FBI raids home of pastor JohnPaul Miller whose wife Mica died from gunshot wound
Nov 01, 2024
Federal authorities on Friday visited the South Carolina property of church pastor John-Paul Miller, whose wife Mica’s death in April — though ruled a suicide — aroused her family’s suspicion.
Local media spotted more than two-dozen FBI agents at the house of former the Solid Rock Ministries religious leader, according to Newsweek. Neighbors don’t believe Miller was home at the time.
Items were carried out of the home including boxes, a computer screen and a hard drive.
A medical examiner said in May that the pastor’s wife died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after her body was discovered in a North Carolina state park.
Miller alleged his 35-year-old wife “wasn’t well mentally” at the time of her death and claimed she took her own life.
But friends and family members said the victim had filed for divorce shortly before her death and was looking forward to moving on with her life.
“She was making plans,” Mica’s friend Tom Carter told NewsNation in May. “It just doesn’t sound like someone committed suicide.”
John-Paul and Mica Miller.
The FBI told Newsweek it could only confirm that law enforcement had been authorized by the courts to visit Miller’s home Friday.
The victim’s younger sister said in a sworn statement that Mica once told her, “If I wind up dead with a bullet in my head,” her husband would be the culprit.
She also said her big sister told family members John-Paul had abused her and suspected him of having her followed.
When Mica checked into a mental hospital, according to her sister, Miller moved her personal items out of the family home. Mica also accused her husband of trying to transfer the deed on their home out of her name.
The pastor told congregants in an April 28 sermon that his wife was dead and reportedly asked that the matter not be further discussed.
“You all knew she wasn’t well mentally and she needed medicine that was hard to get to her,” he said.
South Carolina outlet WBTW reported the church released Pastor Miller “from all ministerial functions” a week after that sermon.