Mica Miller’s sister revealed the 30-year-old had predicted her own death and named her husband as the one she feared would kill her.
Sienna Francis stated in a sworn affidavit that Mica told her: “I end up with a bullet in my head, it was not by me, it was [John-Paul].” The graphic designer and creative director was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a North Carolina state park on April 27, 2024, just two days after filing for divorce from John-Paul Miller, a local pastor who first met her when she was 13 and he was an adult. In the affidavit, Sienna Francis also said that “I know my sister to have expressed the abuse and violence against her by her husband to others, including family members and members of the church congregation.”
Mica Miller called 911 immediately before dying by suicide to report her location, ensuring her family would know where to find her body and not think she had gone missing. Her brother Nate Francis described her to Netflix’s Tudum as a “talented singer” who “loved singing.” She was one of six siblings in a close-knit family and had married her first husband at 18, then began an affair with John-Paul Miller when she was 20 and he was 35.
The FBI’s federal indictment against John-Paul Miller detailed a pattern of coercive control, stating that he cyber-stalked Mica, deflated her tires, harassed her, and controlled her finances when she tried to leave him. He was arrested for cyberstalking and making false statements to investigators, pleaded not guilty, and posted a $100,000 bond ahead of his criminal trial scheduled for October. He has not been charged with any crimes related to her death, which authorities ruled a suicide.
John-Paul Miller continued working as a pastor immediately after his wife’s death and announced her “self-inflicted” death to his church the next day in a sermon that was posted online but has since been deleted. In his eulogy, he claimed he “tried to raise her from the dead,” a statement that drew criticism as “fake.”
Netflix’s new documentary “Death of the Pastor’s Wife” examines the coercive control Mica suffered in the lead-up to her death. The film has received widespread praise for shining light on the abuse she endured. One commenter on Reddit wrote: “Recently the newer Netflix documentaries haven’t been hitting for me, but this one was really well done.” Another posted: “This was a really sad documentary and I am so angry I can’t even put into words how I am feeling. Poor Mica. She deserved so much better.” A third wrote on X: “this Death of a Pastor’s Wife doc on Netflix is INSANE.”
“Death of a Pastor’s Wife” is available to stream on Netflix now.