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The events leading up to the shooting death of a pastor’s wife in a North Carolina state park, two days after she served her estranged husband with separation papers, are examined in a new Netflix true crime documentary about a case that remains ongoing.
Mica Miller, 30, was found dead on April 27, 2024, in Lumber River State Park, about 70 miles from where she lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Investigators from the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office determined she died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and ruled her death a suicide.
Her relationship with husband John Paul “J.P.” Miller, a pastor at a church in Myrtle Beach, is spotlighted in the three-part Netflix documentary, “Death of the Pastor’s Wife,” which began streaming on Aug. 26.
John Paul Miller is not interviewed in the docuseries and declined to comment when reached by the filmmakers. TODAY.com has reached out to Miller for comment.
Here’s what to know about the story, as well as where Miller is now.
What Does the Netflix Docuseries Show About the Marriage Between Mica and John Paul Miller?
The docuseries features interviews with Mica Miller’s sisters, Destinee Barrientos, Abigail Francis and Sierra Francis, as well as her brother, Nate Francis, and several of her friends who attended the same church.
The series depicts how Mica Miller’s family began attending the evangelical Solid Rock Church in Market Common in Myrtle Beach, which is now closed, when she was 13 after the family moved from Kansas when her mother got remarried. John Paul Miller was already pastor at the church at that time.
Mica Miller got married to her first husband at 18 years old, with John Paul Miller officiating the wedding in 2012.
However, three years into her marriage, she and John Paul Miller began having an affair. Her brother, Nate Francis, says in the docuseries that Mica called him and admitted to the relationship with John Paul Miller. A fellow pastor at the church, Pam Muise, also says in the docuseries that John Paul Miller admitted to her that he and Mica were having an affair and told her the church was “hemorrhaging members” as word was spreading about it.
After they both divorced their spouses, they were married on Nov. 17, 2017. He was 38 at the time, and she was 23.
Her siblings and friends allege in the docuseries that John Paul then became controlling of Mica. Her sister, Sierra Francis, says in the docuseries that Mica told her she had her husband’s signature tattooed on her side, and a photograph of the tattoo is shown on screen.
They say that he told them Mica had been diagnosed as bipolar after she was committed to a psychiatric institution. Documentation shown in the docuseries indicates Mica was admitted to an unspecified institution on Dec. 15, 2017 and discharged on Dec. 25, 2017. Her siblings say on the Netflix series that John Paul Miller told them their sister’s mental health struggles began after she had a strange reaction to anesthesia from a breast augmentation procedure.
Her brother, Nate Francis, says in the docuseries that Mica had never had any psychiatric issues before wedding John Paul Miller.
In November 2022, Mica’s sister, Sierra Miller, called the police after she said John Paul began sending threatening messages to Mica while she was at her sister’s home, but no charges were filed, according to the docuseries.
Friends interviewed in the documentary said Mica confided in them that she took testosterone to keep up with her husband’s sexual wants, and that he took photos and videos of her during intercourse and threatened to publicly share them in order to control her.
Mica Miller’s attorney, Regina Ward, told NBC News in 2024 that Miller legally filed for separation from her husband in October 2023, but the case was dismissed in February 2024 after the couple tried to reconcile. Mica Miller again filed for separation on April 15, 2024, according to a memorandum in support of a special administrator in her estate that was filed in probate court.
Her brother says in the documentary that in February 2024, Mica Miller was constantly changing addresses because she said her estranged husband was following her everywhere.
In a statement through his attorney in 2024, John-Paul Miller denied any involvement in his wife’s death as well as “any report that suggests he ever abused his wife.” The statement said that Mica Miller “struggled with mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder, which, when not properly managed, led to paranoid episodes and self-destructive behavior.”
In March 2024, Mica Miller called the Myrtle Beach Police Department to report that she found razor blades after her tires had been slashed, according to the Netflix series. Her brother said he found multiple tracking devices on her car and took them to the police.
Bruna Pabon, a friend of Mica Miller’s and a Solid Rock Church member, says in the docuseries that Mica feared for her life when talking about her estranged husband.
“He’s going to put a bullet in my head and tell everybody I killed myself,” Pabon said Mica Miller told her.
Following Mica Miller’s death, Sierra Francis, her sister, filed the request to be appointed as special administrator, alleging that her sibling expressed to her that John Paul Miller was abusive. She alleged in an affidavit that Mica had been compiling evidence for her separation proceedings and that those documents and emails disappeared after Mica Miller was hospitalized at a mental health facility in February 2024.
“Mica stated to me on many occasions ‘if I end up with a bullet in my head, it was not by me, it was JP,’” Francis’ affidavit said.
On April 25, 2024, John Paul Miller was served with divorce papers, according to the docuseries.
Two days later, Mica Miller was seen on surveillance buying a gun at Dick’s Pawn Superstore in Myrtle Beach before driving about 90 minutes to Lumber River State Park in North Carolina, according to footage shown in the docuseries.
She is then heard on a 911 recording asking the dispatcher if authorities can trace her phone for her location.
“I’m about to kill myself and I just want my family to know where to find me,” Mica Miller says.
Less than two hours later, a man called police saying he found a body in the river at the park, according to a recording of the call in the Netflix series.
John Paul Miller said he was in Charleston, South Carolina, at a soccer tournament at the time of her death, according to an on-camera interview with NewsNation that’s included in the docuseries.
In a release of findings, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that John Paul Miller was not in North Carolina when she died. He and “a female that he is allegedly romantically involved with” were out of the state, the release stated, according to NBC News.
John Paul Miller Is Charged With Two Federal Crimes
The pastor has not been charged with any connection to Mica Miller’s death.
However, a federal grand jury in South Carolina indicted him in December 2025 on one count of cyberstalking and one count of making false statements to investigators, according to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of South Carolina.
Prosecutors said that beginning in November 2022, John Paul Miller, 46, sent “unwanted and harassing communications” to his wife until her death. The alleged behavior included Miller posting a nude photo his wife online without her consent, causing tracking devices to be placed on her vehicle, and in one instance, contacting her over 50 times in a single day. The indictment also alleges he interfered with her finances and her daily activities and on one occasion damaged her vehicle tires.
Federal investigators also said that Miller lied about those alleged activities when interviewed about them. Authorities said he denied damaging her tires but was found by investigators to have purchased a tire deflation device online and sent messages to others regarding his wife’s vehicle.
Miller pleaded not guilty to both counts in January and has denied the allegations.
His trial on the charges has yet to start. A judge signed an order continuing the case from the September 2026 term of court to the October 2026 term, according to NBC affiliate WMBF.
He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the cyberstalking charge and two years for the charge of giving false statements. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000, according to the news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of South Carolina.
Where is John Paul Miller Now?
Miller is currently out on a $100,000 unsecured bond and was ordered to surrender his passport and wear an ankle monitor after pleading not guilty to the federal charges in January, according to The Post and Courier.
Just over a year after his wife’s death, he married Suzie Skinner on June 1, 2025, according to the Netflix docuseries. Skinner is a member of Solid Rock Church whose previous husband died in 2021. The man’s sister says in the docuseries she was told by a coroner that he died by accidentally falling into a pool in his wheelchair.
Following Mica Miller’s death, her story began circulating on social media among internet sleuths probing into her death and relationship with her estranged husband. Protesters began demonstrating outside Miller’s Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach in November 2024, according to WMBF.
The church and the school attached to it both closed in November 2024, according to The Post and Courier. A new church has purchased the building, according to WBTW News 13.
Charlotte Korn, Mica Miller’s friend and former church member, says in the docuseries that the church is still active and “the actual members of the church and John Paul are meeting at these little, random locations in Myrtle Beach.” She estimated he has about “15 to 20 people” who still attend.
