CJ SPIRAL: Mica Miller

Ashley Flowers binged Netflix’s Death of the Pastor’s Wife almost as soon as it dropped, and immediately needed someone to talk to about it. So naturally, she texted Brit.

In this special Crime Junkie extra, Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat go episode by episode through the three-part Netflix documentary about Mica Miller, the 30-year-old woman whose death on April 27, 2024, at Lumber River State Park in North Carolina sparked national attention. Just two days before her death, Mica had served divorce papers to her estranged husband, John-Paul “JP” Miller, pastor of Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

But this isn’t just a recap.

Ashley and Brit unpack what Death of the Pastor’s Wife reveals, the moments that raised the biggest questions for them, and important pieces of the Mica Miller story that weren’t included in the Netflix series.

If you grew up in or around evangelical churches like Ashley and Brit did, parts of this story may feel strangely familiar: the expectations placed on a pastor’s wife, the authority given to church leadership, the language surrounding marriage and submission, and the difficulty of recognizing unhealthy dynamics when you’re living inside them. Because from the outside, Mica and John-Paul Miller appeared to have a picture-perfect life centered around faith and Solid Rock Church. Behind that image was a much more complicated reality.

Ashley and Brit discuss how Mica Miller first met John-Paul Miller and the affair that eventually brought them together, their marriage and the unusual wedding vows featured in the documentary, allegations of increasingly controlling behavior within their relationship, questions surrounding Mica’s reaction she experienced after anesthesia, John-Paul’s sermons at Solid Rock Church and what they reveal about his views on marriage, allegations that Mica was pressured to take testosterone and the effects it reportedly had on her health, the group text John-Paul created involving Mica and her friend, Mica’s efforts to establish boundaries within her marriage, the deterioration of their relationship and her attempts to leave, John-Paul Miller’s relationship and eventual marriage with Suzie Skinner, the death of Suzie’s husband, Chris Skinner, the work done by Mica’s divorce attorney Regina Ward, and the timeline leading to April 27, 2024.

Then Ashley and Brit walk through what investigators found after Mica traveled from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to Lumber River State Park in Robeson County, North Carolina, including surveillance footage, witness accounts, evidence recovered from the scene, the lunch Mica packed that day, and the information investigators used to reconstruct her final hours. They also examine John-Paul Miller’s whereabouts, caught on flock cameras that day, the license-plate-reader data investigators reviewed, his actions after learning Mica had died, and the sermon he delivered at Solid Rock Church the following day.

But Netflix didn’t include everything.

Ashley and Brit also dig into reporting and developments beyond Death of the Pastor’s Wife, including additional allegations involving John-Paul Miller, questions surrounding Solid Rock Church’s history, and the federal investigation that followed Mica’s death.

In December 2025, a federal grand jury indicted John-Paul Miller on charges of cyberstalking and making false statements to federal investigators. Prosecutors allege the cyberstalking occurred between November 2022 and April 2024 and involved a pattern of harassment directed at Mica. John-Paul Miller has pleaded not guilty. His federal trial is currently scheduled for the October 2026 term, and he has not been charged in connection with Mica Miller’s death.

Episode Source Material

Suggested Episodes