Transcript of 2) Red Flags & Receipts... Mica’s Best Friend Charlotte Exposes JP Miller’s Texts

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Robeson County 911. I'm about to kill myself and I just want my family to know where to find me.

When Micah died, she purposely left behind a paper trail of evidence and clues for someone, somewhere, to find and expose the people and systems that led to her death.

I got a call late last night. My wife has passed away. And it was self-induced. And it was up in North Carolina. Y'all pray for me and my kids and everybody.

My name is Mandy Matney. Together with journalist Liz Farrell, This new Drop Feed titled Coerce: The Devotion and Death of Micah Francis Miller is a Luna Shark production based on true Sunlight reporting.

Yeah, he said my blood is gonna be on your hands. But prior to that, he was threatening to come in here and he said, call the cops, I don't care. I'm, I'm, um, armed and ready.

Her story is about everything that led up to her death, the alleged coercive control that she faced in her relationship with her pastor husband. And all of the systems that failed her when she tried so hard to report that alleged abuse and escape from him.

And she said, you know, he's such a liar. And she actually said the FBI was looking into it. But now, I mean, what's come out, they have been.

Be sure to follow Coerced: The Devotion and Death of Micah Francis Miller. This is Coerced: The Devotion and Death of Micah Francis Miller. My name is Mandy Matney. Journalists Liz Farrell, Beth Braden, and I have been reporting on Micah's story for more than 2 years now for True Sunlight Podcast. Coerced is a Luna Shark production made possible by producers Kate Thomas, Grace Hills, and David Moses. For us, Micah was never a puzzle. She was a person. Our least favorite part of cases like this is that sometimes, between the police reports and the absurdity of it all, traditional media lets her personhood slip away. Here's the thing about a story like this one. You can FOIA for every police report. You can pull property records, tax records, court filings, criminal histories. You can watch a decade of sermons and read 1,000 comments and archive every deleted post before it ever disappears. But in a complicated story like Micah's, one source close to the situation can change everything for a journalist. We have spoken to so many people who knew and loved Micah over the past 2 years that we have been reporting on this case. But Charlotte Korn will always be the first and the most important.

This is our feed drop on Micah Francis Miller. Remastered from our original reporting on the True Sunlight podcast. Here's where we started to really see the significance and the scope of Micah's story on True Sunlight, episode 51. Now, dozens of people have come out of the woodwork to say that they knew Micah, but few people knew her like Charlotte did. Charlotte Korn met Micah in Myrtle Beach through Solid Rock at Market Common Church in 2017. The same year that Micah married JP Miller.

So I'd met her in 2017, but then we really started attending weekly in— at the beginning of 2018. And Micah reached out to me pretty quick and asked if I wanted to go on a walk on the beach with her or just get to know each other. And that led to about a 3-hour hangout. And we just talked and just immediately hit it off. And from then on, I mean, we hung out on almost a weekly basis. Um, we started going to, uh, a gym called Nine Rounds. And she said, the only way that my husband's going to pay for this is if we go 5 days a week. So are you, are you in? And I said, sure, I'm in. So 5 times weekly for— it was a whole year that we were doing it. Um, and we just, just got to know each other so well. And, you know, kickboxing kind of led as kind of a precursor to us opening up to each other after workout and talking about, about things or frustrations and, um, just getting to know each other. But, um, even after the workout class, we, we hung out on a weekly basis and talked regularly on the phone, you know, text funny things throughout the day.

And, um, so yeah, she was a very dear, very dear person to me.

Charlotte said that Micah idolized JP in the early days. But she saw the first red flag in their relationship back in 2017 when she noticed that JP was clearly hiding their relationship in front of the church congregation.

She was, um, and I was— my husband and I were actually very confused because during 2017, where we only attended about 4 times, JP made a reference to wanting to find a wife. So if you know anybody, kind of joke, which, you know, now seeing some of his most recent sermons where he's talking about finding a hot wife with his wedding ring on, um, that doesn't surprise me that they were dating at the time. And I just didn't know that. Um, because then once we started going in 2018 consistently, all of a sudden it was like, oh, this is his wife. And we were like, oh wait, when did that happen? So I did not know that they were dating at the time in 2017, but, um, I found out that they were married in 2018.

So it turns out they quietly got married in 2017, and then they had a full real ceremony in 2018. JP allegedly wanted Micah to have a certain surgery before their big ceremony.

It was about a month, um, maybe a month and a half before their actual wedding ceremony. They had a very small ceremony in Market Common, but not at the church. There was no wedding gowns or anything like that. But, um, she was getting surgery that, like, the next day or that following week. And so he, they, the reason that they had this private ceremony was, um, he wanted, claimed that they wanted him to be able to take care of her and not be living in sin, basically. But then after her recovery, that's when they had their official wedding with the dress and— bridesmaids and everything at the church.

This is important and completely captures JP's skewed sense of morality. He wanted to have a secret ceremony to officially be married so that he could take care of her without, quote, living in sin post-surgery. The surgery that he allegedly wanted her to get before their real wedding. But in fact, Micah's friends and family say that that surgery Served as a catalyst for what JP labeled as Micah's instability, and that surgery is what shifted the power dynamics of their relationship, which were already heavily in his favor due to his position as a pastor and their 15-year age difference. From Charlotte's understanding, Micah was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after she had a bad reaction to that surgery.

No, I always questioned whether she actually was bipolar and her siblings did too. And I think she just recently started having those doubts as well. But the reason she was declared bipolar is because after her surgery, she had a really bad reaction to the anesthesia and the pain medications that she was put on. I mean, and she told me about, you know, she was having hallucinations. She wasn't sure where she was and just, you know, having a terrible reaction. Well, during that month of her recovery, he took her up to the hospital twice, just saying like, this is not the woman I married. She's acting crazy. But the second time that he took her up there, he basically told her— and she told me all this story, by the way, this is not— speculation or secondhand. But he took her up there the second time and said, I'm not bringing you home until we get you help with something. I think you're bipolar. So unless you actually agree to this diagnosis and getting on medication, I can't deal with this anymore. So I'm not coming home unless you— basically agree that there is something mentally unstable with you.

During that first month, she'd never been on any kind of, especially, you know, um, especially those kind of medications before this time. And I mean, she was 23. So, um, you know, just the fact that she got that diagnosis during the first month of their marriage was another red flag.

Charlotte saw a few other red flags here and there in the beginning stages of their marriage. As Charlotte and Micah grew closer, Micah opened up about how she met JP and that she actually babysat for his children when he was married to another woman. That other woman who looked a lot like Micah and even attended the same high school several years before.

Well, she said that she'd met him around the age of 15, and they started going to the church, and she quickly got involved with the music, which, as you You know, you've heard her voice. That just suited her so well. And his best friend was the music director there. So, you know, she got married at 18 to the music director. But then, you know, unfortunately, I want to say 2 years later, they— she and John Paul, you know, he's very involved with the music too. So they were spending a lot of time together and she was getting more immersed in the church as well. Um, and I remember the day that she told me and she said, I'm, you know, I'm just so ashamed, but I know you'll probably hear this at some point. I'd rather you hear it from me. But JP and my relationship started through an affair. And, you know, after the affair was, after we were outed, you know, his wife left him. He pursued her for about a year trying to, you know, rekindle the marriage and restore it. And then, um, but, you know, that was a hard no on his first wife's part.

And so then he started pursuing me kind of officially, and we dated. And then, you know, now here we are married. Um, at 23 is when she got married. So it kind of came out of, you know, not the best circumstances, but she was very upfront when talking about it and honest about it.

Notice how Charlotte said JP pursued his ex-wife for an entire year. After she found out about the affair, you know, the affair that he chose to have. Charlotte said Micah described his behavior of that year trying to win his ex-wife back as very similar to his behavior in the year leading up to Micah's death. She remembers hearing about grand gestures that were masked as romantic but really were just harassment. Like sending singers to serenade her at work and flowers and notes. And ultimately, she described behavior of JP just simply refusing to be left. Eventually, with his ex, he gave up and he moved on to Micah and quickly married her. But as many blended families do, Micah and the Millers struggled with their roles at the beginning, according to Charlotte.

He does. 4 with Allie, one when he— which is his first wife, and one when— I don't know the person's name, but one he had when he was in high school. Yeah, it's his oldest son who's, I think, only about 3 years, 2 or 3 years younger than Micah. And at first, there was a lot of animosity in the house. Just, you know, obviously the kids, they just went through a very traumatic time in their life. And Um, the mother won primary custody, but he did have them. It was like every other weekend and on Wednesdays. So, you know, she was around a good bit, but she really was such a great stepmom to them. And I mean, to the point where she had a great relationship with at least the younger half, I would suppose, or I would say. Um, I mean, his— one of his sons was actually at her memorial.

Oh, wow.

for Solid Rocks Memorial, which I think really speaks well of him and their relationship and that, you know, he, he loved her too.

I don't believe we mentioned this in the last episode, but Micah had 2 memorial services at the same time, one at the church held by JP and one at the beach hosted by her friends and family. It is telling that one of JP's own children Attended the memorial at the beach. And that makes me want to know what that son really has to say about his father. It is important to know that Micah wanted kids of her own, and JP allegedly used that desire to manipulate and control her. Charlotte said if they were fighting, he would say things like, let's work on this. Remember, I'm even willing to have kids with you. And he dragged her along and dangled that carrot for years. Charlotte could see the strain of Micah's marriage weighing on her over time. But in 2022, things took a sharp turn for the worst. And we'll be right back. We expose the truth wherever it leads, give voice to victims, and get the story straight. My name is Mandy Matney. Together with journalist Liz Farrell, we continue this mission with our newest evolution, True Sunlight. Luna Shark's True Sunlight podcast values accuracy over access journalism.

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Robeson County 911. And she actually said the FBI was looking into it. And he said, call the cops, I don't care. I'm, I'm armed and ready.

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I'd started to notice just little signs of— I mean, even just things like her face started changing somewhere. I mean, she consistently had bags under her eyes, and she was just, um, I don't know, more stressed than usual. But she didn't— she didn't really outright come and, you know, tell me anything specifically. But I started to notice that she was just a little bit more stressed. Um, in November of 2022, um, I text her, you know, we were getting ready to go out of town for Thanksgiving shortly. So I said, well, hey, you know, let's hang out before, before we leave and catch up and everything. And she texts back, um, and said, you know, actually, I'm getting out of town for a couple of days. I'm going to go visit my sister in Gaffney. Um, things are not good in the Miller household right now. And, you know, I didn't know what happened or what was going on, but I said, well, goodness, you know, I'm sorry to hear that. Let me know if there's anything I can do. And she just said, just keep an eye on JP for me, which I took as, you know, he had the kids that night or he was getting the kids the next day.

So, you know, if there's anything you can do to help, you know, help out. So I, I said, I absolutely will. And I text him. Um, And said, hey, I know, you know, Micah said she was going out of town and that you were going to have the kids tomorrow. So, you know, if there's, if I can order a pizza for you guys or help out or something, let me know. And his immediate response was, I think Micah left me. And I said, no, no, you know, I think she just wants to go see her sister. That's what she told me. And then, I mean, the floodgates opened. And when I say floodgates, I mean, he and I have a whole message stream going, but then he also includes me in a text message to Micah. Um, and he told me it was for accountability. He said, you know, I'm including Charlotte in this message so that she can hold me accountable, which was honestly just a falsehood because. In my own direct message with him, I was— I kept telling him throughout the night of getting— of him texting her, just, JP, stop messaging her.

You are making this so much worse. And if you want things to work out, if you want to resolve this, stop texting her. Um, but anybody who knows JP knows he texts about— I mean, he could, he could send you 20 text messages within a minute. And that's exactly what was happening. But, um, the things that he was saying were just shocking. I mean, coming from anybody, but let alone knowing that this is your pastor who's talking to his wife. I mean, I was blown away. It was— I mean, from the manipulation tactics, basically the whole gist of his message was, come home right now. Um, they had had a fight the night before, which I did not know what was what it was about. And so she was trying to get some distance and just clear their head. And, um, but he was not having it. And I mean, come home right now or I'm gonna come to you, okay? You know, I can't believe you're doing this. You're a horrible wife. Um, um, if you don't come— if you don't come home right now, then all of your stuff is going to be out of the house by 9 AM.

And he actually did pack up her stuff. He told— she told me, um, later on that I think he had 20 bags of her stuff in his truck. And okay, fine, if you're not coming home, I'm going to come to you. We're going to be up all night. Me, you, Matt, Sierra, Aries, which that includes her sister, her sister's husband, and their little boy Aries, which is shocking. And Micah, mind you, she had not written back in this message at all. Um, yet until he said that. And she said, if you come here, you're trespassing. And then it just got— it started just getting almost like this manic psychotic behavior. I mean, more psychotic behavior where after she wrote that, he said, you know, hahaha, a bunch of ha-has basically. And, you know, I don't care. You know, we're going to be up all night. Um, let's see. I wrote these down. You can call the cops. You did this. And Micah wrote back and said, You can't come to someone's house threatening with a gun. There's kids involved. And so Sierra, her sister, and Micah and him were all in a group message as well that I was not a part of.

So I did not see where he threatened that. But she wrote to him in my message that you can't come here with a gun. And he said, hahaha, a bunch of hahas again. I don't care. LOL. I have no gun. Crazy. See you soon. And Micah said, you just text my sister, you're armed, psycho. And he said, that doesn't mean a gun, which, okay. Um, everyone's gonna be awake all night. Bye. Can't text and drive. And Micah said, I don't feel safe coming home right now. And he said, there's only one way this will work. You come home now. And she said again, I don't feel safe coming home right now. And he said, cop out, liar, 3 hours and 7 minutes, as in he was on the way. Um, and that was the last message that was sent in that group message.

Text messages obtained by Luna Shark and a 911 call from Gaffney confirmed this incident. In the 911 call, Micah's sister told police that her brother-in-law was threatening to come to her house, quote, armed. and ready, and that he told her he was going to, quote, get her back, her being Micah. Charlotte was stunned and speechless. She was worried about her best friend's safety, and she was also confused. Why did JP bring her into their fight like this?

I mean, I was just totally blown away, and Micah and I were also exchanging messages directly. At the time, and she was just so embarrassed, which again, I think that was the point of him including me is not for the accountability like he so claimed. It was to embarrass her and kind of isolate her even more from another good friend. Um, but, um, she had asked me to, you know, go and check the church if I saw his car there, because again, we live just right across the street. I did not. She'd asked my husband to go over there and just make sure he wasn't there, or that he was there and not on his way to see her, which my husband did. And he was there, but he just kind of slammed the door in my husband's face. But then he wasn't responding to anything and that anybody was texting him. So Micah was asking me, what should I do? And I said, honestly, with everything he's saying about turning the gun on himself and, you know, just all these threats. I'd call the cops and do a wellness check. And so that's exactly what she did.

And then she said, you know, he's still not responding. I haven't heard from the cops yet. And this is at like 1 o'clock in the morning at this point. So I text JP again and I said, hey, you know, I'm about to drive over there right now if I don't hear from you shortly, which again, I would not have done. I would have sent my husband again. But his response back was, and I'm just going to abbreviate here and let Let the blanks fill in. Effing B just tried to get me arrested. And I said, first of all, my mind's just blown that you just texted me about that, or that about your wife. But I said, you know, JP, she was trying to do a wellness check after everything you've been talking about. You know, she's concerned and I would've done the same thing. Then of course he texts my husband, which my husband had not been in any messages. At that point, but he texts my husband and includes me in the message and says, Will, please tell your wife to stop texting me things when she has no effing clue what has happened or is happening.

She's sending wisdom out of her mouth about how she would do what Micah did, blah, blah, blah. I've had enough of people demeaning my pain or agony or what I'm going through who know nothing. You literally make me want to pull the trigger.

I want to pause right here for a moment so that we can all just think about Micah. Charlotte is describing a very deeply disturbing time when she witnessed the monster behind JP's mask. This was a moment she would never get past.

We kind of got like a halfway apology. Apologies basically like, oh, you know, y'all are great friends. I'm sorry. We just, you know, then an excuse. We just never hurt each other's heart and we're working on things. Thank you for being a great friend. And I'm sorry if I, you made you feel, or if I offended you somehow, which, yeah, that was one of his favorite buzzwords of the offended person. Yeah. So that was the big, you know, I mean, seeing a glimpse of his true character and the man behind the guy on stage and, you know, the man who was leading our church and I mean, it was just shocking. Absolutely shocking.

From that moment on, Charlotte and her husband were done with JP's church. They knew Micah had to get out of that relationship. And then somehow it all got worse.

She called me. I want to say it was either the next day or 2. I think it was 2 days later. Yeah. But he had cut her phone off, so she was calling me from Sierra's phone. But then the next day she went back and They were going to supposedly work it out, um, even get a counselor involved or something. He committed her to a mental hospital. And we're getting texts left and right from, from Sierra. Um, a couple of days later, she's, she's telling us that Mike or JP has basically put, you know, policemen outside her door that are not allowing her family to see her or talk to her. She, this was November 29th. Sierra said, we just found out the reason why we can't get to Micah, the reason why there are guards outside her room keeping us out of the hospital.

This is the part of the story we're going to need to go back to because how was this man able to get his wife, who by all other accounts in her life seemed to be doing fine, committed to a mental hospital more than once? And how was he able to prevent her family who were very important to her from seeing her. We have so many questions and we're going to have to go back and get those answered. But back to November 2022, after Micah got out of the mental facility, she apologized to Charlotte. And we think this is really important when it comes to showing how Micah was. It shows that she is considerate, thoughtful, and that she had respect for people. And it shows you how she treated people whom she loved.

It was about, it was probably the week after I got back from my travels for Thanksgiving. And we went to dinner together to talk about everything. And thinking back to this dinner, I just felt so bad for her for multiple reasons, obviously. Um, but she just kept apologizing to me for bringing me into The mess that I witnessed. And I kept saying, Micah, you did not bring me into this. JP was the one that included me in this message. And, you know, I'm sorry on your behalf that he did that, but this is not your fault. Why are you apologizing to me? She said that they were working on things and they were going to start going to counseling twice a week and all that. And I said, well, you know what? That's really great. I'm glad y'all are taking steps. But I have to say that I am so not okay with what I witnessed, and I am just totally disturbed and shocked by what I saw, especially after that big fight. We never went back to the church and had no plans to go back to that church. But, but I tuned into his— the next Sunday after that fight, the recording, because there were a couple people from the church that were involved in or that knew about this big blowup and everything.

So I just was curious, you know, what are you going to preach about today? Are you going to be straightforward and upfront about that y'all are having issues? And he was not. He was— his words were, you know, my wife had a mental breakdown, so she's in the hospital, be praying for me. And, but just, you know, she's trying to lay low and, you know, I'll keep you updated, but basically just blamed the whole thing on My wife had a mental breakdown, which I talked to her the day, 2 days after, um, that night, and she was totally her normal self. She wasn't acting crazy. It wasn't until she went home that all of a sudden she's having a mental breakdown.

A few days later, Micah finally told Charlotte what started the fight in the first place and why she was involved.

It was actually something so ridiculous. I, I was a little shocked when she told me. Basically, she said that he liked it when she took gummies with him. I don't know if that means just straight up THC gummies or if it was like a Delta-9, Delta-8, but it was something along those lines to where they could have this little experience together and ask questions, off-the-wall questions and stuff like that. But the question that started a blowup, which again was so ridiculous, but it was, He asked her, if you had to kiss a girl, who would it be? And she said, you know, that's ridiculous. I'm not gonna answer that question. Yeah, I wouldn't kiss a girl. And he kept harping on it and harping on it. And she said, fine, if I had to choose, I guess Charlotte, because she'd never tell. So that was funny. But us being such good friends and spending so much time together, all of a sudden that just— he flipped on her. And well, you know, have y'all kissed? Well, have you? You know. What kind of feelings do you have for her? Again, I found, I found out about the cause of this blowup after the fact, but then some of the texts made a little more sense to me because at one point, and she had not responded in the text yet, he said, maybe you want to live with Charlotte.

Why don't you tell her why you would want to live with her? Or should I tell her? Go ahead, Char. Ask, ask Micah why she would want to stay with you. I'd love to hear how honest she is since she knew. Or since she threw me under the bus with the elders today, which I don't know what that was about, but, but it was just, you could tell he was just trying to humiliate her and just, you know.

So as many of you know, abusers use isolation as one of their tools. It is one of their best weapons. And we're not saying that's what happened here, but we're saying it's possible that JP noticed how good of a friend Charlotte was to Micah. and saw that friendship as a threat to him. So it looks like he was trying to maybe drive a knife through that friendship.

So I saw that he was cutting people out of her life kind of left and right, family to, you know, saying, you know, she, she just needs good influence and supportive friends right now. So I was trying to tread lightly on how I went about discussing this and handling it. After my dinner with her, I said, you know, I, I have seen no accountability on his part, you know, in the church service, he basically blamed the whole blowup on you that you were having a mental breakdown. So, you know, where is the accountability on his side? And she said, well, you know, you know, we're going to talk to the elders about it and everything. And, you know, they're— we're doing the counseling again. And it was just, you know, totally unsatisfactory, honestly. But she said that they were meeting with the elders about it and that they would know everything.

So in JP's church, Charlotte explained how the elders act as a board of directors over the pastor, kind of like a city council is there to keep a mayor in check. But JP owns the church and the land in this case, so his elders really don't have all that much authority besides biblically over JP. But Charlotte knew that going to the elders was her best chance at getting through to JP and helping her friend. She was terrified. She had small children and lived close to the church at the time that she wanted to go to the elders. But Charlotte and her husband saw JP as a dangerous person. Going to the elders in that church was risky, so they waited until they moved in early 2023.

So Will took another job and moved in January, and I was going to take my information to the elders, but I wanted to do it strategically. I knew if I set up a meeting with the elders that JP would be there, and, you know, having learned that I was meeting with them. So I just wanted to take it with a couple of the elders that I actually trusted. And Will, again, you know, was very adamant that I wait until I moved up. So, you know, You know, again, being in such close proximity to the church and having seen the kind of total psychotic behavior that he witnessed, and he did not want me with my 2 kids, uh, going to the elders before I moved up here. So I moved in February, and then I reached out to 3 of the elders that I trusted and gave them everything, and unfortunately nothing happened. It was really sad, actually, because they were all like, yeah, we've seen that behavior too. And, you know, you know, that, yeah, he's just so volatile. And I just felt so bad for Micah. And it was just so disappointing. You know, I, I just was shocked that nothing was being done.

I felt at that point that my role— I had done everything that biblically I was supposed to do to hold him accountable. But now my whole goal was just to look out for her and try to get her help.

This is the part that makes me so sad, to think about the amount of people who knew that this was happening to Micah and did nothing. Another thing that is important to understand is that the Solid Rock at Market Common Church community adored Micah, and JP used that against her, especially when she wanted a divorce.

Oh, she was beloved. I mean, everybody, everybody loved Micah. She was a part of so many ministries and a part of so many just, you know, I mean, obviously she was singing and everything, but, you know, we did short groups together where we facilitated groups. She was in groups with— she did everything at the church or was a part of everything. He definitely did use that against her. And he knew, he knew that she was a beloved person because, and again, back to the call where she told me that they were— she'd filed for divorce. She said, I know he's going to be really mad because, you know, he told me that if I divorce him, he said, you know, if you divorce me, the church is going to split again. And her response was, I know. She said, and I know that it would. I know that it would split again if we get a divorce. So him having that information, I think he slowly started to— and, you know, you can watch his previous sermons over the last year and see that he was starting to kind of build this narrative of, you know, my wife's mental health, my wife's mental health, and just making himself kind of look victimized by certain scenarios or relationships.

And so you can— I mean— From months back, you can see this narrative that he's started to build up against her. More on that after a quick commercial break. We'll be right back.

We expose the truth wherever it leads, give voice to victims, and get the story straight. My name is Mandy Matney. Together with journalist Liz Farrell, we continue this mission with our newest evolution, True Sunlight. Luna Shark's True Sunlight podcast values accuracy over access journalism.

We're out. Hey, hey, welding back up.

Camp Swamp Road, and somebody just unloaded, shot through his windshield, and, and shot this guy. True sunlight is shed with empathy, not exploitation.

I don't really trust the media too much because they're just They're looking for a story, and instead of helping with Stephen's story, they're actually hurting it.

True Sunlight is the intersection of journalism, true crime, and systemic corruption.

I was in the shadows last night. I weren't there, but I was in the shadows.

We continue to shed light on Stephen Smith's case and Alex Murdaugh's co-conspirators, but also we like to take deep dives into other cases around the country.

Robeson County 911. And she actually said the FBI was looking into it. And he said, call the cops, I don't care. I'm, I'm, um, armed and ready.

True Sunlight empowers listeners to understand their legal and judicial systems with our unique brand of pesky journalism. Listen to True Sunlight wherever you get your podcasts, or visit truesunlight.com to learn more. Or join Luna Shark Premium for early episodes, video episodes, live or virtual events, bonus episodes, and so much more. My job is stressful and super taxing, so brain function is not optional for me. That's why in my daily routine, Aqua Omega and their revolutionary omega-3s are the one thing that never gets missed. Aqua Omega was built because most fish oils either cut corners on quality or charge luxury prices, and they believe you shouldn't have to choose. Every Aqua Omega batch is tested for purity, potency, and freshness. And this is my favorite part. Every bottle sold removes £1 of plastic and debris from our ocean and coastlines. It's been super easy to add to my mornings, and it's one of the few things in my routine that I never have to think twice about. For your daily dose of omega-3s, go to myaquomega.com/Mandy and use code Mandy for 20% off. That's myaquomega.com/Mandy and use code Mandy Also available on Amazon. Thanks to Aqua Omega for sponsoring this episode.

Throughout 2023, Micah and JP's marriage was a roller coaster. She even moved to Kansas to stay with some family for a few months while they decided what to do.

Every time I talked to her, she was just— it was like she was just waiting for him to make up his mind. You know, what do you want from me? Are we going to— So, you know, officially divorced, are we, are we working toward this or not? But, um, so she, she, she had this Africa trip coming up in October and she was going to wait until after the Africa trip to file divorce because she really wanted to go. But she called me 2 days before she left. She left, um, actually Friday the 13th in October and said, you know, I filed for divorce today. I said, wow, what, you know, what made you, you know, do it before the Africa trip? And she told me about so much horrible things that she found out about him, um, from affairs, and that she found and, I mean, had confirmed through multiple people, um, that he had sent out nude photos of her to his buddies at the church. Which, I don't know, makes just— it's horrible. Yeah. And that she just couldn't, she couldn't do it anymore. Can't keep waiting to do this when so much bad stuff just keeps happening.

So I was very proud of her and she was excited too. She started talking about, you know, I've never really, you know, I've never really thought about what I want in a husband and not that I want to start pursuing one, another one anytime soon, but if and when that day comes, I want to have my own list of what I myself want rather than what's presented to me and, and made to look like a good idea. So she was, she was thinking forward, you know.

According to Micah's family, at the time of Micah's death, she was planning on spending time in Kenya doing missionary work and even sent some of her possessions there in preparation for that. When she initially split with JP last fall, She left the country for Kenya, but it was there that JP's church members allegedly convinced her that she needed to give him and their marriage another chance.

I was shocked she went to Africa. Um, I texted her the next week saying, you know, hey, let's catch up soon. I didn't get a response, which was, you know, fine. I knew she was trying to get back to normal life. But then I finally, um, I called her the next week and She didn't answer. And, but the, the new picture that came up as kind of her, I guess, contact picture was of them two. I was so confused. I was thinking maybe her phone went through an update and it just kind of assigned a picture, or surely they're not back together. It's been, what, 3 weeks since you filed and you are so gung-ho about this and so determined and, you know, not even. Not even— didn't even sound sad about it. You were just ready for it. Um, so I text her and then I saw a picture that the church posted of them two and our— it basically was captioned, you know, our wonderful pastor, John Paul Miller, and his beautiful wife, Micah Miller. And that was just like the confirming moment of like, you're kidding me. So I screenshot that picture and I sent it to her and I said, hey, Call me soon.

Don't be embarrassed. I just want to talk. And she did later that week. And she said, you know, basically when I was in Africa, you know, there was people talking to me and I realized I had not exhausted all avenues of, you know, trying to heal our marriage and, you know, make it work. So I really want to, if I'm going to make that move of divorce, I really want to make sure that I feel like I have done everything I could to make it work. And it still isn't. So I had already kind of said my piece to her when she told me about, you know, filing for divorce about, I said, you know, Micah, I'm so glad that you finally are taking this step. I said, honestly, ever since last year, I have been so worried about you. And I don't mean that generically. I mean that literally, like I've talked to my sisters about everything and we all said, you know, she needs to get out. And if she doesn't, he's going to kill her. I said those exact words to her.

Charlotte said those exact words about her friend Micah, who was found shot to death just a few months later. Obviously, Charlotte walked a tightrope and did everything she could to keep her friend Micah in her life. And that brings us to February 2024, when things got really bad.

That was in February 17th. Sierra texts me, and, um, the reason for her text is because I had texted Micah her phone that day and said, hey, you know, call me soon, let's catch up. And I immediately get a phone call from her number, and I'm thinking, oh, perfect, you know, let's catch up now. And it was JP. And he said, hey, Charlotte, I just want to tell you what's going on. You know, Micah left me again. We had— she's having a psychotic episode. So she went into the mental hospital again, but when she got out, she totally drained the African Mission Fund and she is with her family who's telling her she doesn't need her medication. And I have her phone obviously, so I can't get ahold of her. But if you talk to her, please tell her I'll do anything. you know, sign whatever she wants. And just again, his whole narrative of she's just on this mental break. And I text Sierra and Sierra responded. She said, well, she said, hey, just so you know, JP has Micah's phone, Facebook, email, all of that. It's been since February 6th. And that's when she said the message, you know, it's a whole mess.

Even the cops won't help her. He got her locked up. You know, I've already read that message to you, but The takeaway was, you know, so as you would guess, he's losing his mind trying to manipulate her since he can't get to her. He's very set on leaving. That was her sister's words. And about a week later, I get a text and it was from a new number. And she said, it's Micah. Call me when you have an hour to talk. So I did. And she basically said, you know, he— I, you know, was starting to get suspicious about certain things and, and learned about, you know, again, these affairs that continuing in his behavior. And I was just, I'm done with it. I'm done with being treated like a mental person. And I, and I told her what he had told me, you know, about the Africa Mission Fund and, you know, so she would know what the accusations that he's putting out there about her. And she said, you know, he's such a liar, you know. And she actually said the FBI was looking into it, which I thought— I took that as an extreme.

I thought she meant the FBI should look into it. But now, I mean, what's come out, they have been. But it wasn't even a week later, I mean, maybe 2 weeks later that she sent us a message saying, hey, I'm about to text you from another number. JP got my number again a 3rd time. She said she'd gotten 53 No caller ID phone calls in one day.

Like we said earlier, the FBI won't confirm whether they're looking into anything related to JP's or the church's finances. But here's something we want to mention. After our last episode, there were news reports that Micah stood accused of stealing from the church, according to police reports that we had all received. But no police report that we can see specifically says this. The reports that we have were redacted. Though this much is clear. Right when JP had taken Micah to a mental hospital against her will in February, he also reported to the police that a church employee had stolen $1,200 in donations to their Dare to Care African mission funds, which were being collected for a mission to Kenya. 2 reports were filed about this incident, one right around the time of Micah's hospitalization And then again a month later. And it appears another call was made again at the end of March. Again, the reports are redacted and don't mention Micah by name or even by relationship to JP. And they all came in as she was reporting his increasingly disturbing behavior to police. So not only was Micah jeopardizing the future of JP's church by attempting to leave him, She appears to have been aware of some sort of investigation into his handling of money at the church, and she feared that he was trying to set her up.

Making matters worse, at that time it was so hard for Micah to find a lawyer, which is yet another part of the system that is broken.

It's— it was so difficult for her. It was almost— first of all, when she left, she had Absolutely nothing. She talked to me about how, you know, you don't think about all the things that you don't have until you need them, like a toothbrush or socks or soap or general small things that you don't, you don't think about on a daily basis. And so she did not have money, first of all, and she just started back at J. Peters and she was loving it. But I mean, she did not have money. He had her credit cards, her wallet. And on top of that, he's so well connected that any lawyer she talked to, even the previous lawyer that she went to, basically would not take the case. And she finally found one, which I found out about on March— she asked, actually March 12th, she asked me to type out an affidavit for her about the financial things that I knew about. She said, and I was kind of confused. I said, well, you know, what do I know about? And, um, financial— financially wise. And, um, she said, you know what I told you how he sold the house?

I found out he sold the house to the church and he's been hiding assets. He is, you know, how he's a nightclub owner. And I think he's probably going to start putting, like, putting those shares in somebody else's name. Um, so it doesn't look like he's part owner of that. Um, that how he buys expensive guns, vehicles, vacations. She said, he's going to make it look like he makes nothing. So I can pursue nothing. But then she, I think, talked to a different lawyer. So she said to hold on that and she would give me updates about what she needed from me. And that was March 12th. On March 18th, she was talking about visiting me within the next month or two and, uh, to come get her birthday present. I said I could send it to her. She said, well, why don't I just come up to visit you and get it in person? And I said, you know, that'd be wonderful. I, I have, you know, something this weekend and the following weekend, but then after that, choose a day and come up. And, um, she, she said by then I should have my restraining order against JP, so it'll be better anyways.

But yeah, that trip never happened. I brought it up to her again, but she said, I've had some troubles here. I was just starting back at J. Peters and they've been so good to me. And I'm finding out now that there's a lot of harassment that they were having to deal with, with her working there. So I think she was just trying to tread lightly about, I don't want to give them more of a reason to fire me than they've already been given by all this behavior from JP. But so she said she'd hold for the time being and come up. Um, sometime this summer. But anyways, then her last text to me was on April 5th. And, um, she said, thank you for your gentle warnings throughout the years regarding my relationship with JP. I know that you knew I wasn't ready to get out, but looking back, your warnings were very helpful when trying to make tough life decisions. Definitely have played our convos in my head over and over throughout the years and wished there was something I could do to get out. And now I've done it. With a big smiley face.

I wrote back to her. I said, well, I'm so glad that you never felt as though I overstepped and that you heard my heart when I said things, that I was coming from a place of love and concern and not judgment, malice, or gossip. And I'm so pleased that you're in a better place now. Of course, it would have been great if things did not end in divorce and your marriage could have been healed. But I feel like this new trajectory of your life is going to have such a profound impact on the kingdom of God. And her last message to me said, yes, things are looking up and are headed in a great direction.

Things were looking up for Micah, as far as Charlotte knew.

She told me how that Africa mission trip really sparked a new purpose in her life, she said. And she told me that she told JP that she said, look, I truly believe that I'm supposed to be a missionary now and, you know, continue going back to these places. And I have a heart for these people now. Missionaries, They go. They do not have roots in the ground anywhere. But pastors, they're planted and they stay. And so we just, we're on different paths. You know, she was trying to take this gentle approach during one of their conversations about, you know, let's just go, like, let's go forward with divorce. Like, let's just be done with it. But she had— she was all fired up about that. And again, she was loving her job and she just seemed so happy the last couple of times that I saw her. I spoke to her on the phone, which my last phone call to her was actually on the night that she died. I called her around 6:30 that night. I was in the car and I had to drive. And that's usually the times when, you know, we would talk.

It's either really late at night where nobody else is awake, or we're in the car, or we just have a couple, you know, even just a couple free minutes. We'd call when we had 30 minutes just to catch up. Briefly, and she didn't pick up, and I left her a voicemail, um, telling her to call me back and that I missed her and was thinking about her and that I loved her.

Around 1:30 AM on April 28th, a friend texted Charlotte and told her the news. A few hours later, she heard from JP.

At 6:30 in the morning, um, we get a text from JP. Um, and he did not know that I knew at the time. He thought this is how he was going to tell me, or I was going to find out, which was shocking the way that he decided to do that. But he said, I thought you two should know, Micah killed herself today. She needed her lithium because she's been having a 3-month psychotic episode. I'll keep you posted on the funeral. So again, thank God I'd found out from Anybody else but him in that, in that way. But, uh, we did not write back, obviously.

The way JP announced Micah's death to his congregation was also disturbing. At the end of the service, he had the congregation stand, and he told them he was going to share an announcement with them and that he was asking them not to react, to instead remain silent and walk out afterward and not talk about what he was sharing with them. Then he said, I got a call late last night that my wife had passed away. Yeah, it was self-induced, and it was up in North Carolina. After that, he was seen with a woman rumored to be his mistress, and then he called Charlotte.

And, you know, I pretty much was just crying all day, but then at 1:30 in the afternoon, JP calls me. And I, I'm telling you, I've only had it happen a handful of times, but when he had his name pulled up, came up on my phone, my blood literally ran cold. Like a, I don't know, just like it's, I don't know, I can't explain it honestly, but my only word that came to mind was just evil. And I already knew a lot that put that word into mind.

Mm-hmm.

You know, before, but it just, it gives me goosebumps anytime I think about it. But he called me and he said, hey, Shara, are you surviving? And I was just thinking, you know, yeah, why are you calling me? And he said, well, I have some more details for you if you want them. And I said, okay. And he starts telling me about, you know, she drove to a pawn shop and bought a gun and drove up to Lumberton and parked and got a mile or, you know, walked a mile into the woods. And, you know, that's where she did it. And, you know, I mean, you know, she was off her medication and I've been begging with her for her to get back on her medication. And I'm just thinking this whole time, like, do you have nothing better to do than to call me right now and try to like push this narrative at me. And, and I mean, this is the actions of a grieving husband. Um, so I was just totally, I don't know, blown away by that. But he— I said, well, you know, JP, something doesn't add up to me.

You know, about a month ago when Micah was talking about divorce, you know, stuff with me, she said that. She had originally, you know, tried to get off her medication or wanted to get off her medication back in December. But, you know, in pursuit of divorce, she didn't want that to be used against her, like some insanity plea where it could be denied. So she was taking her medication in front of her roommate every single day so that she would have a witness to the contrary. And he said, well, she wasn't taking her lithium. She was just taking her Seroquel. You know, she, and she, she tried to go off of it in December, but I begged her to get back on it. But then in January is when she actually, she hasn't taken it. And again, I'm just thinking, that's not how that works.

And during that conversation, he said something that shook Charlotte.

He did make a very odd comment to me. He said, he said, you know, she went and bought a gun and she was driving up to Lumberton. I thought she was coming to see you. And he paused there and I said, no, she wasn't. And he said, well, did you have plans to see her anytime soon? And I said, well, yes, kind of. Not officially, but I've had her birthday gift on my dresser for the last month and we talked about her coming to get that in person. And he said, well, is that what she was doing? And I said, no, like for the third time. But But the way that he stated that comment, it was just really weird to me that she was headed up to Lumberton. I thought she was on her way to see you. Like, you don't have her number. How are you tracking her? And I know Mike has told me before about tracking devices, but I, you know, I guess the police didn't check for tracking devices, so I haven't heard anything about if that was the case in this, on this day or not. But. That comment really just kind of raised the hair on the back of my neck, how he— it was almost like he was watching her.

We'll be right back.

We expose the truth wherever it leads, give voice to victims, and get the story straight. My name is Mandy Matney. Together with journalist Liz Farrell, we continue this mission with our newest evolution, True sunlight. Luna Shark's True Sunlight podcast values accuracy over access journalism.

We're out. Hey, back up. Weld him back up. Camp Swamp Road and somebody just unloaded, shot through his windshield and shot this guy.

True sunlight is shed with empathy, not exploitation.

I don't really trust the media too much because they're just looking for a story and instead of helping, True Sunlight is the intersection of journalism, true crime, and systemic corruption. I was in the shadows last night. I weren't there, but I was in the shadows.

We continue to shed light on Stephen Smith's case and Alex Murdaugh's co-conspirators. But also, we like to take deep dives into other cases around the country.

Robeson County 911. And she actually said the FBI was looking into it. Instead, call the cops. I don't care. I'm, I'm, um, armed and ready.

True Sunlight empowers listeners to understand their legal and judicial systems with our unique brand of pesky journalism. Listen to True Sunlight wherever you get your podcasts, or visit truesunlight.com to learn more, or join Luna Shark Premium for early episodes, video episodes, live or virtual events, bonus episodes, and so much more.

In a recent episode of Ashley Banfield's show on NewsNation, reporter Rich McHugh read a text he had gotten from JP in which JP appears to be trying to offer a more noble explanation for the trackers on Micah's cars, which she found to be threatening. Here's what he said, and it's a little wonky because it's over text, but I'm going to read it word for word. I even hired PI to put trackers on her car to know if she was going to go to a gun store. And then this part's in parentheses, because she kept trying to get a gun for the past few months. And then there's an ellipsis and it says, I have never once in my entire life ever hurt her in any way. And then there's a period. And then it says, ever, period. Then last week, when Robeson County Sheriff's Office concluded that Micah's death was a suicide, Nothing made sense to Charlotte.

Really? I mean, the, that whole thing. I mean, first of all, she'd never been to Lumberton State Park before. So it wasn't like this, you know, nostalgic or beautiful place that she always loved going to. Nothing. Micah was just such an intentional person that the fact that there was no note and this wasn't just like a, you know, spur of the moment, you know, She made up her mind to do something and she did it. I mean, she had 3 to 4 hours to drive, go get this thing and drive up there and then walk into the mall. And the fact that, you know, over the course of that 4 hours, you know, she's— she would have had time to think about the fallout and that there weren't those things. There was no last call or last, you know, and the fact that she would have called the cops so that her family would have— would know where her body was rather than just sending one last text to her family. But then in the call, she didn't even know where she was. You know, she didn't know what state park. But part of the evidence that was, you know, produced to prove it was suicide was that it was in her GPS.

And so if you've typed this into your GPS, you get there, you walk into the woods, and then you have no idea what state park you're in. And then rather than sending out one last text, like, again, Micah was so intentional and she loved her family and her, I mean, and all of her friends, but there was no last anything other than a 911 call apparently. But also the fact that she was broke. I mean, she had asked another friend of ours to help her pay for her car taxes, which she did the day before this happened. So she was needing money, but then she was able to purchase a $500 gun. It's just nothing, nothing about it made sense to me. And, you know, the, the one scenario that I could wrap my head around her being the one that pulled the trigger herself would— is, you know, she'd filed a no contact order 48 hours before this. And he did not, at least to my knowledge, still did not have her newest phone number. But if he had gotten her phone number or had showed up somewhere after this no contact order had been filed, The one scenario that makes sense to me is she felt totally helpless, like this, this is never going to end.

This is— it doesn't matter what I file. The police are not helping me.

I—

he won't stop. And so that is the one scenario that, that I could, you know, somewhat understand why she would do that. But there's like 20 scenarios in my head of where it doesn't make sense and she wouldn't do that. So, but either way, regardless of the scenario, whether she was the one that pulled the trigger or not, to me, that never affected the reason that she's dead and who that responsibility lies with. And the responsible person in my mind for her death, regardless of who pulled the trigger, is John Paul.

A video was posted showing part of JP's eulogy of Micah, in which he claims to have laid with her body. after she was found dead. How? Great question. He also said he tried to raise Micah from the dead and thought he succeeded at it when he saw a woman who looked like Micah, but it turned out to be Micah's sister. JP said that he called out her name. It was another one of his shocking sermons.

Oh, and then he stated, you know, at her funeral that he laid with her 4 times, that that week, and which was again disturbing because I'm like, this person was trying to get away from you, trying to divorce you, trying to have nothing to do with you, and you violate her body like that, you know, and take advantage of, you know, this. I don't know if he actually did or if he's just trying to make himself look, you know, get a little bit more pity on stage, but it was. Kind of a vile thing to hear him say.

JP appears to be doing everything he can to change the narrative of Micah's story. He tried his lawyer's cease and desist letter that essentially said, thou shalt stop being mean to me, which backfired immediately. That definitely didn't help. He tried telling NewsNation that he casually had a PI put a tracker on his estranged wife's car before she died. That also did not help. His church tried to post on Facebook Tuesday a message that they were, quote, alive and well, and, quote, moving forward with a new building project which they've raised over $1 million for and that we have a lot of questions about. That post also, you guessed it, did not help. Then on Tuesday night, an account that appears to be JP Miller, according to sources close to the situation, started posting photos of his dead estranged wife and very odd interpretations of Bible verses. The first post said, the actual truth is about to come out, get ready. But less than 24 hours later, the entire TikTok account was removed, which obviously, you guessed it, Also did not help. But while JP continues on his crusade to shape the story, Charlotte wants the world to remember Micah for the beautiful person that she was.

The selfless Christian. The friend who apologized even when she didn't do anything wrong. The beloved coworker who wouldn't miss work. The sister who would have left this world thinking of her family.

She is the one that was setting the Christlike example. But I mean, she was the one between, you know, her pastor husband and her walk with God. She was the Christian example, not him. She was just such a beautiful presence to be around. She had a laugh like— I'll never forget her laugh. I hear it in my head quite a bit these days when I think about her. But she was so helpful to anybody. She always wanted to be doing something. I've never seen somebody be so busy with things that— not just your own life or your own, this is what I want to do today, but just helping people. and being involved and wanting to glorify God. I mean, you know, every single conversation we'd have, we would talk about some spiritual element of what we're going through or, you know, I'm trying to honor God in this way. And so she was so focused. That was her primary goal in life, was to bring glory to God. And I think, unfortunately, that was used against her. In a way that was meant to control her and to manipulate her. And it's just a shame because it was such a beautiful element of who she was that it could be taken and distorted for somebody else's horrible use.

But she was just a beautiful friend to everyone that she came across. And I'm very blessed to have been one of those people.

We have learned a lot more about Micah's story. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight.

Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight.

Coerced: The Devotion and Death of Micah Francis Miller is a Luna Shark production with reporting from journalists Mandy Matney, Liz Farrell, and Beth Braden. Made possible by producers Kate Thomas, Grace Hills, and David Moses. Learn more about our mission and membership at lunasharkmedia.com.