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While law enforcement’s investigation into the death of Mica Miller appears to be closed – and her death officially ruled a suicide – many, including those of us at this news outlet, still have questions regarding the investigative report (.pdf) released by the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) on April 8, 2024.
Our media outlet was the first to report on this tragedy, and we have continued to dig deep into this saga as official reports (here and here) collide with accounts of Miller’s allegedly abusive marriage (here and here) to pastor John-Paul “JP” Miller of the Solid Rock at Market Common church in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Here are just a few of those questions …
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WHERE WAS MICA MILLER’S HAND TATTOO ON THE SURVEILLANCE VIDEO?
Robeson County released a series of still images from surveillance footage of Mica Miller entering Dick’s Pawn Shop in Myrtle Beach. Many have pointed out a tattoo on Miller’s right hand is not visible in the photos. Upon close inspection of the images, no evidence of her tattoo is visible in any of them.
FITSNews has submitted multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to this investigation -including a request for the surveillance video footage – to determine if the reason for the tattoo not being visible is simply the angle of the camera.
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WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE CARS?
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Multiple images of Mica Miller’s car captured by surveillance and Flock cameras on her final day were also released by RCSO. Miller had been driving a black Honda Civic, which sources told FITSNews her dad had helped her purchase. The license plate on this vehicle was 301 AKH. When doing a search on this license plate number, however, it comes back to a 2003 Chrysler Town and Country minivan — whose owner is deceased.
The vehicle Mica Miller paid $232.92 in taxes on just one day before her death was a silver 2019 Honda Accord with the license plate WUP 747. According to a Myrtle Beach police incident report (.pdf) – and the account of her close friends – Miller’s husband took the silver Honda Accord away from her when she was admitted to a mental health facility on February 8, 2024. That car was photographed in Charlotte North Carolina four days after Miller’s death.
The $132.16 tax bill for the black Honda Civic she was driving the day she died remains outstanding.
It’s possible since the Civic was a newer purchase that its plates haven’t updated across all systems yet. But even so, questions remain. Why would Miller pay taxes on a car — the silver Accord allegedly taken by her estranged husband — that she wasn’t driving? Why would she pay those taxes just one day before she died? Why was this same car spotted in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 1, 2024 – four days after her death? And perhaps most importantly … who was driving it?
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HOW WAS MICA MILLER ABLE TO PURCHASE A GUN?
Many have asked how Mica Miller would have been able to purchase a gun if she had recently been committed involuntarily to a mental health facility. This is another question that could be easily answered with the release of records relating to Miller’s admission in February. Those records should be accessible to her immediate family following an application filed on May 3, 2024 by attorney Jarrett Bouchette in Horry County probate court on behalf of Mica’s sister, Sierra Francis. That purpose of that filing – which provided the public its first glimpse at some of the allegations against JP Miller – was to appoint Francis as a special administrator of Mica’s estate.
The appointment of special administrator was requested to:
- preserve Mica’s portion of the “marital estate”
- to obtain confidential records from Waccamaw Mental Health, South Strand Medical Center/Grand Strand Regional Medical Center and Victim’s Advocacy
- to gain access to and take possession of “any wills, deeds to cemetery plots, and insurance policies, or other Estate related documents in Decedent’s safe deposit box”
According to the S.C. Code of Laws (§ 44-23-10), the process to have someone involuntarily committed often begins with an affidavit from a family member, friend or other individual stating that the subject may have a mental illness and is likely to cause serious harm to themselves or others if not immediately hospitalized. Reasons for this belief are also included in the affidavit.
Once that affidavit is filed, if the person is not already in a mental health facility, a “pick-up” order is given to local law enforcement officials to detain them and bring them to such a facility. Once there, a doctor is required to evaluate the individual within twenty-four hours and certify:
- The person has a mental illness;
- Because of the illness, they are likely to cause harm to yourself or others unless you get treatment in a hospital; and
- The specific reasons why they are likely to cause harm if they do not get treatment.
If the individual does not meet these standards and/ or agree to ongoing treatment, the process ends there. If the doctor does certify all the criteria, the information is sent to a probate judge to determine if there is probable cause to continue involuntary hospitalization. If the judge agrees, an order is issued by the court.
According to an incident report – and accounts from her friends – Mica Miller was released on February 10, 2024, giving indication an order was not issued by a judge to continue her involuntary hospitalization. In which case, it would have been legal for her to purchase firearms according to state and federal law.
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IS THERE MORE TO JP MILLER’S ALIBI?
Robeson County police insist Miller was traveling to Charleston, South Carolina at the time of his wife’s death. So far, though, police have released only a single Flock picture of Miller’s truck – and nothing of Miller himself. The windows are tinted and it’s impossible to see inside the cab of his pickup truck. Also, the only person police publicly referenced as providing an alibi to Miller is a woman with whom he is alleged to have been romantically involved. According to sources, she drove to Charleston separately — giving Miller access to more than one vehicle.
This should be the easiest of the unanswered questions to put to rest …
For example, are there additional surveillance photos or time-stamped images of Miller from April 27, 2024? Are there individuals (preferably those not romantically linked to him) who can confirm his alibi? What other evidence did police obtain to establish his alibi and rule him out as a suspect?
If police have additional corroborating information related to JP Miller’s alibi, why haven’t they released it?
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WHAT DID JP MILLER RETRIEVE FROM HIS WIFE’S APARTMENT AFTER HER DEATH?
As previously noted, one of the central allegations against JP Miller – according to friends and family of Mica Miller – is that he used her involuntary commitment to a mental health facility in February 2024 to access her electronic devices and search her belongings. His purported objective? To seize evidence she told friends she had been accumulating against him in anticipation of their upcoming divorce. An incident report (.pdf) reveals JP Miller went to his wife’s apartment three days after her death (April 30, 2024) to get her “belongings.”
Was he alone in his wife’s apartment? For how long? What did he take? Have police asked JP Miller what he allegedly removed from his wife’s apartment? Is there an inventory of the items he allegedly removed?
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WAS THERE AN AUTOPSY?
Questions regarding Mica Miller’s body have been circulating since shortly after her death. In an interview with Ashleigh Banfield of NewsNation last night, an attorney for Mica Miller’s family appeared along side her sister, Sierra Francis, finally answering some of these questions.
According to the interview, Mica’s body was released to her husband on April 30, 2024. When asked, Miller told her grieving family that he wouldn’t allow them to see the body at the funeral home unless her parents first signed a certification of cremation.
Even more concerning? In the interview with Banfield they claim Robeson County’s investigating officer told the family that her remains were NOT tested for water in her lungs or gunpowder residue on her body. They also DID NOT do an autopsy or a toxicology report.
In North Carolina, the decision as to whether an autopsy will be conducted is made by the medical examiner. It is not known why in a death with this many questions one was not conducted, but according to Mica’s family her body was cremated – eliminating any chance for a secondary autopsy.
Do you have unanswered questions about this case? Share them with Jenn or email them to research@fitsnews.com.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Jenn Wood is FITSNews’ incomparable research director. She’s also the producer of the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts and leading expert on all things Murdaugh/ South Carolina justice. A former private investigator with a criminal justice degree, evildoers beware, Jenn Wood is far from your average journalist! A deep dive researcher with a passion for truth and a heart for victims, this mom of two is pretty much a superhero in FITSNews country. Did we mention she’s married to a rocket scientist? (Lucky guy!) Got a story idea or a tip for Jenn? Email her at jenn@fitsnews.com.
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11 comments
So JP, in coordination with the Robeson Count Sheriff’s Department using AI, faked the pictures of Mica buying the gun, and the receipt for gas and a drink, and the 911 call…
Good gawd, y’all must be on the 3rd or 4th roll of tinfoil with all the hats being created out in Irmo and elsewhere.
Here’s a conspiracy theory for you:
Mica actually was mentally ill. She set all of this up to get even with JP whom she believed had wronged her (he probably did wrong her). She wiped a little makeup on her hand to cover the tats just so tinfoil hat wearers would have an issue to raise. She intentionally told her sister that “JP was going to shoot me in the head” as she was planning to off herself to cast shade his way.
My theory makes way more sense than her making the phone 911 call while two 5 foot 2 ninjas held a gun on her because she was scared of a sextape and JP made her have kinky sex 5 times a day and liked to wear her jewelry. People who kill themselves ARE mentally ill. They seldom do rational things (!!!why did she fill the tank all the way when she was planning to kill herself!!! (simple, she always filled th tank when she bought gas)
Believe it or not, I agree with you and hope you take my agreement graciously.
I want to add two things which I hope FITS clings to his “market-place of ideas” claim and lets through.
FIRST: The suicide to spite a hated other is EXACTLY the terrorist mentality. People who survived suicide bombers and seen them close right before the act invariably report the terrorist smiled before detonating. I think I saw that “got-cha” smile on Mica as she was buying the gun.
SECOND: Just as fair-minded people should be grateful to the Catholic Church for having educated from childhood at least six U.S. Supreme Court Justices on the value of the human life of the unborn, they should turn to the Catholic Church’s teachings against suicide as the taking of a human life. Period.
Instead of the idiotic trans question of “would you rather have a dead daughter or a living (trans) son?” the REAL question should be “would you rather have a living Catholic daughter or dead feminist?”
I wrote a great reply but FITS did not let it through.
So much for his market place of ideas.
So why did he put a tracker on her car? Is that supposed to be normal?
And what good reason would the husband have for not allowing his in-laws to see her body? Sounds pretty petty and CYA to me.
I wrote a great reply but FITS did not let it through.
So much for his market place of ideas.
Just google operation tarnished badge. It was a corruption investigation into the Robeson sheriffs office that resulted in the sheriff and 22 deputies getting indicted/ convicted.
AC – not at all surprised. The Robinson statement released reeks of complicity. We, in general, have reached the lowest of lows in our judicial system, process, and law enforcement personnel and policies. Everywhere you look, corruption, ineptitude, sloppiness, negligence, complacency. One day though, justice will be applied by the one true judge.
Freedom in the sound… That’s all I’ve got to say.
Thank you, FITS for finally letting my comments through.
Or YOU should thank ME for sharing with you and your subscribers the insight that my late father, GRHS, gave and which saw me through at lease two periods of SEVERE depression and fear which ALMOST led to suicidal ideation, ONLY, not attempts.
But even the suicidal ideation is itself a sin of some degree of murder just as the looking to lust is a sin of adultery EVEN IF NOT followed by physical sexual contact.
Instead of turning to punitive laws which heighten the penalties for sextortion which leads to someone’s suicide, lock the barn BEFORE, not after, the horse escapes.
Lock the barn by drilling into your children the value of human life IN ALL FORMS and at all stages.
Drill into yourselves, and by extension your children, that life is made of time lived and that the wasting of time in less than TOTAL love for oneself, of one’s neighbor as oneself, AND EVEN of one’s enemies, is the taking (in bits and pieces) of the ONE life one is given.
Give your children a suicide-proof mentality instead of reveling in someone else’s suicide.
SUBZEROIQ
Your “great reply” was nothing more than you espousing your pro life beliefs by condemning suicide and abortion. You did not address the points of the article. You were snarky and mean toward the news outlet. There are plenty of other sources for local news. I don’t understand why you read this one if you think it is unfair.
Thanks for the article. I haven’t seen the full surveillance video, but to my old eyes I can convince myself of a shadow on her hands that could be a tattoo and if we’re allowing for bad quality on surveillance video I can see that
Maybe I watch too many trials and true crime info, but it seems very convenient we have great surveillance footage of her buying a gun, can clearly see her face and smiling, first on the road with license plate, footage of the gas station that I’m assuming is near the state line or park. She also conveniently calls to let them know what she’s going to do, puts her belongings including ID in a bag to be found. I’ve never planned out my un-aliving, but it’s all so convenient and with clear evidence, like a perfectly laid out timeline and case. Maybe that’s what someone would do so family isn’t left wondering, I don’t know. In pawn shop, it looks to me like Mica is looking for cameras. I have a habit of doing this. But if I needed my steps to be clearly documented I’d make sure I see one in a shop or gas station.
Personally, it seems like a strong case for Mica being driven (mentally) to such a decision to get away from a controlling and abusive spouse who cared so much about his reputation. All allegedly. The cremation control and forcing is very sus. We just need police and LE to do their best work and fully investigate and I’m grateful for all the attention on this case and others because we are forcing them to do their jobs and have transparency.
Thanks again for the article.