May 8, 2024 • 43 mins
John-Paul and Mica Miller marry in 2017, and at just 23, Mica becomes stepmom to John-Paul Miller's 5 children.
At first, outside the home everybody seems happy, but inside the home, not so much. Mica Miller has decided she has had enough of Pastor John-Paul Miller and files for divorce.
Four months after filing for divorce, Mica Miller pulls back the divorce papers, only to file again weeks later. After filing for divorce the second time, Mica Miller says she feels like she is being stalked. Her tires are slashed twice.
Police discover a tire deflator has been used on the tires. Taking her car in for service, a mechanic finds a tracking device in Mica Miller's car. Mica Miller tells police she is afraid for her life. She knows who the suspect is, but the police tell her there isn't much they can do. A report is filed, but no charges.
Weeks later, Pastor John-Paul Miller announces during church service that he got a call telling him his wife is dead. Mica commits suicide, according to police. Separate memorial events spring up for Mica Miller, one for her husband at Solid Rock and one for her family and friends held beachside. Days after the service, Pastor John-Paul Miller is relieved of his duties at the church.
JOINING NANCY TODAY:
- Shaelynn French - Mica's Friend
- Brian Foley – Board-certified Criminal Defense Attorney, Former Chief Prosecutor in Harris County, (Houston) Texas; Author: “What Prosecutors Don’t Tell You;” Instagram @brianfoleylawpllc/ Youtube – @brianfoleylawyer/X @brianpllc
- Scott Johnson – Forensic Psychologist (Minnesota): 32 years specializing in addressing sexual predators
- Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, “Blood Beneath My Feet,” and Host: “Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;” Twitter/X: @JoScottForensic
- Michael Maley - Former South Carolina News Anchor in Myrtle Beach/More than 2 decades as an Investigative Reporter and News Anchor in the South
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace
breaking news tonight. Gorgeous pastor's wife, Micah Miller spoke through
tears about abuse on Facebook, supporting victims of domestic violence.
Mica meets her future husband age just 15 and when
(00:21):
they marry, she takes on his five
the Children as her own. But cracks emerge in the marriage.
The marriage to a highly popular and charismatic South Carolina
pastor John Paul Miller. Then the shot discovery of Micah's
body in a remote state park, Mica shot dead
(00:43):
and in the last hours, a war of words explodes
as Micah's loved ones insist she did not commit suicide.
And also in the last hours, Pastor John Paul Miller
booted from that Myrtle Beach church. What do they know that?
We don't know tonight, Mica's devastating 911 call. MP S.
(01:06):
Did the preacher have a girlfriend?
Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime stories. Thank
you for being with us. I've had a lot of
women
that have reached out to me about situations of abuse
and
I just want to tell you what a lot of
(01:27):
people have told me uh lately and reminded me because
I think I forgot I knew. But I for I
pushed it in the back of my head. Um
just because of my situation. Um but you are the
bride of Christ. God hates divorce. But why, according to
everybody I've asked and the scriptures that I've found, it's
(01:49):
because it hurts people
but does abuse hurt people.
How do you think God feels about that? Having worked
uh for nine years on the hotline at the battered
women's center prosecuting during the day hearing her speaking like
that just it twists my heart. She referred to her
(02:10):
quote situation. What situation was that?
And why did this beautiful young wife end up dead,
shot dead in a remote state park. Joining me in
all star panel. But I I just want to establish
how did these two ever get together? Listen, John Paul
(02:35):
Miller and Micah Miller are married in 2017 and at
the age of just 23 Micah Miller becomes stepmom to
John Paul Miller's five Children, JP Miller is considerably older
than his beautiful young wife, but they move forward like
a match made in heaven. At first,
like many marriages outside the home, everybody seems happy but
inside the home, not so much Micah Miller decides she
(02:57):
has had enough of pastor John Paul Miller and files
for divorce. Joining me an all star panel to make
sense of what we know right now. But first, I
want to go to former South Carolina news anchor in
Myrtle Beach, investigative reporter
Michael Melly. Thank you for being with us. Number one, happy,
a happy marriage. What the three of them, Mica, the
(03:21):
pre the preacher and his girlfriend. Ok. That said, what
is her situation that she refers to on that very
haunting Facebook post, you know,
in this community too? We, we're just inundated with feelings
and suggestions, you know, ideas and passion on both sides
of this terrible, terrible case. Um You know, that family dynamic,
(03:45):
it really came to light lately, Mike o'malley. Listen, I
got one hour with you. No time for euphemisms,
no time to whitewash anything. What do you mean? The
family dynamic just came to light. What family dynamic? The girlfriend,
the alleged abuse. What? Well, it's a combination. Uh Let's
(04:08):
start with the first Micah uh and JP as she
referred to him, to her siblings, her siblings put together
some affidavits in court in seeking uh
uh ownership uh for a state. Uh in those affidavits,
we've just kind of learned a little more detail um
in that her siblings say look, she told us in
no uncertain terms about the abuse she told us she
(04:29):
feared for her life. Um It got so graphic and
detailed as to her saying to the effect if someone
finds me with a bullet in my head, it was JP,
John Paul. These are statements that came out, Michael Maley.
Hold on just one moment. That is a lot of information.
I've found a lot of it in investigating the case.
(04:50):
But I want you to just, if you don't mind,
would you repeat what you just said that you learned
from reading affidavits by family? Um Just kind of looking
through the affidavits uh submitted by Micah's family, her siblings
to say the least. Um There's a mention um of abuse.
Um There's a mention of her fear for her safety
(05:11):
and it gets even so graphic and so detailed um
as a mention of quote to an extent here. If
I end up dead with a bullet in my head,
it was JP who did it? JP, John Paul, her
estranged husband. Um This is all coming out. Um In
(05:31):
addition to that, we're getting some more information from some
other siblings.
Talk about a March 11th incident where there was uh
police reports filed for vandalism to her car, her tire shredded.
You're giving me so much information and I've got questions
on every single thing that you just said with me.
You're hearing a very well known investigative reporter joining us
(05:54):
out of South Carolina, Michael Maley
with me, an all star panel, but I'm gonna introduce
them as we go along to Brian Foley, joining me,
board certified criminal defense attorney and former chief prosecutor Harris County, Texas.
Never a lack of business there. And author of what
prosecutors don't tell you, Brian Foley, how many cases did
(06:17):
you prosecute and, or defend
where the dead woman says if I turn up dead.
He did it because I have had many and sure
enough by the time I got a hold of them,
they were homicide cases, Brian Foley and domestic
violence situations, we often have these warning uh signs, we
(06:40):
have uh victims that will reach out to friends or
family members and say, hey, if something happens to me,
it it wasn't me, it was, I'm not going to
commit suicide. Um And so apparently that did happen in
this case, but we've got some facts, you know, from
the police investigation that look like
uh it is a suicide. So if I'm J P's lawyer,
(07:02):
um I'd be saying, singing from the rooftops what the
police have reported. Well, yeah, but right now I'm curious
about what else the family has to say in sworn
statements and a legal word.
The so called preacher has not been officially charged. He
has not been named a po I person of interest
(07:23):
or a suspect. But I want to move forward with
what Michael Maley, investigative reporter joining us out of South
Carolina is saying he's talking about
problems Mica had just before her death. Listen to our
friends at crime online. Four months after filing for divorce,
(07:45):
Micah Miller pulls back the divorce papers only to file
new divorce papers weeks later after filing for divorce a
second time, Micah Miller feels like she's being stalked. Her
tires are slashed twice in a week's time. Police discover
a tire deflator
has been used on the tires, taking her car to
the dealer for service. A mechanic finds a tracking device
placed in Micah Miller's car, flat tires tracking device. Micah
(08:06):
Miller tells police she's afraid for her life. She knows
who the suspect is but police tell her there's nothing
they can do. Police file reports but no charges are filed. Ok.
Hold on a tracking device on her car. Her tires
slashed. She calls police to report it. They show up
at a gas station where she is to get the
(08:27):
tracking device off her car. At that time, the alleged
stalker drives by very slowly in his Honda. She says
if you find me dead, he did it. The preacher
that's not a suspect. Her husband,
I mean, you know, uh to Scott Johnson joining me
forensic psychologist, author of when I love you turns violent
(08:53):
Scott Johnson. I mean, other than this initial ruling that
Mike
committed suicide with a bullet to her head, which of course,
as we all know, is highly unlikely statistically that a
female of her age would shoot themselves in the face
that said Scott Johnson
(09:16):
textbook, stalking textbook, very textbook. And you know, she's describing
incidents which sound crazy and yet there's evidence to back
uh back it up. And so when people get controlling
and possessive and particular with narcissism and this person's position
with the, with the church and in the community, um
(09:37):
she's a piece of property that just will not be
let go. You know Michael Malley, this is gonna be
hard for you because you have so much information to
give us. But Michael, yes. No. Did the, the preacher,
the pastor? Did he have a girlfriend? I want to
establish that. Yeah, Nancy. That's right. So there's several reports
(09:59):
out there that say not only did he have a
girlfriend but that girlfriend allegedly may have been his alibi.
Holy my head's blowing off right now. Let me just
try to reattach that here at the top of my page.
What is his alibi? Where was he? OK. I did
not see that coming but thank you. I'm gonna split
(10:20):
your answer. I'm gonna bifurcate it and go back to
Scott Johnson. Boy. Do we need to shrink? Hold on.
So all this business you were saying about stalkers are
controlling and possessive and they won't let
the woman go. He double L if he had a girlfriend,
why did he care if she got a divorce? Explain
that to me, right? But you have the misogynistic bullshit.
(10:41):
If you will there that he's God's gift to women,
he can have as many women as he wants. But
once he has them, he possesses them. And so to
indoctrinate the new girlfriend to maybe even stalk and or
um help kill her would not
be out of the realm of what we've heard from
uh controlling domestic batters at all. And this all started
(11:02):
by me very calmly asking Michael Maley, investigative reporter, what
Micah's family said in their affidavits man, you threw me
a hardball. So the girlfriend you believe is going to
be the pastor's
alibi at the time, Mia was shot in the head.
(11:25):
The official police report says that uh that JP was
with a woman. Um So there's speculation of some sorts
but um a lot of allegations suggest this is the
woman who he was with. Uh, he was in Charleston,
not in North Carolina where Mike's body was discovered, not
from where the 911 call was tracked in that uh
(11:47):
Lumber River State Park. So the,
this is the, uh the suggestion is that no, uh
he's with a woman, uh, and police corroborate that uh
he was romantically involved with a woman at this time.
Um So that's, that's where he was. And another note, Nancy, that,
that did come up that may or may not be
interesting is, um, when asked before the press briefing where
(12:10):
they were,
Robinson County Sheriff's detective offered to meet separately JP. Um,
apparently through his attorney, he refused to meet them said
he would take any information delivered to him here in
Ory County. Well, wait, wait, Michael. He, he, the preacher
refused to meet who Robinson County sheriff's deputies through his
attorney through notes that I'm reading. He said, I don't
(12:32):
wish to meet you in Robinson County. I'll be here
in Ore County if you want to deliver information to me.
That's kind of the gist of what we're getting.
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Joe Scott Morgan is joining me, renowned professor of forensics
(12:55):
Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath my Feet. Host
of body bags, the Hit new podcast, Joe Scott. You
have handled literally thousands of death investigations, some homicides, some suicides,
some natural cause,
but we have read a lot of police reports, right?
(13:17):
And when the police, right, in the report, the preacher,
husband was with quote, a woman notice, you know, that's
code word, right? For girlfriend notice they didn't say a parishioner,
a congregant, a family friend, a neighbor, a coworker. They went,
he was with a woman.
(13:38):
We all know what that means. That is police lingo
for girlfriend
affair. Uh,
Speaker 2 (13:43):
yeah. And, uh, here's the other thing, you can also
insert the word alibi too, uh, perhaps and people that
find themselves in these positions, many time attempt to alibi
themselves by being somewhere else or being with an individual
that perhaps can,
uh, you know, validate where they were. But if you've
got somebody that's engaged in deceptive behavior, which as we know,
(14:06):
infidelity is at the top of the heap, uh, you know,
who's to say that they wouldn't create some kind of other, uh,
fantastical story to pass off to the police. It's gonna
have to be verified electronically. I think through the investigations,
they're going to have to,
you know, lay down the breadcrumbs electronically and talk about
the digital evidence that they have to specifically pinpoint this individual.
(14:29):
And
Speaker 1 (14:29):
joining us an all star panel, a war of words
exploding between Mica's loved ones and the suggestion
that Mica committed suicide,
they better have some really strong evidence that this was
suicide back to you, Michael Melly. And I'm about to
(14:50):
bring in Irv Brant, um, very respected former US Marshal
service agent, International Investigations Branch and author of Jack Solo
on Amazon Michael. Let me understand the alibi of the
preacher who is not a suspect and has not been
named a person of interest. The sheriff
(15:12):
office, Facebook post says, quote Miller and a female, he's
allegedly romantically involved with, that's one way of putting it
romantically involved. Uh, investigators confirm both individuals not in North
Carolina the night before and day of Mica's death.
Through interviews. JP Miller was at an athletic event in
(15:37):
Charleston on the day of Micah's death. Let me just
knock a few things down very quickly. What time of
the day do we believe Mica was killed? Michael Malley. Uh,
it was the afternoon on, uh, Saturday, April 27th.
Uh, the call came in around 245 in the afternoon,
(15:57):
around 2:45 p.m. based on the 911 calls. Do you
know what athletic event the husband was supposed to be at?
We don't right now nor did the authorities release any
information just that, uh, he was there with the woman,
he was allegedly involved with using a Robinson County detectives word. Ok.
(16:18):
Apparently in the afternoon, coming back to Ory County, I
believe on Sunday,
I'm not mistaken. So that's kind of the timeline that
the authorities have released and put out that truck is
tinted black. How do I know who's in it? And
also how do I know he was at an athletic event?
And was he there the whole time? And how far
(16:39):
away is that
event from where Mica was killed? Fair questions. All of those.
Uh Charleston, South Carolina about an hour and a half
south of us in Myrtle Beach, uh Lumberton County, uh
Lumberton rather Robinson County about an hour north. So I'd
say about three hours to play it safe 2.5 to
3 hours from where Micah's body was discovered to the
(17:00):
athletic event where um you know, the pastor allegedly was guys,
we're trying to determine the truth of what happened to
this
gorgeous young mom. Uh Back to you, Michael Mellie. What
more did you learn from the family's affidavits? Yeah. So,
and this, this really just kind of came out like I,
like I said, on the onset of our discussion and,
and this is uh compelling no matter how you look
(17:22):
at it. Um So the family, the siblings, Michael siblings,
she had a few, I believe up to four or five,
at least two of them filed an affidavit. This is
for um, the actual uh efforts to get
the ownership, I guess of her state. Um, you touched that,
I believe briefly. But March 11th, there were two police
reports filed about a, uh, tire that exploded a metal
(17:44):
device that they have erupted the tire, a GPS device.
That's when she allegedly was gonna file that restraining order. That's,
that was around March 11th. Well, in this affidavit, one
of the family members says they got an email from
like uh
uh where she talked about her husband apologizing for the
tires and causing damage to her vehicle. Um And then
(18:07):
he went on to this email and again, this is
Mia's sibling saying I got an email from my sister.
My sister says this,
um said Mr Miller's email to my sister continued to
think that he was angry that Mica confided in her
family over him. And he said in his words, the
affidavit said that when someone hurts me, I try to
(18:27):
hurt them back rather than forgive and instead of me
forgiving you, I just a cha attack and try to
cause pain. This was in the affidavit.
Um So look, the family has certainly plenty to grieve over,
but they're bringing up more information about just the tumult
of this relationship beforehand. And what would appear again through
(18:50):
Micah's email him, taking ownership of some of these assaults,
so to speak. And joining me right now, as I
mentioned earlier, Irv Brandt, former US marshal who has traveled
the world for the US government to locate
wanted felons. Irv, thank you for being with us. Listen,
I'm gonna have to very carefully review that autopsy report
(19:13):
and I know that's your belly wick Joe Scott Morgan.
But Irv Brandt, when you've got a stalker husband,
uh allegedly putting tracking devices on his wife's car slashing
her tires apologizing for it, having an affair and the
wife says if you find me dead with a bullet
in my head, he did it, that autopsy report better
(19:34):
be clear and convincing, leaving no room for doubt. But
my question to you, uh brand is,
what about the alibi? You and I have both dealt
with a lot of alibis that stunk to high heaven
but with those tinted windows and a girlfriend that is
(19:55):
uh doug or heels in. What do you do, Nancy? That's,
that's exactly right. And I have confidence in the investigators
uh in this matter
that they're not gonna overlook any possibilities. I mean, you
have the perfect suspect, you know, everything that you laid out.
This guy is good for it. This wasn't a suicide.
(20:19):
So the police have to be absolutely sure that his
alibi is rock solid, whether they went and interviewed people
that were at that sporting event, that there's video of
him at that sporting event. If his phone was at
that sporting event,
they, and then like you said, on top of that
the autopsy
(20:40):
has to be solid showing it's suicide for them to
come out and say he's not a suspect or even
a person of interest given what we know. I just
wanna let you know that I'm alive and well, and, um,
life's been kind of crazy a couple past weeks,
(21:01):
months, uh, years.
But, um,
I've kind of had to keep my circle really small
for the past couple of weeks
just because, um,
I'm going through a lot and it's hard. What does
that mean? Scott Johnson, joining me, a forensic psychologist and
(21:22):
author of when I love you turns violent among other books,
Scott Johnson.
What does that mean when someone goes on Facebook? Just
to reassure everyone that they're ok? Well, certainly that she's
not feeling ok, she's feeling scared and she wants to
make sure that people are hearing that undertow that care
about her, that recognize that code if you will, that,
(21:45):
you know, right now, I'm ok, but I've been through
a lot and she references that. So she's scared and she's, um,
you know, reaching out to people to kind of
listen then and keep track of her if you will
to make sure she stays ok. It's hurting me to
think that she was turning to posting on Facebook about
(22:06):
her fears and the pain that she was going through.
She even gives it a definitive time period. She says
for years, I've been going through this clearly alluding to
her marriage again, her pastor husband, JP Miller. John Paul Miller,
um, is not a suspect or a person of interest.
(22:27):
As a matter of fact, he's probably looking for a
job right now because John Paul Miller has been booted
from that Myrtle Beach church just days after he casually
reveals his wife's suicide to a stunned conversation. But you
know what? Let's hear it from the horse's mouth. Listen,
(22:49):
I got a call late last night. My wife has
passed away.
Yeah, it was, it was self induced and it was
uh up in North Carolina and somehow it kind of
like wedge that in to the rest of the service
to Brian Foley. Joining me, a veteran trial lawyer and
author of what prosecutors don't tell you, Brian, I know
(23:11):
a good defense attorney like yourself will argue. Well, that
means nothing. You know, there's no, how many times have
I heard it? There's no playbook for grief, but it
matters to me.
And I guarantee you it would matter to any woman
on a jury that he's talking about this and that
and that and this and oh, yeah, my wife's dead.
(23:33):
She did it.
And then he instructed everybody to leave in silence and
don't ask him any questions. Hey, I mean, that, that's
a great argument for, he's a little bit weird or,
or a jerk if you want to say cheating on
her is obviously not a great thing, but
uh he's not guilty of murdering her. There's concrete proof
of that. The police have her on video at 12:12 p.m.
(23:57):
buying a nine millimeter six. So which is gonna match
up to the bullet that they have with her. Um,
they found bullets in the car, they found, uh, even
on her phone, they have her looking up, uh, where
the nearest National Force is. That's where they found her.
The reason she called 911, she says in her own
voice
that she uh is intending on killing herself. So, you know,
(24:19):
there's can be a lot of speculation, but the police
and the law requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And
I think you could probably prove beyond a reasonable doubt
that she did kill herself. Not just that uh you
ha you'd have to prove it the other way beyond
a reasonable doubt that he did the killing and uh
him not being very articulate in front of a crowd
after he, he finds out his wife has committed suicide.
(24:40):
Uh That's not proof. I got a question for you.
Um Does the name Conrad Roy? Ring a bell or
Michelle Carter? His former girlfriend, Conrad Roy, an extremely sensitive
young man commits suicide at the behest, the urging the
(25:02):
aiding the abetting of his girlfriend
Michelle Carter and she got convicted and did a little
bit of a hard time. Are you familiar with that case?
And others like it? We're a little familiar with that
but it's not really the same here because he's, his
license plate reader is three hours away at the same time.
You know, there's no evidence of a struggle or anything
(25:24):
like that. And on the 911 call had he been
like in the background, you know, forcing her hand or
something like that. We wouldn't expect her reasoning to be
for her family to find her or something like that.
We'd expect her to be crying a little more to be, uh,
more upset. Maybe even blurt something out like he's here
or something like that. Hold on. Did I hear Brian Foley,
(25:44):
the veteran trial lawyer say his license plate reader places
his truck
elsewhere.
Did I hear you say anything about an alibi other
than his girlfriend is he spotted on video? Is his
cell phone there at that sporting event?
(26:05):
Do, do I have any other eyewitness placing him three
hours away other than the girlfriend? And by the way,
weren't these two still legally married? They weren't divorced yet,
were they Brian Foley? Yeah. And you know, if we
want to convict him of being a jerk, that's fine,
but that's not a crime. And this is, yeah, what
(26:25):
he's not placed three hours away. His vehicle is, but importantly,
he's not placed when she's there buying the gun that
did the suicide at 12:12 p.m.
Uh, she is on video. She's not with him. He's
not captured in the parking lot you can see on
her face, we, she's almost smiling at it. She's, this
is something that she's obviously had some mental health issues.
(26:46):
She's going through a lot and this is her taking
control back of her, her life. And you can actually
in suicides like that. There is this period sometimes beforehand
when the victim or of the suicide knows that
they're going to do this where they get a little
bit happier, They feel like they're in control of things.
You can see that in the smile on her face
in that video. Hey, Brian Foley. Guess what
(27:07):
Michelle Carter wasn't present when Conrad Roy killed himself either.
She was on the phone saying go ahead, kill yourself.
She wasn't there either, but she went to jail again.
Let me reiterate. We invited the pastor
John Paul Miller on today to answer some tough questions.
He did not respond. He's just been booted by his
(27:29):
Myrtle Beach church. And I'm wondering, what do they know that?
We don't know if this is truly a suicide? If
that church believes that Micah committed suicide, then why did
they fire him? Why, why aren't they
uh uh enfolding him with compassion and sympathy instead of
(27:50):
firing him? What do they know? Joining me, Joseph Scott Morgan,
we're now professor of forensics Jacksonville State University author, podcaster
and star of the hit series, uh Joe Scott, what
would convince you
in that autopsy report that this is really a suicide
(28:13):
I'm not saying it is. I'm not saying it's not
and the husband is presumed innocent until proven guilty. He
has not been charged.
But in my world, Jo Scott, when a woman says,
if I turn up dead with a bullet in my head,
he did it and then she turns up dead with
a bullet in her head. I've got to think about it.
(28:35):
So what would convince you, what do you know about
the suicide other than it's highly unlikely for a female,
her age to shoot herself in the head.
What are you looking for? Joe Scott?
Speaker 2 (28:46):
I'm gonna be looking for the presence of soot deposition
and that is when the blast of the weapon makes
contact with the skin, the proximity to the end of
the muzzle. If you guys could come to me on
camera just for a second, I'll kind of show you
what I'm talking about here. Uh Well, this is a
dummy weapon that we use at Jackson State when a
(29:08):
weapon is placed to the skin like this and it
is fired. Ok?
The deposition into the surface will be blown in and
you'll be able to appreciate that as far as a
close contact, gunshot wound or a press contact. We do
know this piece of information that was released by the
medical examiner uh for Robinson County. Uh The he had
(29:32):
stated in his release
that contrary to what had been floating around out there
that this was not a gunshot wound to the back
of the head. We generally associate those with an execution
style gunshot wound and those in, in the framework of suicide.
When you're talking about self inflicted gunshot wounds, a wound,
(29:53):
the back of the head is what we call an
atypical location for a self inflicted gunshot wound. So, what
we're looking for is the proximity perhaps on the temple
or maybe an intraoral gunshot wound and they haven't released
that information yet. That's what I'd be keying in on
relative to the autopsy results when they're finally released.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace
guys.
In the last hours, a 911 call has been released
that purports to be Mica
near suicide,
(30:40):
her family and loved ones want proof and I don't
blame them. And let me remind everyone, the husband slash
pastor has not been named as a suspect. We invited
him to join us and set straight the record. He
did not respond. But who did respond? A very dear
(31:04):
friend of Micah's
Shaylon French is joining us, Shaylon. Thank you for being
with us. Thank you for having me on Shaylon. When
did you learn that Micah had passed away? I learned
two days ago
on tiktok, it went viral and I was laying in
bed and I found the video and to those who
(31:27):
are in her life group in Kansas where she tried
to come back to, to separate from her husband. Um
in early 2023.
Um I shared it with them and we all found
out right then and there, what was your immediate thought
when you learned Mica was dead? My immediate thoughts went
(31:48):
straight to him. What do you mean by that? You
felt sorry for him? You felt empathy for him when
you say your immediate thoughts went straight to him. What
exactly did you think when you heard Mica is dead?
I after the stories that she had shared with everyone
about her abuse and we all got very watered down.
Um versions of obviously everything that was happening because when
(32:11):
you just meet somebody, you're not going to tell them everything.
Um
We got all text messages when she was leaving. That
didn't make any sense when she was planning on staying
in Kansas and she was planning on thriving. She was
planning on making trips healing and all of a sudden
we heard nothing. It was a hey, good news. I've
been reconciled. My husband's allowing me to come back home.
(32:35):
OK. Whoa whoa whoa whoa My husband's allowing me to
come back home. He allowed her to come back home.
I've been reconciled. Praise God. OK? The a the abuse
that she did admit. What did she say to me personally?
And she did not give explicit details. She mentioned how
(32:57):
her husband would watch or make her watch on Holy Acts.
And those are the exact words that she gave to
me
when I tried to ask deeper. I didn't get an answer.
Made her watch Unholy Acts. Ok. That could be a
number of things with me is Micah's very dear friend,
Sheila French.
Were you surprised when you learned Mia was dead? So
(33:22):
I'm going to back up a little bit because when
we met her, it was in early January 2023 she
came to Kansas to live with family and she started
coming to our church
church when she came to our church, she, her testimony
was first off beautiful. She immediately wanted to be a
mission trips. She immediately wanted to get involved. She wanted
(33:43):
to know everybody. She was adventurous. She was ready to
just start a new life away from him.
We had conversations about her taking care of her own
mental health. We had conversations about her feeling like there
was nothing wrong with her, but she wanted to double check.
She was so happy to be able to deal with
her own mental health. She was so happy to be
(34:04):
able to go see a therapist. We were making plans
and then in March, March 23rd, 2023 we all got
a text message that said praise, praise God. I've been reconciled.
So in my surprise that she is dead.
Yes, because she was so smart and I hoped she
(34:24):
would escape it. But this guy
seemed scary. He seemed
calculated
and you could tell she was definitely in fear even
being away from him. I don't understand the nature of
their relationship when she was 15 years old when she
met him. How did she end up mother to his
(34:47):
five Children? From another woman? I am not sure. So,
when she met us in Kansas, she did talk about, um,
his Children, but the only thing she mentioned was that
they were close to her age, um, she treated them
like they were her own. She was very kind to them.
She talked about missing them even. But I'm not exactly
(35:08):
sure how it even came about that. A youth pastor
would go after a young teen. She never explained that.
But you could definitely tell when she gave us that
information that she had gone through church abuse. Question. Was
he the youth pastor when he met her as a
15 year old girl? I can't confirm that I have
heard just like everybody else that he was part of
(35:31):
the teen ministry. Um I have no information on that.
And joining me is Micah's friend Shay and French. What
do you make of the
now cod cause of death? Suicide? Do you believe that?
I don't want to,
I don't want to believe that I want to believe
(35:53):
that she didn't and that this is all calculated that
anybody could tell someone to walk. There. People are coming
out with even so many questions about the videos, footage,
footages that have been released by the police and seeing
inconsistencies there, um like seeing at the gun store and
not seeing her tattoo on the right hand. Um They,
(36:15):
someone had posted that there was a blue truck nearby
following her. Although I don't, the timelines wouldn't be consistent
to where he was at.
I
truly think this could have still been foul play. However,
if she did, she is the one she called 911
and that honestly, that phone call was gut ring to
all of us. Um
(36:36):
When she called 911, I could believe it. And the
only reason is because when you have been through that
much abuse and you feel like now that your abuser
has thrown you out and you are nothing, he finally
was able to get a divorce.
I could see her taking her own life and feeling
like she had nothing left. However, when she was with
us a year ago, this, this girl had fight, she
(36:57):
was mentally stable. She was ready to start a new life.
She was ready to go on a mission trip. She
was ready to make an impact on everyone in her
community to Michael Maley joining us investigative reporter in South Carolina.
What is she talking about? A blue truck was near
the location where Mica was found dead as far as
(37:19):
the location, everything that I'm getting from authorities from their
release was just tracking her car. Um I don't have
information about a blue truck.
Uh just that her Honda was tracked there with a drone. They,
they did locate the car there, that J P's truck
according to authorities based on the license plate, that's the
truck that we've seen um in Ory County. Um going
(37:41):
and coming to Charleston about three hours from the Lumber
River State Park in North Carolina.
Um So Nancy just to clarify that, that's the only
information that I've got as far as a truck location
near where Micah's body was discovered. We are learning that
the cod cause of death at this juncture is suicide.
(38:04):
I'm looking at her obituary written by her husband who
has just been released from his position at that Myrtle
Beach Church. I I'm curious to Micah's very close friend,
Shayla French. Why is the obit about him so much?
What did he write the obit? It looks like it.
(38:25):
So I would like to put a reminder out there.
She left Kansas in March 20 March 23rd, 2023. Most
of us in Kansas where she escaped to have not
heard from her since when we looked at that obituary
where it says I loved, she loved her husband so much.
This was not written by her. This was written by
(38:46):
a narcissist. It is absolutely disgusting.
Every single way loved her husband so much told him
he was the funniest preacher in the world. OK. And
uh more and more.
Ok to you Michael Maley joining us investigative reporter out
of South Carolina. What do you make of that obit?
(39:09):
And what more can you tell us? Yeah. You know, Nancy,
it's tough. We can't ask Micah these questions so we
can't go into the detail that only she knew in
her last moments. Uh, you read this obituary and, and
here living in Myrtle Beach, in, in inundated community,
um, people just bring up, you know, why does the
(39:29):
obituary talk, you know about her estranged husband that she
thought he was the funniest preacher in the world, uh,
that she, you know, would praise her husband after every
church service telling him he was the best preacher. Um,
even analytically, even uh objectively. Um I'm sure a psychologist
as well. Hold on just a moment. I mean, this
(39:52):
thing says I'm looking at it, quote. She and JP,
the pastor had been friends since 2009, married in 2017
and spent almost every single day and night together, I guess,
except when he was with his girlfriend.
Yes. No. Were they separated? They were, they were separated? Ok.
She originally had filed for divorce back in October. So
(40:15):
it was ongoing.
Then they were suggesting that they were going to try
to rekindle and so that was dropped. So this was
a tumultuous pass for since at least October publicly through
the court record, Scott Johnson joining me forensic psychologist. What
are hypnotic drugs? Well, drugs were when people are under
the influence they are oftentimes either unable to resist.
(40:37):
Yes. So you're saying you want to do this, you're
going to do this? Yes, I will. Even though, you know,
they're not wanting to, but they look normal, sound normal. So,
um the hypnotic drugs are often used for date rapists,
um human trafficking and things like that. Curious uh Brian
Foley veteran, trial lawyer and author
(40:58):
final thought, Brian Foley, I mean, if I was a
prosecutor and I had evidence that his license plate reader
was near the crime scene and he was on video
purchasing the gun himself. And there was a 911 call
where the victim said he was the one who was
going to do it. You'd have a knockdown case. I
don't know why it doesn't work the other way. Uh
JP is innocent. This is the suicide. Well, that's what
(41:21):
we're hearing. And to you, Joseph Scott Morgan,
what do you think
Speaker 2 (41:26):
over all my years, Nancy as a death investigator in
New Orleans in Atlanta, I worked more suicides actually than
I did homicides. People are amazed by that, but that's
the truth in America. And the reality is this, if
you live with somebody and you know them and you
have control over their life, perhaps, you know, all of
(41:46):
the pressure points and you have somebody that is emotionally fragile,
they're wounded, you know, what buttons to press,
you know, electronic tracking devices, these sorts of things and
you can push people to the edge edge. Nancy. I've
worked cases like that and they are absolutely tragic. And
the problem is is that at the end of the day,
(42:07):
you have nothing to hang your hat on other than
the fact of what the evidence reveals at the end.
And there ultimately is no closure and it's very, very tragic.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
We wait as justice unfolds. Let's stop. And remember American hero, Sergeant,
Bill Hoosier, Utah, Sergeant Hoosier struck and killed by a
fleeing suspect in a semi,
survived by his grieving wife, two daughters, granddaughter, American hero, Sergeant,
(42:39):
Bill Hoosier.
Thank you to all of our guests for joining us
tonight
during this moment of confusion and heartbreak for Micah Miller
Nancy Grace. Signing off. Good night friend.
Crime stories with Nancy Grace
breaking news tonight. Gorgeous pastor's wife, Micah Miller spoke through
tears about abuse on Facebook, supporting victims of domestic violence.
Mica meets her future husband age just 15 and when
(00:21):
they marry, she takes on his five
the Children as her own. But cracks emerge in the marriage.
The marriage to a highly popular and charismatic South Carolina
pastor John Paul Miller. Then the shot discovery of Micah's
body in a remote state park, Mica shot dead
(00:43):
and in the last hours, a war of words explodes
as Micah's loved ones insist she did not commit suicide.
And also in the last hours, Pastor John Paul Miller
booted from that Myrtle Beach church. What do they know that?
We don't know tonight, Mica's devastating 911 call. MP S.
(01:06):
Did the preacher have a girlfriend?
Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime stories. Thank
you for being with us. I've had a lot of
women
that have reached out to me about situations of abuse
and
I just want to tell you what a lot of
(01:27):
people have told me uh lately and reminded me because
I think I forgot I knew. But I for I
pushed it in the back of my head. Um
just because of my situation. Um but you are the
bride of Christ. God hates divorce. But why, according to
everybody I've asked and the scriptures that I've found, it's
(01:49):
because it hurts people
but does abuse hurt people.
How do you think God feels about that? Having worked
uh for nine years on the hotline at the battered
women's center prosecuting during the day hearing her speaking like
that just it twists my heart. She referred to her
(02:10):
quote situation. What situation was that?
And why did this beautiful young wife end up dead,
shot dead in a remote state park. Joining me in
all star panel. But I I just want to establish
how did these two ever get together? Listen, John Paul
(02:35):
Miller and Micah Miller are married in 2017 and at
the age of just 23 Micah Miller becomes stepmom to
John Paul Miller's five Children, JP Miller is considerably older
than his beautiful young wife, but they move forward like
a match made in heaven. At first,
like many marriages outside the home, everybody seems happy but
inside the home, not so much Micah Miller decides she
(02:57):
has had enough of pastor John Paul Miller and files
for divorce. Joining me an all star panel to make
sense of what we know right now. But first, I
want to go to former South Carolina news anchor in
Myrtle Beach, investigative reporter
Michael Melly. Thank you for being with us. Number one, happy,
a happy marriage. What the three of them, Mica, the
(03:21):
pre the preacher and his girlfriend. Ok. That said, what
is her situation that she refers to on that very
haunting Facebook post, you know,
in this community too? We, we're just inundated with feelings
and suggestions, you know, ideas and passion on both sides
of this terrible, terrible case. Um You know, that family dynamic,
(03:45):
it really came to light lately, Mike o'malley. Listen, I
got one hour with you. No time for euphemisms,
no time to whitewash anything. What do you mean? The
family dynamic just came to light. What family dynamic? The girlfriend,
the alleged abuse. What? Well, it's a combination. Uh Let's
(04:08):
start with the first Micah uh and JP as she
referred to him, to her siblings, her siblings put together
some affidavits in court in seeking uh
uh ownership uh for a state. Uh in those affidavits,
we've just kind of learned a little more detail um
in that her siblings say look, she told us in
no uncertain terms about the abuse she told us she
(04:29):
feared for her life. Um It got so graphic and
detailed as to her saying to the effect if someone
finds me with a bullet in my head, it was JP,
John Paul. These are statements that came out, Michael Maley.
Hold on just one moment. That is a lot of information.
I've found a lot of it in investigating the case.
(04:50):
But I want you to just, if you don't mind,
would you repeat what you just said that you learned
from reading affidavits by family? Um Just kind of looking
through the affidavits uh submitted by Micah's family, her siblings
to say the least. Um There's a mention um of abuse.
Um There's a mention of her fear for her safety
(05:11):
and it gets even so graphic and so detailed um
as a mention of quote to an extent here. If
I end up dead with a bullet in my head,
it was JP who did it? JP, John Paul, her
estranged husband. Um This is all coming out. Um In
(05:31):
addition to that, we're getting some more information from some
other siblings.
Talk about a March 11th incident where there was uh
police reports filed for vandalism to her car, her tire shredded.
You're giving me so much information and I've got questions
on every single thing that you just said with me.
You're hearing a very well known investigative reporter joining us
(05:54):
out of South Carolina, Michael Maley
with me, an all star panel, but I'm gonna introduce
them as we go along to Brian Foley, joining me,
board certified criminal defense attorney and former chief prosecutor Harris County, Texas.
Never a lack of business there. And author of what
prosecutors don't tell you, Brian Foley, how many cases did
(06:17):
you prosecute and, or defend
where the dead woman says if I turn up dead.
He did it because I have had many and sure
enough by the time I got a hold of them,
they were homicide cases, Brian Foley and domestic
violence situations, we often have these warning uh signs, we
(06:40):
have uh victims that will reach out to friends or
family members and say, hey, if something happens to me,
it it wasn't me, it was, I'm not going to
commit suicide. Um And so apparently that did happen in
this case, but we've got some facts, you know, from
the police investigation that look like
uh it is a suicide. So if I'm J P's lawyer,
(07:02):
um I'd be saying, singing from the rooftops what the
police have reported. Well, yeah, but right now I'm curious
about what else the family has to say in sworn
statements and a legal word.
The so called preacher has not been officially charged. He
has not been named a po I person of interest
(07:23):
or a suspect. But I want to move forward with
what Michael Maley, investigative reporter joining us out of South
Carolina is saying he's talking about
problems Mica had just before her death. Listen to our
friends at crime online. Four months after filing for divorce,
(07:45):
Micah Miller pulls back the divorce papers only to file
new divorce papers weeks later after filing for divorce a
second time, Micah Miller feels like she's being stalked. Her
tires are slashed twice in a week's time. Police discover
a tire deflator
has been used on the tires, taking her car to
the dealer for service. A mechanic finds a tracking device
placed in Micah Miller's car, flat tires tracking device. Micah
(08:06):
Miller tells police she's afraid for her life. She knows
who the suspect is but police tell her there's nothing
they can do. Police file reports but no charges are filed. Ok.
Hold on a tracking device on her car. Her tires
slashed. She calls police to report it. They show up
at a gas station where she is to get the
(08:27):
tracking device off her car. At that time, the alleged
stalker drives by very slowly in his Honda. She says
if you find me dead, he did it. The preacher
that's not a suspect. Her husband,
I mean, you know, uh to Scott Johnson joining me
forensic psychologist, author of when I love you turns violent
(08:53):
Scott Johnson. I mean, other than this initial ruling that
Mike
committed suicide with a bullet to her head, which of course,
as we all know, is highly unlikely statistically that a
female of her age would shoot themselves in the face
that said Scott Johnson
(09:16):
textbook, stalking textbook, very textbook. And you know, she's describing
incidents which sound crazy and yet there's evidence to back
uh back it up. And so when people get controlling
and possessive and particular with narcissism and this person's position
with the, with the church and in the community, um
(09:37):
she's a piece of property that just will not be
let go. You know Michael Malley, this is gonna be
hard for you because you have so much information to
give us. But Michael, yes. No. Did the, the preacher,
the pastor? Did he have a girlfriend? I want to
establish that. Yeah, Nancy. That's right. So there's several reports
(09:59):
out there that say not only did he have a
girlfriend but that girlfriend allegedly may have been his alibi.
Holy my head's blowing off right now. Let me just
try to reattach that here at the top of my page.
What is his alibi? Where was he? OK. I did
not see that coming but thank you. I'm gonna split
(10:20):
your answer. I'm gonna bifurcate it and go back to
Scott Johnson. Boy. Do we need to shrink? Hold on.
So all this business you were saying about stalkers are
controlling and possessive and they won't let
the woman go. He double L if he had a girlfriend,
why did he care if she got a divorce? Explain
that to me, right? But you have the misogynistic bullshit.
(10:41):
If you will there that he's God's gift to women,
he can have as many women as he wants. But
once he has them, he possesses them. And so to
indoctrinate the new girlfriend to maybe even stalk and or
um help kill her would not
be out of the realm of what we've heard from
uh controlling domestic batters at all. And this all started
(11:02):
by me very calmly asking Michael Maley, investigative reporter, what
Micah's family said in their affidavits man, you threw me
a hardball. So the girlfriend you believe is going to
be the pastor's
alibi at the time, Mia was shot in the head.
(11:25):
The official police report says that uh that JP was
with a woman. Um So there's speculation of some sorts
but um a lot of allegations suggest this is the
woman who he was with. Uh, he was in Charleston,
not in North Carolina where Mike's body was discovered, not
from where the 911 call was tracked in that uh
(11:47):
Lumber River State Park. So the,
this is the, uh the suggestion is that no, uh
he's with a woman, uh, and police corroborate that uh
he was romantically involved with a woman at this time.
Um So that's, that's where he was. And another note, Nancy, that,
that did come up that may or may not be
interesting is, um, when asked before the press briefing where
(12:10):
they were,
Robinson County Sheriff's detective offered to meet separately JP. Um,
apparently through his attorney, he refused to meet them said
he would take any information delivered to him here in
Ory County. Well, wait, wait, Michael. He, he, the preacher
refused to meet who Robinson County sheriff's deputies through his
attorney through notes that I'm reading. He said, I don't
(12:32):
wish to meet you in Robinson County. I'll be here
in Ore County if you want to deliver information to me.
That's kind of the gist of what we're getting.
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Joe Scott Morgan is joining me, renowned professor of forensics
(12:55):
Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath my Feet. Host
of body bags, the Hit new podcast, Joe Scott. You
have handled literally thousands of death investigations, some homicides, some suicides,
some natural cause,
but we have read a lot of police reports, right?
(13:17):
And when the police, right, in the report, the preacher,
husband was with quote, a woman notice, you know, that's
code word, right? For girlfriend notice they didn't say a parishioner,
a congregant, a family friend, a neighbor, a coworker. They went,
he was with a woman.
(13:38):
We all know what that means. That is police lingo
for girlfriend
affair. Uh,
Speaker 2 (13:43):
yeah. And, uh, here's the other thing, you can also
insert the word alibi too, uh, perhaps and people that
find themselves in these positions, many time attempt to alibi
themselves by being somewhere else or being with an individual
that perhaps can,
uh, you know, validate where they were. But if you've
got somebody that's engaged in deceptive behavior, which as we know,
(14:06):
infidelity is at the top of the heap, uh, you know,
who's to say that they wouldn't create some kind of other, uh,
fantastical story to pass off to the police. It's gonna
have to be verified electronically. I think through the investigations,
they're going to have to,
you know, lay down the breadcrumbs electronically and talk about
the digital evidence that they have to specifically pinpoint this individual.
(14:29):
And
Speaker 1 (14:29):
joining us an all star panel, a war of words
exploding between Mica's loved ones and the suggestion
that Mica committed suicide,
they better have some really strong evidence that this was
suicide back to you, Michael Melly. And I'm about to
(14:50):
bring in Irv Brant, um, very respected former US Marshal
service agent, International Investigations Branch and author of Jack Solo
on Amazon Michael. Let me understand the alibi of the
preacher who is not a suspect and has not been
named a person of interest. The sheriff
(15:12):
office, Facebook post says, quote Miller and a female, he's
allegedly romantically involved with, that's one way of putting it
romantically involved. Uh, investigators confirm both individuals not in North
Carolina the night before and day of Mica's death.
Through interviews. JP Miller was at an athletic event in
(15:37):
Charleston on the day of Micah's death. Let me just
knock a few things down very quickly. What time of
the day do we believe Mica was killed? Michael Malley. Uh,
it was the afternoon on, uh, Saturday, April 27th.
Uh, the call came in around 245 in the afternoon,
(15:57):
around 2:45 p.m. based on the 911 calls. Do you
know what athletic event the husband was supposed to be at?
We don't right now nor did the authorities release any
information just that, uh, he was there with the woman,
he was allegedly involved with using a Robinson County detectives word. Ok.
(16:18):
Apparently in the afternoon, coming back to Ory County, I
believe on Sunday,
I'm not mistaken. So that's kind of the timeline that
the authorities have released and put out that truck is
tinted black. How do I know who's in it? And
also how do I know he was at an athletic event?
And was he there the whole time? And how far
(16:39):
away is that
event from where Mica was killed? Fair questions. All of those.
Uh Charleston, South Carolina about an hour and a half
south of us in Myrtle Beach, uh Lumberton County, uh
Lumberton rather Robinson County about an hour north. So I'd
say about three hours to play it safe 2.5 to
3 hours from where Micah's body was discovered to the
(17:00):
athletic event where um you know, the pastor allegedly was guys,
we're trying to determine the truth of what happened to
this
gorgeous young mom. Uh Back to you, Michael Mellie. What
more did you learn from the family's affidavits? Yeah. So,
and this, this really just kind of came out like I,
like I said, on the onset of our discussion and,
and this is uh compelling no matter how you look
(17:22):
at it. Um So the family, the siblings, Michael siblings,
she had a few, I believe up to four or five,
at least two of them filed an affidavit. This is
for um, the actual uh efforts to get
the ownership, I guess of her state. Um, you touched that,
I believe briefly. But March 11th, there were two police
reports filed about a, uh, tire that exploded a metal
(17:44):
device that they have erupted the tire, a GPS device.
That's when she allegedly was gonna file that restraining order. That's,
that was around March 11th. Well, in this affidavit, one
of the family members says they got an email from
like uh
uh where she talked about her husband apologizing for the
tires and causing damage to her vehicle. Um And then
(18:07):
he went on to this email and again, this is
Mia's sibling saying I got an email from my sister.
My sister says this,
um said Mr Miller's email to my sister continued to
think that he was angry that Mica confided in her
family over him. And he said in his words, the
affidavit said that when someone hurts me, I try to
(18:27):
hurt them back rather than forgive and instead of me
forgiving you, I just a cha attack and try to
cause pain. This was in the affidavit.
Um So look, the family has certainly plenty to grieve over,
but they're bringing up more information about just the tumult
of this relationship beforehand. And what would appear again through
(18:50):
Micah's email him, taking ownership of some of these assaults,
so to speak. And joining me right now, as I
mentioned earlier, Irv Brandt, former US marshal who has traveled
the world for the US government to locate
wanted felons. Irv, thank you for being with us. Listen,
I'm gonna have to very carefully review that autopsy report
(19:13):
and I know that's your belly wick Joe Scott Morgan.
But Irv Brandt, when you've got a stalker husband,
uh allegedly putting tracking devices on his wife's car slashing
her tires apologizing for it, having an affair and the
wife says if you find me dead with a bullet
in my head, he did it, that autopsy report better
(19:34):
be clear and convincing, leaving no room for doubt. But
my question to you, uh brand is,
what about the alibi? You and I have both dealt
with a lot of alibis that stunk to high heaven
but with those tinted windows and a girlfriend that is
(19:55):
uh doug or heels in. What do you do, Nancy? That's,
that's exactly right. And I have confidence in the investigators
uh in this matter
that they're not gonna overlook any possibilities. I mean, you
have the perfect suspect, you know, everything that you laid out.
This guy is good for it. This wasn't a suicide.
(20:19):
So the police have to be absolutely sure that his
alibi is rock solid, whether they went and interviewed people
that were at that sporting event, that there's video of
him at that sporting event. If his phone was at
that sporting event,
they, and then like you said, on top of that
the autopsy
(20:40):
has to be solid showing it's suicide for them to
come out and say he's not a suspect or even
a person of interest given what we know. I just
wanna let you know that I'm alive and well, and, um,
life's been kind of crazy a couple past weeks,
(21:01):
months, uh, years.
But, um,
I've kind of had to keep my circle really small
for the past couple of weeks
just because, um,
I'm going through a lot and it's hard. What does
that mean? Scott Johnson, joining me, a forensic psychologist and
(21:22):
author of when I love you turns violent among other books,
Scott Johnson.
What does that mean when someone goes on Facebook? Just
to reassure everyone that they're ok? Well, certainly that she's
not feeling ok, she's feeling scared and she wants to
make sure that people are hearing that undertow that care
about her, that recognize that code if you will, that,
(21:45):
you know, right now, I'm ok, but I've been through
a lot and she references that. So she's scared and she's, um,
you know, reaching out to people to kind of
listen then and keep track of her if you will
to make sure she stays ok. It's hurting me to
think that she was turning to posting on Facebook about
(22:06):
her fears and the pain that she was going through.
She even gives it a definitive time period. She says
for years, I've been going through this clearly alluding to
her marriage again, her pastor husband, JP Miller. John Paul Miller,
um, is not a suspect or a person of interest.
(22:27):
As a matter of fact, he's probably looking for a
job right now because John Paul Miller has been booted
from that Myrtle Beach church just days after he casually
reveals his wife's suicide to a stunned conversation. But you
know what? Let's hear it from the horse's mouth. Listen,
(22:49):
I got a call late last night. My wife has
passed away.
Yeah, it was, it was self induced and it was
uh up in North Carolina and somehow it kind of
like wedge that in to the rest of the service
to Brian Foley. Joining me, a veteran trial lawyer and
author of what prosecutors don't tell you, Brian, I know
(23:11):
a good defense attorney like yourself will argue. Well, that
means nothing. You know, there's no, how many times have
I heard it? There's no playbook for grief, but it
matters to me.
And I guarantee you it would matter to any woman
on a jury that he's talking about this and that
and that and this and oh, yeah, my wife's dead.
(23:33):
She did it.
And then he instructed everybody to leave in silence and
don't ask him any questions. Hey, I mean, that, that's
a great argument for, he's a little bit weird or,
or a jerk if you want to say cheating on
her is obviously not a great thing, but
uh he's not guilty of murdering her. There's concrete proof
of that. The police have her on video at 12:12 p.m.
(23:57):
buying a nine millimeter six. So which is gonna match
up to the bullet that they have with her. Um,
they found bullets in the car, they found, uh, even
on her phone, they have her looking up, uh, where
the nearest National Force is. That's where they found her.
The reason she called 911, she says in her own
voice
that she uh is intending on killing herself. So, you know,
(24:19):
there's can be a lot of speculation, but the police
and the law requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And
I think you could probably prove beyond a reasonable doubt
that she did kill herself. Not just that uh you
ha you'd have to prove it the other way beyond
a reasonable doubt that he did the killing and uh
him not being very articulate in front of a crowd
after he, he finds out his wife has committed suicide.
(24:40):
Uh That's not proof. I got a question for you.
Um Does the name Conrad Roy? Ring a bell or
Michelle Carter? His former girlfriend, Conrad Roy, an extremely sensitive
young man commits suicide at the behest, the urging the
(25:02):
aiding the abetting of his girlfriend
Michelle Carter and she got convicted and did a little
bit of a hard time. Are you familiar with that case?
And others like it? We're a little familiar with that
but it's not really the same here because he's, his
license plate reader is three hours away at the same time.
You know, there's no evidence of a struggle or anything
(25:24):
like that. And on the 911 call had he been
like in the background, you know, forcing her hand or
something like that. We wouldn't expect her reasoning to be
for her family to find her or something like that.
We'd expect her to be crying a little more to be, uh,
more upset. Maybe even blurt something out like he's here
or something like that. Hold on. Did I hear Brian Foley,
(25:44):
the veteran trial lawyer say his license plate reader places
his truck
elsewhere.
Did I hear you say anything about an alibi other
than his girlfriend is he spotted on video? Is his
cell phone there at that sporting event?
(26:05):
Do, do I have any other eyewitness placing him three
hours away other than the girlfriend? And by the way,
weren't these two still legally married? They weren't divorced yet,
were they Brian Foley? Yeah. And you know, if we
want to convict him of being a jerk, that's fine,
but that's not a crime. And this is, yeah, what
(26:25):
he's not placed three hours away. His vehicle is, but importantly,
he's not placed when she's there buying the gun that
did the suicide at 12:12 p.m.
Uh, she is on video. She's not with him. He's
not captured in the parking lot you can see on
her face, we, she's almost smiling at it. She's, this
is something that she's obviously had some mental health issues.
(26:46):
She's going through a lot and this is her taking
control back of her, her life. And you can actually
in suicides like that. There is this period sometimes beforehand
when the victim or of the suicide knows that
they're going to do this where they get a little
bit happier, They feel like they're in control of things.
You can see that in the smile on her face
in that video. Hey, Brian Foley. Guess what
(27:07):
Michelle Carter wasn't present when Conrad Roy killed himself either.
She was on the phone saying go ahead, kill yourself.
She wasn't there either, but she went to jail again.
Let me reiterate. We invited the pastor
John Paul Miller on today to answer some tough questions.
He did not respond. He's just been booted by his
(27:29):
Myrtle Beach church. And I'm wondering, what do they know that?
We don't know if this is truly a suicide? If
that church believes that Micah committed suicide, then why did
they fire him? Why, why aren't they
uh uh enfolding him with compassion and sympathy instead of
(27:50):
firing him? What do they know? Joining me, Joseph Scott Morgan,
we're now professor of forensics Jacksonville State University author, podcaster
and star of the hit series, uh Joe Scott, what
would convince you
in that autopsy report that this is really a suicide
(28:13):
I'm not saying it is. I'm not saying it's not
and the husband is presumed innocent until proven guilty. He
has not been charged.
But in my world, Jo Scott, when a woman says,
if I turn up dead with a bullet in my head,
he did it and then she turns up dead with
a bullet in her head. I've got to think about it.
(28:35):
So what would convince you, what do you know about
the suicide other than it's highly unlikely for a female,
her age to shoot herself in the head.
What are you looking for? Joe Scott?
Speaker 2 (28:46):
I'm gonna be looking for the presence of soot deposition
and that is when the blast of the weapon makes
contact with the skin, the proximity to the end of
the muzzle. If you guys could come to me on
camera just for a second, I'll kind of show you
what I'm talking about here. Uh Well, this is a
dummy weapon that we use at Jackson State when a
(29:08):
weapon is placed to the skin like this and it
is fired. Ok?
The deposition into the surface will be blown in and
you'll be able to appreciate that as far as a
close contact, gunshot wound or a press contact. We do
know this piece of information that was released by the
medical examiner uh for Robinson County. Uh The he had
(29:32):
stated in his release
that contrary to what had been floating around out there
that this was not a gunshot wound to the back
of the head. We generally associate those with an execution
style gunshot wound and those in, in the framework of suicide.
When you're talking about self inflicted gunshot wounds, a wound,
(29:53):
the back of the head is what we call an
atypical location for a self inflicted gunshot wound. So, what
we're looking for is the proximity perhaps on the temple
or maybe an intraoral gunshot wound and they haven't released
that information yet. That's what I'd be keying in on
relative to the autopsy results when they're finally released.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace
guys.
In the last hours, a 911 call has been released
that purports to be Mica
near suicide,
(30:40):
her family and loved ones want proof and I don't
blame them. And let me remind everyone, the husband slash
pastor has not been named as a suspect. We invited
him to join us and set straight the record. He
did not respond. But who did respond? A very dear
(31:04):
friend of Micah's
Shaylon French is joining us, Shaylon. Thank you for being
with us. Thank you for having me on Shaylon. When
did you learn that Micah had passed away? I learned
two days ago
on tiktok, it went viral and I was laying in
bed and I found the video and to those who
(31:27):
are in her life group in Kansas where she tried
to come back to, to separate from her husband. Um
in early 2023.
Um I shared it with them and we all found
out right then and there, what was your immediate thought
when you learned Mica was dead? My immediate thoughts went
(31:48):
straight to him. What do you mean by that? You
felt sorry for him? You felt empathy for him when
you say your immediate thoughts went straight to him. What
exactly did you think when you heard Mica is dead?
I after the stories that she had shared with everyone
about her abuse and we all got very watered down.
Um versions of obviously everything that was happening because when
(32:11):
you just meet somebody, you're not going to tell them everything.
Um
We got all text messages when she was leaving. That
didn't make any sense when she was planning on staying
in Kansas and she was planning on thriving. She was
planning on making trips healing and all of a sudden
we heard nothing. It was a hey, good news. I've
been reconciled. My husband's allowing me to come back home.
(32:35):
OK. Whoa whoa whoa whoa My husband's allowing me to
come back home. He allowed her to come back home.
I've been reconciled. Praise God. OK? The a the abuse
that she did admit. What did she say to me personally?
And she did not give explicit details. She mentioned how
(32:57):
her husband would watch or make her watch on Holy Acts.
And those are the exact words that she gave to
me
when I tried to ask deeper. I didn't get an answer.
Made her watch Unholy Acts. Ok. That could be a
number of things with me is Micah's very dear friend,
Sheila French.
Were you surprised when you learned Mia was dead? So
(33:22):
I'm going to back up a little bit because when
we met her, it was in early January 2023 she
came to Kansas to live with family and she started
coming to our church
church when she came to our church, she, her testimony
was first off beautiful. She immediately wanted to be a
mission trips. She immediately wanted to get involved. She wanted
(33:43):
to know everybody. She was adventurous. She was ready to
just start a new life away from him.
We had conversations about her taking care of her own
mental health. We had conversations about her feeling like there
was nothing wrong with her, but she wanted to double check.
She was so happy to be able to deal with
her own mental health. She was so happy to be
(34:04):
able to go see a therapist. We were making plans
and then in March, March 23rd, 2023 we all got
a text message that said praise, praise God. I've been reconciled.
So in my surprise that she is dead.
Yes, because she was so smart and I hoped she
(34:24):
would escape it. But this guy
seemed scary. He seemed
calculated
and you could tell she was definitely in fear even
being away from him. I don't understand the nature of
their relationship when she was 15 years old when she
met him. How did she end up mother to his
(34:47):
five Children? From another woman? I am not sure. So,
when she met us in Kansas, she did talk about, um,
his Children, but the only thing she mentioned was that
they were close to her age, um, she treated them
like they were her own. She was very kind to them.
She talked about missing them even. But I'm not exactly
(35:08):
sure how it even came about that. A youth pastor
would go after a young teen. She never explained that.
But you could definitely tell when she gave us that
information that she had gone through church abuse. Question. Was
he the youth pastor when he met her as a
15 year old girl? I can't confirm that I have
heard just like everybody else that he was part of
(35:31):
the teen ministry. Um I have no information on that.
And joining me is Micah's friend Shay and French. What
do you make of the
now cod cause of death? Suicide? Do you believe that?
I don't want to,
I don't want to believe that I want to believe
(35:53):
that she didn't and that this is all calculated that
anybody could tell someone to walk. There. People are coming
out with even so many questions about the videos, footage,
footages that have been released by the police and seeing
inconsistencies there, um like seeing at the gun store and
not seeing her tattoo on the right hand. Um They,
(36:15):
someone had posted that there was a blue truck nearby
following her. Although I don't, the timelines wouldn't be consistent
to where he was at.
I
truly think this could have still been foul play. However,
if she did, she is the one she called 911
and that honestly, that phone call was gut ring to
all of us. Um
(36:36):
When she called 911, I could believe it. And the
only reason is because when you have been through that
much abuse and you feel like now that your abuser
has thrown you out and you are nothing, he finally
was able to get a divorce.
I could see her taking her own life and feeling
like she had nothing left. However, when she was with
us a year ago, this, this girl had fight, she
(36:57):
was mentally stable. She was ready to start a new life.
She was ready to go on a mission trip. She
was ready to make an impact on everyone in her
community to Michael Maley joining us investigative reporter in South Carolina.
What is she talking about? A blue truck was near
the location where Mica was found dead as far as
(37:19):
the location, everything that I'm getting from authorities from their
release was just tracking her car. Um I don't have
information about a blue truck.
Uh just that her Honda was tracked there with a drone. They,
they did locate the car there, that J P's truck
according to authorities based on the license plate, that's the
truck that we've seen um in Ory County. Um going
(37:41):
and coming to Charleston about three hours from the Lumber
River State Park in North Carolina.
Um So Nancy just to clarify that, that's the only
information that I've got as far as a truck location
near where Micah's body was discovered. We are learning that
the cod cause of death at this juncture is suicide.
(38:04):
I'm looking at her obituary written by her husband who
has just been released from his position at that Myrtle
Beach Church. I I'm curious to Micah's very close friend,
Shayla French. Why is the obit about him so much?
What did he write the obit? It looks like it.
(38:25):
So I would like to put a reminder out there.
She left Kansas in March 20 March 23rd, 2023. Most
of us in Kansas where she escaped to have not
heard from her since when we looked at that obituary
where it says I loved, she loved her husband so much.
This was not written by her. This was written by
(38:46):
a narcissist. It is absolutely disgusting.
Every single way loved her husband so much told him
he was the funniest preacher in the world. OK. And
uh more and more.
Ok to you Michael Maley joining us investigative reporter out
of South Carolina. What do you make of that obit?
(39:09):
And what more can you tell us? Yeah. You know, Nancy,
it's tough. We can't ask Micah these questions so we
can't go into the detail that only she knew in
her last moments. Uh, you read this obituary and, and
here living in Myrtle Beach, in, in inundated community,
um, people just bring up, you know, why does the
(39:29):
obituary talk, you know about her estranged husband that she
thought he was the funniest preacher in the world, uh,
that she, you know, would praise her husband after every
church service telling him he was the best preacher. Um,
even analytically, even uh objectively. Um I'm sure a psychologist
as well. Hold on just a moment. I mean, this
(39:52):
thing says I'm looking at it, quote. She and JP,
the pastor had been friends since 2009, married in 2017
and spent almost every single day and night together, I guess,
except when he was with his girlfriend.
Yes. No. Were they separated? They were, they were separated? Ok.
She originally had filed for divorce back in October. So
(40:15):
it was ongoing.
Then they were suggesting that they were going to try
to rekindle and so that was dropped. So this was
a tumultuous pass for since at least October publicly through
the court record, Scott Johnson joining me forensic psychologist. What
are hypnotic drugs? Well, drugs were when people are under
the influence they are oftentimes either unable to resist.
(40:37):
Yes. So you're saying you want to do this, you're
going to do this? Yes, I will. Even though, you know,
they're not wanting to, but they look normal, sound normal. So,
um the hypnotic drugs are often used for date rapists,
um human trafficking and things like that. Curious uh Brian
Foley veteran, trial lawyer and author
(40:58):
final thought, Brian Foley, I mean, if I was a
prosecutor and I had evidence that his license plate reader
was near the crime scene and he was on video
purchasing the gun himself. And there was a 911 call
where the victim said he was the one who was
going to do it. You'd have a knockdown case. I
don't know why it doesn't work the other way. Uh
JP is innocent. This is the suicide. Well, that's what
(41:21):
we're hearing. And to you, Joseph Scott Morgan,
what do you think
Speaker 2 (41:26):
over all my years, Nancy as a death investigator in
New Orleans in Atlanta, I worked more suicides actually than
I did homicides. People are amazed by that, but that's
the truth in America. And the reality is this, if
you live with somebody and you know them and you
have control over their life, perhaps, you know, all of
(41:46):
the pressure points and you have somebody that is emotionally fragile,
they're wounded, you know, what buttons to press,
you know, electronic tracking devices, these sorts of things and
you can push people to the edge edge. Nancy. I've
worked cases like that and they are absolutely tragic. And
the problem is is that at the end of the day,
(42:07):
you have nothing to hang your hat on other than
the fact of what the evidence reveals at the end.
And there ultimately is no closure and it's very, very tragic.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
We wait as justice unfolds. Let's stop. And remember American hero, Sergeant,
Bill Hoosier, Utah, Sergeant Hoosier struck and killed by a
fleeing suspect in a semi,
survived by his grieving wife, two daughters, granddaughter, American hero, Sergeant,
(42:39):
Bill Hoosier.
Thank you to all of our guests for joining us
tonight
during this moment of confusion and heartbreak for Micah Miller
Nancy Grace. Signing off. Good night friend.
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