Episode Transcript
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0:00
This is the smell of a warm
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three-day-old egg salad sandwich in a wimpy
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trash bag. WIMPY WIMPY WIMPY! SNIFF
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BLUH! And this is the smell of
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that same sandwich in a hefty ultra-strong
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HEPTY HEPTY HEPTY! SNIFF
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Ahhh... Smell the difference? When life gives
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freshly picked lemons. So no matter what's
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inside your trash, you can stop the
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stink and smell the lemon. Hey
0:32
true crime besties, welcome back to
0:34
an all-new episode of Serial
0:37
Asleep. BESITA BESITA
0:41
BESITA BESITA
0:45
BESITA BESITA
0:49
BESITA BESITA
0:53
BESITA BESITA
0:56
Hey everybody, welcome back to an all-new
0:59
episode of Serial Asleep. Realistically with me,
1:01
Annie Elise. Today's episode
1:03
is, I guess you call it a
1:05
bonus episode, but it is going to
1:07
take the place of our normal Thursday
1:10
headline highlight episode. And the reason why
1:12
is because I have been receiving so
1:14
so many requests from you guys to
1:17
talk about this case. And I wasn't
1:20
going to talk about it at first because
1:22
there have been no charges. It has been
1:24
ruled self-inflicted, but the more
1:26
that we were researching it and looked
1:28
into it, I feel as though it
1:30
is worth discussing, not to lay anymore,
1:33
not to fuel the conspiracy narratives that are
1:35
out there, but because there
1:37
are certain elements of it that do
1:40
illustrate to me red
1:42
flags of domestic disputes of mental
1:45
control, emotional control, emotional abuse. And
1:47
so if anything, I just wanted
1:49
to come on here and talk
1:51
about it, almost to use this
1:54
as like a case example of
1:56
what to look for if you're
1:58
in an unhealthy relationship. and
2:00
unfortunately what to look for if like friends or
2:02
family are in an unhealthy relationship and don't get
2:04
me wrong there still are so many people out
2:07
there that believe that there is more to this
2:09
story and then what the
2:11
police is sharing even though there has been a
2:13
911 call release now and
2:15
a full timeline of events but I'm
2:18
gonna lay it all out for you It's the case
2:20
of Micah Miller and she is the
2:22
woman that was found dead over the weekend on April 27th
2:26
Her husband is a pastor. He made some
2:28
very unsettling sermons right after her death and
2:30
in the months leading up to her death
2:33
So what I'm gonna do is I'm going
2:35
to lay everything out for you as far
2:37
as why people think there are a lot
2:39
of red flags Why people think they're shady
2:41
backstories why they think there's more to this
2:43
But also what the facts are and what
2:45
we know that way you have just kind
2:47
of a full comprehensive view and again That's
2:49
not to fuel any of these conspiracy narratives,
2:51
but I want you to Hear
2:55
what Micah had been going through
2:57
because there could be more to this
2:59
story not saying that he's a murderer But
3:01
as to what her mental health struggles were
3:03
and what the rooted cause of those mental
3:05
health struggles Was from
3:08
but I think it's important to shed
3:10
light on this case for a multitude of reasons
3:12
as I explained so as I
3:15
mentioned her death has been
3:17
ruled self-inflicted a 911
3:19
call was also released on the afternoon of
3:22
May 7th And I will play that
3:24
for you and it just further
3:26
illustrates that this was not murder as
3:28
many are suggesting Could
3:30
she have been driven to it for one reason or another? Sure,
3:33
and we will talk about more of that and then
3:35
you can draw your own conclusions But
3:37
let's kind of jump right in and again, I'm gonna
3:39
lay out what is waving red
3:41
flag for people And
3:43
why and what really happened and
3:46
just everything? So everything
3:48
in today's episode is sourced
3:50
from official news sources court
3:53
documents family statements and also
3:55
police reports Anything else that
3:57
we talked about is alleged. It's my opinion
3:59
only. Me either. Reminder: just always do
4:01
your own research. So without, let's just
4:04
get right into this case. So
4:06
on April Twenty seventh, Twenty Twenty Four
4:08
Police were called to Lumber River State
4:10
Park in North Carolina. There.
4:13
They found Mike Miller his body know
4:15
my go with only thirty years old
4:17
at the time of her death and
4:19
Michael was married at to at pastor
4:21
John Paul Miller. He was a pastor
4:23
with a D Solid Rock Church an
4:25
upmarket Com and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
4:28
So following her death multiple memorial services
4:30
were held in Myrtle Beach to honor
4:32
my dad who friends and family say
4:34
was just an extremely involved a member
4:36
at Solid Rock Church where she saying
4:38
and where her husband with the pastor
4:41
one man said quote. Shoes Just
4:43
the nicest person you ever talk to.
4:45
His area of lifting very supportive, always
4:47
hoping she was just so know is
4:49
also a woman said that make a
4:51
baptized your daughter and also played an
4:53
active role in the church His Youth
4:55
Program so it's Police quietly began an
4:57
investigation into Mike As Death. The news
4:59
of her death and usually shocked everyone.
5:02
But. Not in the way that you
5:04
might be thinking see, Nobody knew that
5:06
she had died until her husband Pastor
5:08
John Paul Miller gave a very bizarre
5:11
sermon it to his congregation. Would
5:13
order to alter call today instead of. Instead.
5:16
Of I'm gonna have you stand up and of
5:18
the make her veil summit at all of after
5:20
the announcement of ask of You. Have
5:23
believe church quietly them and don't
5:25
talk about the announcement. You're. In
5:27
the building basically can see officer and your feet.
5:30
Bomb. But.
5:33
Before my even else would also say that on.
5:35
My. Request to use as you will continue to
5:38
join the church and serve and give. Arm.
5:41
For. The next a little bits are one of I'm
5:43
taking a bit of a break. I don't want have
5:45
to worry about the turks are brig maybe a few
5:47
days of the week settlement. Or
5:49
got a call last night. I was
5:52
has pesticides. Appear it was.
5:54
It was self induced and it was all
5:56
of the North Carolina. and on
5:58
for ever seen or for her next Sunday here at
6:00
3 p.m. and so
6:03
it's all I can be I'm just kind
6:05
of going on adrenaline
6:07
right now so y'all pray for
6:10
me and my kids and everybody and she
6:12
was she wasn't y'all knew that she wasn't well mentally
6:14
and then she needed medicine that was hard to
6:17
get to her now this clip was
6:19
posted across social media platforms and instantly
6:21
went viral guys because not only is
6:23
the statement shocking in general yes but
6:25
it was also kind of said in
6:27
such a crass manner from her husband
6:30
who is a pastor of all people
6:32
and on top of all of that
6:34
the fact that he literally started out
6:36
by saying that everybody needed to leave
6:38
quietly after he was finished with his
6:40
statement I mean the whole thing was
6:43
just strange at best and in my
6:45
opinion almost pathological at worst and it
6:47
kind of just left everybody left everybody
6:49
just feeling like something wasn't quite right
6:51
here so John Paul
6:53
later told ABC 15 quote she
6:56
had struggled with suicide before each
6:58
time we would help her through it and take
7:00
her to the doctor and we got through it
7:03
and everything was fine she even gave a few
7:05
testimonies here at church which we have on video
7:07
she battled suicide but God took care of her
7:09
and got her through it but
7:11
then as quickly as John Paul's announcement
7:13
of Micah's death went viral all sorts
7:16
of different information began coming out which
7:18
made this entire situation just all the
7:20
more puzzling many people felt like
7:22
there was definitely way more to the story than
7:24
John Paul was letting on and
7:26
Micah's family echoed these same sentiments so
7:29
let's talk through all of that first
7:32
Micah filed for separation from John Paul
7:34
just 12 days before
7:36
her death and according to her obituary they
7:38
got married back in 2017 after first meeting
7:42
back in 2009 it's also been alleged
7:44
that she was 15 years
7:46
old when they first met but just to give
7:48
you a little bit more context behind the timeline
7:51
of how long they had known each other so
7:54
the second thing that people thought that was
7:56
odd aside from her filing for separation 12
7:58
just 12 days before her
8:00
death is that she had filed three
8:02
different quote separate support and maintenance requests.
8:04
This is since last year and the
8:06
very last one was filed in mid-april
8:08
of 2024. So the second thing that
8:12
people thought that was odd aside from her filing
8:14
for separation just 12 days before her death
8:17
is that she had filed three
8:19
different quote separate support and maintenance
8:21
requests. This is since last year
8:24
and the very last one was
8:26
filed in mid-april of 2024. Again
8:28
and she was just found dead on
8:30
the 27th. Now separate support
8:33
and maintenance allows for one spouse
8:35
to receive court ordered support from
8:37
another spouse without officially divorcing. The
8:39
third issue that people were taking with all
8:42
of this and deeming as a red flag
8:44
or somewhat suspicious is that back
8:46
on March 11th 2024, so
8:48
a little over a month before she died, Mica's
8:51
tires were completely slashed around
8:54
1 30 a.m. at Spring Maid Pier. She
8:56
claimed that this is also the second time that
8:59
a razor had deflated her tire within that week.
9:01
When she took her car in to get her tires
9:04
fixed at the dealership, a mechanic actually ended up letting
9:06
her know that not only were her tires slashed, but
9:08
there was also a tracking device on her car.
9:10
So Mica reported this tire slashing to
9:12
the police. Then later on at
9:14
around 11 30 a.m. she called
9:16
the police again. According to the
9:18
police report, Mica reported quote a man who
9:21
she has been avoiding came up to her
9:23
at a gas station. The suspect pulled up
9:25
beside her and tried to speak with her.
9:27
She told him to go away and he
9:30
sped off before she could record this encounter.
9:32
He also has been calling and texting her from
9:35
a private number despite the fact that she has
9:37
blocked his number. The report
9:39
also stated that Mica noticed quote
9:41
strange activity and believed that people
9:43
were following or watching her. She
9:46
then told police that she feared for her life
9:48
and that she tried to get a restraining order
9:50
against this suspect who was not named in the
9:52
police reports because no charges ever came from this
9:54
complaint. So you could be the judge
9:56
of who the suspect is in this report. Many
9:59
people of course. believe that it was her
10:01
husband, that she had been trying to get away
10:03
from him, that maybe he was following her, he
10:05
put this tracking device on her, then she finally
10:07
files for divorce, all of these things, right? However,
10:10
a lot of other people are
10:12
saying that no, this is actually
10:14
a component of mental health
10:16
struggles. She was hyper paranoid. She thought
10:18
somebody was following her. Yes, there was
10:20
a tracking device, but could
10:22
that have been self-placed? I mean, I'm just when
10:24
I tell you guys that theories are going wild,
10:26
they are going wild, but I just want to
10:28
talk through all of them with you so that
10:30
you can get this full overview of what's going
10:32
on in this case. So then you can, of
10:35
course, come to your own conclusions. So
10:37
in another red flag, the fourth, or I should say
10:39
in alleged red flag, what people
10:41
are deeming as a red flag is
10:44
in an affidavit, her sister, Sierra Francis
10:46
asked the court to be the special
10:49
administrator of Micah's estate. And
10:51
in this affidavit, she says, quote, I
10:53
was aware of Micah's family dynamics and
10:55
relationship with her husband, John Paul Miller,
10:58
also with her stepchildren, Celaya, Asher, Logan,
11:00
Eli, and walk. Micah and
11:02
I spoke every few days texting daily,
11:04
so much so as to even create playlists
11:07
together. Michael would drive to visit me
11:09
and my family in Gaffney, South Carolina,
11:11
at least once a month. I know
11:13
my sister has expressed the abuse and
11:15
violence against her by her husband to
11:17
others, including family members and members of
11:19
the church congregation. Micah told
11:21
me that there were people following her, keeping
11:23
track of where she went. She thought that
11:26
Mr. Miller hired people to follow her. Mr.
11:28
Miller later confirmed this during a sermon, which
11:30
I watched. Micah confided in me
11:32
that Mr. Miller was moving assets that were
11:35
in his name, such as his vehicle, also
11:37
changing the deed to their house, to their
11:39
church, transferring interest in crocodile rocks to one
11:42
of his sons. And in February 2024, Mr.
11:44
Miller removed my sister's personal items from their
11:46
home that they shared while she was admitted
11:48
to a mental health facility, and then he
11:51
left them at an apartment of a woman
11:53
named Diana. My sister was not aware that
11:55
her personal possessions had been removed from her
11:57
residence until she was released from the hospital.
12:00
Prior to her admission to the mental
12:02
health facility, Micah was gathering and sorting
12:04
the evidence that she had to bring
12:06
to an attorney for filing for divorce,
12:08
so that it would support her claims
12:10
against Mr. Miller, as to his abuse,
12:13
his character, his paramours, and associates that
12:15
he quote, paid off or blackmailed. While
12:18
at the facility, those documents,
12:20
emails, files, etc. were all
12:22
removed from her phone, personal
12:24
laptop, vehicle, and purse, and
12:26
they were never recovered. Further,
12:28
Micah wasn't able to access her
12:30
iCloud account, her email, or her
12:33
Facebook profile. Mr. Miller continued using
12:35
at least one of Micah's accounts,
12:37
causing any recipient to believe that
12:39
it was Micah's communications. Micah
12:41
even talked about what she wanted her life
12:43
to be like following her divorce from Mr.
12:45
Miller. Having traveled for a
12:47
church mission this past fall from October 15th
12:50
through October 27th,
12:52
2023, Micah was intending to participate
12:54
in additional missions, even to live
12:56
part-time in Kenya. Micah recently
12:58
shipped some of her personal items to
13:01
Kenya in preparation of her stay there.
13:03
My sister was hopeful for her future after
13:05
filing for divorce from John Paul. My
13:08
sister also expressed to me that she was fearful
13:10
that she would not make it to the divorce and
13:12
that her life would be taken from her. It is
13:15
my belief based on the conversations with
13:17
my sister that she told multiple people,
13:19
including other family members. Micah
13:21
stated to me on many occasions, quote, if
13:23
I end up with a bullet in my
13:25
head, it was not by me. It
13:28
was JP. Micah forwarded
13:30
a family group text message notifying us that
13:32
Mr. Miller was served the divorce papers on
13:34
April 25th, 2024. Then on April 27th, 2024,
13:36
my sister, Micah Miller, was found dead as a result of a gunshot
13:43
wound. She was found in Lumberton, North Carolina,
13:45
which as a side note, guys, is about
13:48
an hour and a half drive from Myrtle
13:50
Beach. So if all of that's true, that's
13:52
pretty damning, right? And that's what's gotten a
13:54
lot of people up in arms and totally
13:57
thinking that the husband is guilty and responsible
13:59
for this. And we're also going
14:01
to talk more about how she died shortly,
14:03
but first, there's more that you need to
14:05
know about John Paul. So John Paul was
14:07
previously married and had five children before marrying
14:10
Micah. According to friends and family, and even
14:12
church congregation members, John Paul actually met Micah
14:14
when she was 14 or 15 years old
14:16
in that youth group, as I previously mentioned.
14:18
Now it's been reported that at the time,
14:20
he was actually the leader of that youth
14:22
group, and that this was during
14:24
his previous marriage. So some
14:27
people believe that he allegedly groomed her
14:29
before then marrying her later on when she
14:31
was legally an adult. And to level set the
14:33
age difference, John is 44 years old now, and
14:35
Micah is 30 years old. So back then, he
14:37
would have been around 28 years old when she
14:40
was 14 or 15 years old. Certainly
14:44
too old to be dating a 14 or 15 year old. Was
14:47
there a, did he have an affair
14:50
with Micah and leave his wife and
14:52
children to be with her? And
14:54
if that's the case, how old was
14:56
she when he did that? So
14:59
I remember a specific
15:02
conversation that I
15:04
had with him when
15:06
that was brought up. And because I'd
15:09
heard about that, like there
15:11
were rumors, you know, going around
15:13
that their relationship even
15:15
started in fidelity and
15:17
things like that. And in my conversation with
15:20
him, it was he did basically confirm that
15:22
he did not get into her age. What
15:24
he said, what he said to me point
15:27
blank was that she was in my youth
15:29
group. We became friends
15:32
over time. It became kind of
15:34
something more. And that was
15:36
probably the gist of it as far as I
15:38
can remember now. I mean,
15:40
it's been years ago, but it
15:42
was a little concerning. And
15:45
there were other, I don't think, yeah.
15:47
Yeah, there were other members. That's very
15:50
concerning, right? Oh, very. Yes.
15:53
And there were other members of the church, so
15:55
that when I asked
15:57
about it, it was just kind of.
16:00
It's something that kind of everybody knew and
16:02
accepted. Now in another unsettling
16:04
piece of information, one
16:06
of John Paul's exes posted on Facebook
16:09
about a similar situation. Again,
16:11
this is according to a Facebook post guy, so take it
16:13
with a grain of salt because I haven't been able to
16:15
100% verify the information. But
16:18
in this post she reads, and I'm going
16:20
to read a verbatim for you because she
16:22
hashtags this post with Justice for Micah. She
16:25
says, while posting updates, I'm going to speak out
16:27
on the Micah Miller case. I
16:29
am an ex of John Paul Miller. I was 14
16:32
years old and he was 19 years old. I
16:34
was a child at the time, but I didn't
16:37
see an issue. But at 19, obviously he should
16:39
have. We dated for a year
16:41
and I found out that he was dating
16:43
his first wife, Allie, while we were together,
16:45
all unbeknownst to her. She later found out
16:47
and he lied about it, as he continued
16:50
to do, about the multitude of infidelities the
16:52
remainder of their marriage. This has
16:54
been hard to watch and keep quiet about, but
16:56
I feel it's time to be transparent about it.
16:58
I attended and graduated from
17:01
Grandstand Academy, later renamed Cathedral
17:03
Hall Academy. The church
17:05
and school his father founded and
17:07
was headmaster of, which later became
17:09
Solid Rock. I dated John
17:11
Paul and dealt with a small amount of
17:13
his abuse comparatively. JP also
17:16
contacted me inappropriately after Allie finally left
17:18
him due to infidelity. This was around
17:20
2016. He
17:23
was not remorseful of his actions to her
17:25
with others, was upset over the amount of
17:27
people that left the church that hurt him
17:29
financially and was quickly shut down on my
17:31
end. What I did witness,
17:33
with myself and my siblings as members
17:35
in the church as teenagers, is the
17:37
overall abuse from JP and his father
17:39
to others. I also visited
17:42
many state parks with JP, visiting his
17:44
dad because he loved state parks to
17:46
quote reconnect with God. Myrtle
17:48
Beach State Park is also where his dad
17:50
was arrested for soliciting gay sex. You can
17:52
look that up publicly. The
17:55
fact that Micah was found in a state park
17:57
only brings me back to this family. I
17:59
feel I have been a... and not speaking out and
18:01
dealing with this privately with my family. But
18:03
I want to say that we believe that
18:06
this was Micah's last and oh so important
18:08
purpose is stopping this man from continuing to
18:10
hurt others and to stop him as a
18:12
representative of our Lord and Savior. I
18:15
am a Christian and I love the Lord
18:17
so much. And I want to say that
18:19
what John Paul Miller and his dad represent
18:22
is not of God. It is not a
18:24
representation of Jesus Christ. God
18:26
is good and pure and kind and he would
18:28
never want a man to treat his wife the
18:30
way that JP treated Micah. Please
18:32
don't let this evil man turn you away
18:35
from the church. And then it's
18:37
hashtag justice for Micah. And it has over
18:39
700 likes, 182 comments and 161 shares. Now,
18:45
even though Micah officially filed for divorce in
18:47
April, she and John Paul have been separated
18:49
for months. It's been reported that
18:52
during this time, John Paul has had
18:54
a girlfriend. Now, this alleged girlfriend's husband
18:56
died three years ago from what was
18:58
ruled as a drowning accident. And in
19:00
a weird twist of fate or serendipitous
19:03
moment, whatever you decide, that same
19:05
report indicated that John Paul conducted
19:07
the husband's funeral. Another thing
19:09
that has people up in arms and thinking that
19:12
there's a lot of red flags and shadiness going
19:14
on here is that Micah posted
19:16
videos on Facebook speaking to women in
19:18
general about situations of abuse. And she
19:20
also shared advice to those who may
19:22
be in abusive relationships. I've
19:25
had a lot of women that
19:27
have reached out to me about situations
19:29
of abuse. And
19:32
I just
19:35
want to tell you what a lot of people have told me. Male
19:38
or female, it doesn't matter what gender
19:41
you are, abusive abuse. And
19:46
you are the bride of Christ. And
19:50
my Bible says that he took
19:53
all the abuse you could think of for
19:55
you, so that you
19:57
didn't have to live that life of slavery.
20:01
and bondage and
20:04
pain. So
20:07
you don't have to stay in a
20:10
abusive relationship, whether
20:12
that's sexual, whether
20:14
that's somebody forcing you
20:16
to take illegal drugs or
20:20
alcohol abuse or physical
20:23
abuse, psychological
20:25
abuse, making you think that this is
20:27
all your fault or you're a bad
20:29
mom or you're about wife
20:31
or you're a bad husband or
20:33
you're not
20:36
giving it your all when you know you are. God
20:41
hates divorce, but
20:43
why? According to everybody I've asked
20:45
and the scriptures that I've found, it's
20:47
because it hurts people. But
20:50
does abuse hurt people? How
20:53
do you think God feels about that? A
20:55
friend that spoke to Micah the night before she
20:58
died also posted on Facebook and said the following,
21:01
I will not sit here and pretend that
21:03
I know exactly what happened on Saturday, but
21:05
I know a lot. I am
21:07
well aware in the past that Micah has
21:09
had mental health issues and I witnessed her
21:11
struggle firsthand. But I also know that in
21:13
the last few months, this has never been
21:15
used as a weapon to control her. The
21:18
Micah I saw at the beginning of her mental
21:20
health journey was not the Micah I witnessed in
21:22
the last month. The Micah I was
21:24
seeing was a grown woman trying to break
21:26
the chains of an abusive marriage. When
21:29
I talked to Micah last, she was
21:31
making plans moving forward and trusting God.
21:33
Her faith was her shield. She
21:36
had reconnected with people that she had
21:38
been isolated from, myself included. She
21:41
was sorting out her new normal and God was putting
21:43
the right people around her. When
21:45
we had our first meeting in the
21:47
years, we sat at lunch and talked
21:49
until dinnertime for five hours. We had
21:51
been in regular communication since that day.
21:54
I was part of Micah's church for years. We
21:56
did life together during that season. Leaving
21:58
that church was one of the... hardest things Brian and
22:01
I ever did. We loved the people in
22:03
that church, but God had made it clear that
22:05
we needed to go because it was a
22:07
toxic environment. We endured relentless
22:09
attacks from the pastor. It
22:11
was unlike anything we had ever experienced.
22:14
In ministry, God calls us where He
22:16
needs us, and instead of supporting and
22:18
loving us, our entire family came under
22:20
attack. There were attempts to
22:22
sabotage us in our new church home, calls
22:24
made to employers, dropping in at my place
22:26
of business in the middle of my work
22:28
day when I refused to answer calls. And
22:31
the calls were more than I can count. Emails
22:34
that were rants in writing, it was a
22:36
nightmare for close to a month. So
22:39
Michael wasn't just leaving a church, she was
22:41
leaving her marriage. She was done. She hired
22:43
a lawyer, she moved out, she was getting
22:45
a divorce, and she was left with nothing
22:47
but her faith, her family, and a small
22:49
circle of friends. Was it hard?
22:51
Yes. She had her tires
22:54
cut multiple times, found multiple trackers
22:56
on her car, couch hopped in
22:58
fear of being found, and was
23:00
hospitalized by her husband when it
23:02
was completely unnecessary. She
23:04
confided to me that she felt like an orphan and
23:06
feared that no church would want her because of him.
23:09
What she didn't know is that a large
23:12
portion of us who had experienced the wrath
23:14
of that existing church were waiting for her
23:16
with open arms. I talked to
23:18
her multiple times in her final week here on
23:20
earth. She was making plans to get her hair
23:22
cut, getting help with her car payment because
23:24
she was a little short after paying her
23:26
divorce lawyer, and planning to meet us
23:29
for the second service at church on Sunday. My
23:31
final text with her on Friday at 9.19pm was
23:33
a woman making plans to live. What
23:38
happened between Friday night and Saturday? I
23:41
was so overwhelmed seeing two certain people on
23:43
the news last night trying to minimize Micah
23:45
by painting her mentally ill and crying like
23:48
they were currently present in her life. So
23:50
guys, that post was obviously loaded for a
23:52
multitude of reasons. Not only was she saying
23:54
that she was texting with her up until
23:56
she was then found dead and that Micah
23:58
had been making all these plans to
24:00
live and to live a more happy life,
24:03
but she's also saying that she had witnessed
24:05
abuse firsthand from the church, the wrath of
24:07
the church as she calls it, the wrath
24:09
of JP, John Paul, the pastor. So
24:12
it makes you wonder what's true and
24:14
what's not regarding that because we have
24:16
seen incidents where unfortunately
24:19
victims succumb
24:21
to their mental health issues and they even if
24:23
they are making plans, even if they seem like
24:25
they do want to live and they have the
24:27
will to live, they do take their lives. So
24:29
the fact that she was texting at 919 while
24:31
it could be an indicator of something, not necessarily,
24:34
we've seen it proven otherwise
24:36
several times, but there's a
24:38
couple other things that are standing out to people. So
24:41
after John Paul's sermon, you know the one when
24:43
he announced Mica's mental health issues and said that
24:45
she died of a suicide, John Paul
24:47
was released from his duties as a pastor
24:49
and a notice was sent out to the
24:51
members of the church saying that John Paul
24:54
was quote released for a time of healing,
24:56
counsel, and guidance pursuant to our governing instrument.
24:59
The Solid Rock Church website has
25:01
also since been suspended. Another
25:04
unsettling piece of information or perhaps
25:06
just a red herring is
25:08
a video on Vimeo which shows
25:10
Mica talking about her own struggles
25:12
with mental health and in this
25:14
video she describes the situation where
25:16
she almost took her own life
25:18
before. Now according to the creator
25:21
Plunder, this was posted anonymously just
25:23
three days before Mica's death. Now
25:25
many people online and in Facebook groups
25:27
have put together another timeline of events
25:30
relating to John Paul's statements at the
25:32
church. This post comes from
25:34
somebody named Robbie Harvey on Facebook and I
25:36
haven't been able to verify every single thing
25:38
in this post, so again please take this
25:40
information with a grain of salt and do
25:43
your own research. But it's
25:45
titled the Mica Miller timeline of events.
25:47
It says on February 4th, Pastor John
25:50
Paul preaches a sermon on Cora and
25:52
Moses and how it's wrong to rise
25:54
against religious leaders. On February 23rd,
25:57
Pastor John Paul filed for spousal
25:59
support. February 25th, in
26:01
another sermon to his congregation, Pastor
26:03
John Paul says a mentally ill
26:05
person doesn't know they're sick. Quote,
26:08
you have to trust people around you. The
26:10
thing that's sick is your mind and your
26:12
mind is what you need to realize that
26:14
you're sick. On March
26:17
10th, Pastor John Paul preaches a sermon and
26:19
reveals that he went through two years of
26:21
messages on his wife's phone. He
26:23
found that 18 people reached out saying
26:25
to her, quote, if you ever want to
26:27
talk about your husband, you can talk to
26:29
me and I'll keep it confidential. Visibly
26:32
upset, the pastor followed up with,
26:34
quote, that's a demon talking, end
26:36
quote. Now I just got to
26:38
say guys really quick before I continue, this does
26:41
stick out to me whether it means something or
26:43
not in the greater grand scheme of thing, I
26:45
don't know, but the fact that he's vocalizing publicly
26:47
that he went through two years of messages on
26:49
his wife's phone. First of all, it's
26:52
my belief that if you go through your partner's
26:54
phone history messages that that is an indicator
26:57
of some type of like control or abusive behavior,
26:59
emotionally, whatever it may be. I just I personally
27:01
don't believe in doing that. But if you're allowing
27:03
it and you're like, go through my phone,
27:05
let's go through each other's to each their own.
27:08
I just think if you're like secretly going
27:10
through a phone, that's not a good sign. But
27:12
also the fact that he then talked about
27:14
his findings publicly and that he found 18 people
27:17
had reached out to her saying, Hey, if you ever
27:19
want to talk about your husband, talk to me, I'll
27:21
keep it confidential. To me, that kind of indicates
27:23
that there were 18 people at
27:26
minimum worried enough to where they expressed
27:28
to her, Hey, if there's anything you
27:30
want to confide in me, it'll be
27:32
confidential. Is there anything that you want
27:34
to talk about? So either they recognize
27:36
that something was wrong, or maybe they
27:38
recognize something in his behavior. And I
27:41
think that's pretty telling, not saying that he's
27:43
a murderer. But like, I
27:45
think that does shed some light on
27:47
the dynamic of this marriage. But again, to then
27:49
for him to then just say this publicly, but
27:51
say that's a demon talking, it
27:53
kind of feel it's kind of giving
27:55
entitled it's kind of giving thinking you're
27:57
holier than now. So this was a
28:00
March 10th, in another piece on this timeline there because
28:02
there's a few things from March 10th. The
28:05
next thing says, March 10th,
28:07
Pastor John Paul says to his
28:09
congregation, quote, one thing
28:11
I'm going to preach about is
28:13
getting rich, strong, healthy, and finding
28:15
a hot wife that loves Jesus.
28:17
This was while he was wearing his wedding
28:20
ring. Then on March 10th,
28:22
he also tells his congregation that his wife
28:24
was in the hospital and as soon as
28:26
she got out, she left him. He says,
28:28
quote, she gets out and she just leaves,
28:31
just completely leaves me, leaves everything, drains the
28:33
bank account and just goes. Guess
28:35
what? While you're talking bad about me
28:37
out there, I'm building a school in Africa for
28:39
over 100 kids to be able to be fed.
28:42
Again, why he's airing all of this dirty laundry
28:44
publicly, I don't know. I've seen it happen actually
28:46
in a church local to me too and it
28:48
brushed me that he was the wrong way. But
28:50
also like the fact that he's talking about how
28:53
she leaves this hospital and then leaves him, drains
28:55
the bank account yet he's bringing it back to
28:57
him and how amazing he is being like, so
28:59
while you're doing this, I'm building a school in
29:01
Africa for over 100, for over 100 kids so
29:04
they can be fed. It's just like, it's
29:06
giving, I don't want to say narcissist, but
29:08
kinda. I don't know. What do you think?
29:10
So then on March 12th, his request for
29:13
spousal support was dismissed, but there's no
29:15
explanation as to why. Then five days
29:18
later, on March 17th, Pastor
29:20
John Paul tells a story of a pastor
29:22
whose wife left him for a member of
29:24
his staff. The pastor had
29:26
to hire a third party company to find
29:28
her. Once he found her, divorce papers were
29:30
drawn up. When the time came
29:32
to sign the papers, the pastor couldn't do
29:34
it though because quote, the Bible says divorce
29:37
is wrong and that if she wanted out,
29:39
she would have to leave him. So
29:42
here, and again, this is just me
29:44
speculating guys, the third party having to
29:46
find her, is that the tracker that
29:48
was on her car? Did he hire
29:50
a present investigator to follow her? What's
29:52
really happening here? Because remember this whole police report when
29:54
her tires were slashed and when they fix the tires
29:57
and they look at it, they're not gonna be able
29:59
to get it. located the tracking device. This
30:01
was on March 11th. So this
30:03
was literally right before his sermon.
30:06
He gave his sermon on March
30:08
17th. So was
30:10
this whole third company the tracker?
30:12
It's just weird, right? Like, again,
30:15
not saying this guy's a murderer,
30:17
but like, there's definitely some sort
30:19
of level of control and
30:22
emotional abuse, in my opinion,
30:24
at least. There's something weird happening beneath
30:26
the surface here. So
30:28
then, that same day on March 17th,
30:31
in a Facebook post made by Micah's
30:33
sister, Sierra, she says that she keeps
30:35
an eye on her phone, quote, for
30:37
fear of my sister's safety due to
30:39
others' behaviors toward her. She
30:42
goes on to mention the sermon from
30:44
March 17th, and she calls out the
30:46
congregation of Solid Rock Church. The very
30:48
next day then, on March 18th, Micah posted
30:50
a video encouraging others. She
30:52
says, quote, I'm just making sure
30:54
my heart doesn't have any unforgiveness,
30:56
bitterness, resentment, just forgiveness and hope
30:58
for the future, and peace.
31:01
But then, on March 22nd, Micah posts
31:04
another video. In this one, she's
31:06
suggesting that she was being abused
31:08
physically and mentally. She also
31:10
says, quote, God hates divorce, but how
31:13
does God feel about abuse? She
31:15
also suggests that her husband forced her
31:17
to take illegal drugs. Now, what
31:19
sticks out to me with this, again, just my
31:22
opinion, is this was just what? Five
31:24
days after his sermon when
31:26
he's saying that the Bible says divorce is wrong,
31:28
and that if she wanted out, she would have
31:30
to leave him after he had found
31:33
her and how the divorce papers were drawn up,
31:35
all that stuff. So then, for five days later,
31:37
for her to say, yes, God hates divorce, but
31:39
how does he feel about abuse? I
31:41
feel it's just painting a very
31:43
clear picture of what's going
31:46
on in this marriage, at least to me. And again,
31:48
I just want I know I've said it before, but
31:50
I'm going to reiterate, it does not mean he's a
31:52
murderer. But it does show that
31:55
there's some sort of manipulation, some sort
31:57
of level of mental control, mental abuse,
31:59
at least So
32:02
this was on March 22nd, fast forward
32:04
about three weeks to April 16th. Micah
32:07
filed for spousal support. Then
32:10
about a week later on April 23rd, a
32:12
hearing notice was sent out for Micah's request
32:14
for spousal support and a court date was
32:16
set for June 5th. But
32:19
then, just five days later, Micah is
32:21
found dead. So
32:23
with all of that, it certainly paints
32:25
a troubling picture, right? And
32:27
many people, of course, rightfully so,
32:29
are wondering what really happened to
32:31
Micah. Well, on
32:33
May 6th, 2024, Micah's official
32:35
cause of death was ruled
32:38
as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
32:40
According to Robeson County Medical Examiner
32:43
Dr. Richard Johnson, based
32:45
on the nature of the wound, it is
32:47
consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and it
32:49
was not in the back of the head
32:51
as it has been speculated. According to
32:53
WPDE News, the medical examiner said that
32:56
although he wasn't the on-call medical examiner
32:58
when Micah died, he was present at
33:00
the scene. But just like so
33:03
many things so far in this case,
33:05
this new information came with more questions
33:07
than answers. Additionally, Micah's friends and family
33:09
do not believe the medical examiner's findings.
33:12
So then on May 7th, 2024, the
33:14
911 call was released. And this call
33:16
is very heartbreaking and difficult to listen
33:18
to because in it, you can hear
33:21
Micah ask the dispatcher if they're
33:23
able to track her phone. After a couple
33:25
of minutes, the woman asks why, and she
33:27
says, because I'm about to kill myself and
33:29
I want my family to know where to
33:31
find me. And then the line
33:33
goes dead. Robeson
33:35
County 911, what's the address of your
33:37
emergency? Hi. Are
33:42
you able to trace the location
33:44
of my phone? Let
33:50
me see. You
33:52
don't know where you're at. And
33:54
National Park. I
33:57
have my location on, I think, on my phone.
34:00
Find my phone is on. I
34:04
just did my show on my location. Okay,
34:07
I'm showing... I
34:09
don't think you are
34:11
in Robinson County. Yeah,
34:14
Lumber River State Park? Yeah,
34:17
that's where I am. Tell
34:19
me what's happened. Um...
34:25
I'm about to kill
34:27
myself. And... I
34:31
just want my family to know where to find me. Okay,
34:34
ma'am. Just
34:37
listen to what I'm saying, okay? Let
34:41
me make sure I got the exact location where
34:43
you're at, okay? Just one minute. Shortly
34:46
after this call was made public, the sheriff's
34:48
office also made a post on Facebook that
34:50
was public. And in it, they
34:52
discussed the 911 call about how
34:54
it went to the dispatcher's office and if
34:57
the call could be traced, all of these things. And
34:59
then they go through the timeline of events after
35:02
they recovered her body. They
35:04
said that investigators located a SIG
35:07
gun case on the passenger seat of the vehicle and
35:10
a box of ammunition in the center console of
35:12
the vehicle. They also found a
35:14
receipt for that SIG handgun from a pawn
35:16
shop and a receipt from a convenience store.
35:19
Those receipts were both in the vehicle and both receipts
35:21
were dated from the same day of Micah's death, which
35:23
was April 27th, 2024. During
35:27
the search of the park for Micah when they
35:29
knew that the 911 call had come in, the
35:33
investigators were approached by an
35:35
individual who had found a bag near
35:37
the water edge with an identification belonging
35:39
to Micah. The individual stated
35:41
that he had heard somebody crying and
35:43
a gunshot while he was fishing. Shortly
35:45
after, a body was located in the
35:48
water and the victim was identified as
35:50
Micah Miller. The SIG 9mm
35:52
handgun was also located in the water at the
35:54
crime scene during that initial search of the area.
35:57
Her phone and her other personal belongings were found
35:59
in the water. were also located
36:01
and there was a search of Micah's
36:03
phone which revealed that she had conducted
36:05
a Google search for national parks near
36:08
me and then the Lumber
36:10
River State Park location was provided.
36:12
So the investigators conducted several interviews
36:14
and they developed a timeline of
36:16
events in relation to Micah's death.
36:18
That morning at 11 a.m. Micah
36:21
was observed on her ring camera
36:23
arriving at her residence in Myrtle
36:25
Beach, South Carolina. About 40 minutes
36:27
later at 11 38
36:29
she was observed again on her ring camera leaving
36:32
her residence. At 12 12 p.m.
36:34
she was observed on store surveillance walking
36:36
into a Dix pawn shop which is
36:38
also located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
36:40
A minute later she's observed
36:43
at the register and she initiates the
36:45
purchase of that gun. Then at
36:47
12 34 Micah is observed leaving
36:50
the pawn shop after purchasing the
36:52
gun and the ammunition. At 106
36:54
p.m. her Honda Accord is observed
36:56
traveling on Highway 501
36:59
near Four Mile Road in South Carolina.
37:02
Then 20 minutes later at 127 it's
37:04
observed arriving at a grocery
37:06
and grill located in Mullen,
37:08
South Carolina. At
37:11
135 p.m. Micah is observed leaving
37:13
the store after purchasing a drink
37:15
and gas. Then at 254 p.m.
37:18
Micah makes that 911 call. In
37:20
the post the investigators also say
37:22
unfortunately rumors and conspiracy theories were
37:25
spreading quickly and assumptions were being
37:27
made. However in the end they
37:29
must make the decisions based on the
37:31
fact and the evidence that has been gathered.
37:33
They say while we know it's not what
37:35
many people wanted to hear the evidence is
37:38
quite clear and compelling and we are as
37:40
saddened as anyone that this occurred. There are
37:42
many factors that we have reviewed that occurred
37:44
over an extended period of time that are
37:46
probably related to the reason for this investigation
37:48
but in the end sadly
37:50
a tragic decision was made by Micah
37:52
that ended her life. They
37:55
also shared some still frames of the
37:57
CCTV of her of the footage of
37:59
her the gun of her driving of
38:01
her getting gas and it's
38:03
a really really incredibly heartbreaking guys.
38:07
Many people thought that her husband John
38:09
Paul was guilty this whole time that
38:11
it was some elaborate cover-up or that
38:13
he staged the scene flawlessly but that's
38:16
clearly not the case but the reason I
38:19
wanted to share this is because we did
38:21
hear so many different accounts from friends and
38:23
family and from Micah herself that
38:25
there was some sort of element
38:27
of mental abuse emotional
38:30
abuse things that
38:32
may have led her down this dark path
38:34
of mental health we know that her husband
38:36
is the one who allegedly committed her to
38:39
the mental health facility but
38:41
my question here is although
38:43
he's in my opinion not guilty of
38:45
murder of course and it's pretty clear-cut it
38:48
does make me wonder what's on the
38:50
talks report because in that video from
38:52
Micah herself she does allude to being
38:54
said illegal drugs and we know that
38:56
she had a tracking device found on
38:58
her car all of these things that
39:01
are really close to a level of
39:03
control and emotional and manipulation and things
39:05
like that so again
39:07
not to theorize too much but could
39:10
it be possible that if she was
39:12
being fed some sort of drugs that
39:14
is what also magnified and amplified these
39:17
mental health issues that she
39:19
was struggling with when did the mental
39:21
health struggles begin was it recent what's
39:23
the history there because could
39:25
it be that there are other
39:27
contributing factors that put her into this
39:29
hyper paranoid state and the state of
39:32
feeling like there was no other option
39:34
no other escape from his grasp nothing
39:36
else to do and
39:38
I'm not saying that in a way
39:40
to victim shame him he is a grieving husband
39:42
I would assume but again
39:45
the whole point of today's episode is
39:47
to just illustrate what really can go
39:49
on in some of these domestic marriages
39:52
where there's these issues where there's a
39:54
history of abuse whether it's physical emotional
39:56
mental whatever it may be what
39:58
are the signs we can look for to where doesn't end
40:00
in a tragic result like this.
40:03
And what does that talks report say?
40:05
Maybe it says nothing, but maybe it
40:07
does say something. And maybe there is
40:09
a reason for, I mean, nobody's tires
40:11
get slashed for no reason. Nobody has
40:13
a tracker put on their car for
40:15
no reason, unless she was struggling so
40:17
significantly when met with mental health that
40:20
she did that on her own and that she
40:22
was, maybe there's an element of schizophrenia. I don't
40:24
know, guys, I'm just trying to make sense of
40:26
it. I know so many other people are. Is
40:28
there something that contributed to putting
40:30
her in this mental state, to
40:33
where she felt like there was no other way out?
40:36
It's just so definitive that she wakes up one
40:38
morning, goes into this pawn shop, buys the gun,
40:40
goes, makes the call because she wants her family
40:42
to find her. It is devastating
40:44
and so extremely
40:46
tragic. Of course, no charges have
40:49
been made at this time. And I
40:51
don't believe that they will be against the
40:53
husband, but I do wonder what other information
40:55
will surface, if any. So I probably
40:57
won't cover this case again, unless there is
40:59
new information, but if there is, I definitely
41:02
will keep you updated. But in
41:04
the meantime, let's just all keep Micah's friends
41:06
and families in your thoughts and prayers, and
41:08
just hope that anybody else struggling like this
41:10
gets the help that they need. I will
41:13
leave some resources in the show notes below,
41:15
and let's just pray that her family
41:17
gets some, not closure, but some peace
41:19
maybe. But in the meantime, let's just pray
41:21
that everybody who was close to Micah
41:23
gets some peace in all of this. And I'll
41:25
let you know if we hear more. All
41:28
right, guys, thanks again for tuning into this
41:30
bonus episode of Serialously. Let me know what
41:32
you guys think. Do you think there's more
41:35
to the story? Do you think this is
41:37
pretty cut and dry? Again,
41:39
I'm not trying to go too crazy, too
41:41
conspiracy, too down the rabbit hole,
41:43
but I think that maybe there
41:45
are other factors and
41:47
circumstances that contributed to her mental health. But
41:50
let me know what you guys think, because I
41:52
know that there are a lot of differing opinions
41:54
out there. All right, guys, thanks
41:56
for tuning into this episode, and until the next
41:58
one, please, please, please stay. Bye. This
42:17
is the smell of a warm three-day-old egg
42:20
salad sandwich in a wimpy trash bag.
42:22
Whippy, wippy, wippy! Bleh!
42:26
Smell of that same sandwich in a
42:28
hefty ultra-strong trash bag with new Fabuloso
42:30
lemon scent. Happy, happy, happy!
42:33
Smell the difference? When
42:36
life gives you stinky, get hefty ultra-strong
42:38
with new Fabuloso lemon scent. It smells
42:40
like clean, freshly picked lemons. So no
42:42
matter what's inside your trash, you can
42:44
stop the stink and smell the lemon.
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