a call where Mica asked them to ping her location because she was getting ready to end her life and she wanted her family to be able to find her. She was found next to a river in a NC state park. Shell casings were found several hundred feet from where her body was found face down in the water. One investigator has said the water in that river could not have moved her that far.
So what happened in the time when she left her apartment and when she died? We don’t know.
She had repeatedly said that JP would eventually put a bullet in her head.
I’m not saying he killed her, but I will admit I have questions. Even if he didn’t pull the trigger, I believe that he at the very least drove her to harm herself and, therefore, is culpable in her death.
The day after her body was found, he preached a sermon just like any other Sunday, dropping the news of Mica’s death in an odd announcement at the end of the service, calling it suicide before the death investigation was completed.
That investigation did classify her death as a suicide but after the involvement of the FBI, JP was indicted on charges of lying to federal authorities and cyberstalking. I think he should be charged using the same standards recently used to convict other defendants for driving another to suicide.
But criminal charges and justice for Mica are not my only issues with this story. What has me unhinged is the lack of accountability JP has faced in his ministry.
JP Miller’s church, Solid Rock, closed its doors after Mica’s death, but he continues to minister to his devotees in a pastoral capacity. When it came to light that he was practicing ongoing sexual sin, leaders in his church came and asked him to take a break and enter treatment. He said no. The bylaws of the church were designed in such a way that these church leaders could not force him to step down.
Congregants left and the church suffered, but he was still allowed to continue in ministry despite adultery and ongoing physical and mental abuse against his wife.
He married the young woman within the church he had known since she was a child with whom he was having an affair. He was allowed to continue in ministry.
He was outed as a sex addict, and he was allowed to continue in ministry.
He repeatedly preached that wives were subservient to their husbands and treated his like property. And he was allowed to continue in ministry.
Said wife died under mysterious circumstances, and he was still allowed to continue in ministry.
He married Suzie Skinner, by the way, just a year after his Mica’s death. And he was allowed to continue in ministry.
This is the same mindset that has allowed for SBC church leaders and Catholic priests to continue in sexual abuse. When a church refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing in its leadership and hold that leadership accountable, it allows for evil in its ranks.
Growing up in the church, and as part of a pastor’s family, I have seen these situations handled poorly and I have seen them handled well. When they are handled well, the church can survive and the integrity of the Christian model will hold. When it’s not, it does so much damage to every church and every Christian.
Mica sought repentance for her actions. Her husband, the pastor, still has not. He has continued in his sin and has his blinded followers who he is leading straight to Hell. And just my opinion, if you are part of a church that does not have a means to hold its leadership accountable- RUN. It is not about having a pastor who is perfect. I grew up with them and can attest that none of them are. It is about having a pastor who has a heart for God and for his people, a leader who will admit to his failures and strive to become better.
JP Miller is not that kind of pastor and should be no where near the platform of a church. And Mica deserves some Justice.
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