[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Wow, what a huge and unexpected development in a case we thought had long gone cold!
The Horry County, South Carolina home of Mica Miller‘s pastor husband John-Paul Miller has been raided by the FBI! Six months after this poor woman’s death, it seems like something has finally changed.
According to local CBS affiliate WBTW, at around 10 a.m. local time Friday morning, multiple local police cars and several black SUVs — carrying 25 FBI agents!!! — were seen pulling up to JP’s house. They spent around 7 hours there, finally leaving at around 5 p.m. During that time, they seemingly left no stone unturned, with agents wearing “Evidence Response Team” uniforms carrying out multiple armfuls — including “boxes, a computer screen, and what looked like an external computer drive.” Whoa.
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So what was the big break? What were they looking for? We currently have no idea!
Here’s what we’ve got. FBI spokesman Kevin Wheeler told the network they were “conducting court authorized law enforcement activity.” Um… that’s not much to go on, is it? Neighbors told the outlet they were told simply that a search warrant was being executed. They also said JP wasn’t home. Well, whatever they were looking for on that warrant, we’d say they found it. Damn!
To catch everyone up who wasn’t obsessively following the story… This was the case out of South Carolina, where a pastor broke the news of his estranged wife’s suicide to his congregation as part of a bizarre sermon. He even gave out details no one was supposed to hear. From the first moment, he seemed sketchy about the whole thing. And it quickly came out Mica hadn’t so much left him as fled from him. She was now talking about escaping an abusive relationship in videos posted to her Facebook page… the page she’d only just gotten control of again once she left her husband.
We learned soon after that JP had been Mica’s pastor when she was just a 14-year-old member of his church. She’d been a babysitter for him and his previous wife… leading many to assume this was a grooming situation. The abuse implied by Mica’s social media and straight-up alleged by her family led everyone to believe this man had murdered his wife for committing the sin of leaving him. Sadly it wouldn’t be the first time. Hell, Mica even told her sister if she ended up dead, it wasn’t suicide, it was JP!
However, Mica’s death was indeed ruled a suicide. The scene where she was discovered led Robeson County Sheriff’s Office investigators to conclude no one else was around. JP had an alibi. And there was video evidence of her purchasing the gun that day.
That’s the last we’d heard about it. Despite the controversy, after a break, JP was back as the pastor at the Solid Rock Church. Reportedly dating again, too.
So… what was this raid about?
Apparently the investigation was never totally closed. The RCSO said months ago that “information gathered during the investigation” had led them to ask the help of federal agencies. But nothing more since. What evidence? What did the feds find? Was it about Mica’s death… or did that uncover something else??
Inneresting tidbit about the house? JP doesn’t own it. Per public records, he transferred it to Solid Rock Ministries Inc in December of last year. Hmm. Can’t help but wonder if that’s some kind of tax-dodging thing, putting your property in the name of a church which isn’t allowed to be taxed… But that wouldn’t warrant 25 FBI agents collecting evidence boxes at your home!
Whatever this is about, we can’t wait to find out. Like we said, everything we’ve heard about this JP and how he treated Mica from the time she was a child… There’s a reason there some locals showed up during the hours-long raid wearing #JusticeForMica t-shirts.
What do YOU think is going on, Perezcious readers??
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Consider contacting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, by calling, texting, or chatting, or go to 988lifeline.org.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Solid Rock/YouTube/Mica Miller/Facebook.]