Photo: Mica Miller/Facebook
Federal authorities have been called to investigate the death of Mica Miller, the estranged wife of controversial South Carolina pastor John-Paul Miller, after she was ruled to have died by suicide by local authorities last week.
The Robeson County Sheriff's Office announced that it requested assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Attorney's Office for South Carolina amid questions of Miller's relationship with her estranged husband.
Mica, 30, shared a video addressing "abuse" on her Facebook account prior to her death. Divorce documents obtained by NewsNation on Monday (May 13) showed that Mica accused John-Paul of abusing her "emotionally, sexually, spiritually, financially, and physically."
"He has harassed me physically and electronically with letters, phone calls, emails, and texts, hacking my emails, hacking my personal Facebook, and impersonating me. Using my stolen phone to send texts and emails out to church members pretending to be me, texting friends and family saying that I am sleeping with teenagers from our church, and showing up in person at places around town … To having installed 3 different tracking devices on my vehicle," Mica wrote.
John-Paul Miller, 44, has also been accused by critics and internet sleuths of grooming his wife as she had joined his church at the age of 14 when he was already working as a pastor. The pastor casually revealed that he visited visited his wife's body at a morgue four separate times and tried to "raise her from the dead" during a 20-minute speech at the funeral service for Mica on May 5 in a video shared by the church online Saturday (May 11).
“Each time it still didn’t hit me, I thought she was going to wake up — I even tried to raise her from the dead one time this week,” he said.
Miller claims he saw a woman resembling his late wife at a wall and shouted, "Mica," only to find out that it was one of her sisters.
“I thought I raised her from the dead… I can’t wait to see her again one day,” he said.
Robeson County Medical Examiner Richard Johnson told ABC 15 on that Mica was ruled to have died by suicide on May 6.
“Based on the nature of the wound, that it is consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. And it was not in the back of the head, as it has been speculated,” Johnson said.
Robeson County dispatch said it received a 911 call from a woman who allegedly threatened suicide and wanted to know if her phone could be located by her family on the day of Miller's death, FOX Carolina reported last Tuesday (May 7). The woman reportedly hung up and the dispatcher was unable to contact her, but pinpointed the location of the call to the area of Lumber River State Park in North Carolina.
A black Honda Accord confirmed to belong to Miller was found by State Park Rangers in a parking lot. A Sig Sauer gun case was located in the passenger seat, a box of ammunition in the center console and a receipt for the gun dated on the same day as Miller's death.
Authorities then received another 911 call from an individual who said a body and Sig Sauer 9mm handgun, which had a serial number matching the gun box found in the Accord, were located in the water at the park. Miller's phone and belongings were also reported to be found at the scene.
The new information was released amid speculation of John-Paul's involvement in his wife's death, which included Mica's sister publicly claiming that she warned her, "If I end up with a bullet in my head, it was JP," on "many occasions," according to WBTW. Police noted the pastor was reportedly seen traveling on Highway 17 in Horry County on the day of his wife's death.
If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide please call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.