The death of a South Carolina pastor’s wife is being investigated after her preacher husband reported it as a suicide.
No cause of death yet for pastor’s wife
Robeson County deputies discovered 30-year-old Mica Miller’s remains on April 27 in the Lumber River State Park. Despite law enforcement still not determining the cause of death, her husband Pastor John-Paul Miller preemptively told his congregation that Mica had committed suicide after a years-long mental health battle.
“She had struggled with suicide before. Each time we would help her through it and take her to the doctor, and we got through it and everything was fine,” John-Paul commented to ABC 15.
“She even gave a few testimonies here at church that we have on video. She battled suicide but God took care of her and got her through it.”
But her family and friends have taken to social media with the hashtag, “JusticeforMica,” whom they believe did not commit suicide, amid her pending divorce from Miller.
Loved ones don’t believe pastor’s wife committed suicide
One of her friends said that she spoke to the pastor’s wife several times the week of her death, and insisted that her behavior was not consistent with someone who was suicidal.
“She was making plans to get her hair cut, getting help with her car payment because she was a little short after PAYING HER DIVORCE LAWYER and planning to meet us for the second service at church on Sunday,” the friend posted to Facebook.
“My final text with her on Friday at 9:19 pm was a woman making plans to live!!!! What happened between Friday night and Saturday?” She noted.
Mica’s sister indicated her relationship with John-Paul wasn’t without turmoil. “Mica was a God-fearing, joyful, loving woman who did not deserve the abuse she endured,” she wrote, pleading with social media users to “not listen to false stories being shared about” her sister.
The Horry County Clerk’s Office in South Carolina told Fox News that Mica had initiated three separate legal requests for “separate support and maintenance” since last year—with the most recent filed on April 16.
This arrangement allows a spouse to secure court-mandated financial support from their partner without the finality of divorce.
As the pastor fends off criminal speculation from the local community, another case across the country proved why the spouse is often the prime suspect in homicide cases.
Dentist slapped with more charges related to wife’s murder
On Wednesday, authorities announced that a dentist from Colorado is facing allegations of forging fake suicide notes after purportedly poisoning his wife.
During a courtroom proceeding, Aurora Police Detective Bobbi Olson, the lead detective in the case, testified that James Craig sought assistance from another jail inmate to break into his home and leave the letters in the garage and in a truck, so it appeared that his wife Angela Craig, 43, had committed suicide.
Olson noted that the inmate believed that Craig had authored the letters himself while sitting behind bars. The dentist reportedly offered the fellow inmate free dental work or money for his bail as payment for sneaking the letters into his home, but the criminal turned down the bribe and reported Craig the police.
Angela was poisoned to death by an array of substances, including cyanide and a toxic substance found in eye drops. Her husband became the lead suspect after police discovered that James had bought the items used in the poison cocktail on the internet, right before Angela began getting sick.
After Olson’s testimony, the judge deemed that there was ample evidence to proceed with trying Craig on supplementary charges of attempting to commit evidence tampering.
James Craig is also facing first-degree murder charges, and his trial will begin on August 7.
