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Our media outlet traveled to South Carolina’s Grand Strand this week to conduct interviews and attend a probate court hearing in connection with the ongoing saga of Mica Miller, the Palmetto State pastor’s wife whose suspicious suicide three months ago has attracted international attention – and sparked widespread outrage against her husband.
As exclusively reported by this media outlet two-and-a-half months ago, Miller’s body was discovered in the Lumber River State Park near Orrum, North Carolina on April 27, 2024. Based on forensic evidence and a 9-1-1 call placed by Mica, investigators determined she died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. However, this conclusion has been greeted with skepticism as her friends and family members have accused John-Paul Miller of waging a campaign of extreme harassment, coercive control, and abuse in the weeks and months leading up to her death.
As I reported yesterday, attorneys for Mica’s family announced that they had reached a global settlement with John-Paul Miller and his church, Solid Rock at Market Common, resolving all current and envisioned legal matters between the parties to the agreement. The terms of this settlement – including its financials – are (and will remain) confidential.
Sources familiar with the agreement have alleged it involved various confidentiality provisions as well as a “low six figure” payment to Mica’s family. As for the fact there was a settlement in the first place? Reaction among those who have been following this saga has been overwhelmingly negative … including those who have accused the Miller family of “selling out” and betraying Mica’s memory.
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Our Jenn Wood will be addressing some of the complications associated with this case in our future coverage, but suffice it to say our media outlet is not echoing any such criticisms of Mica’s family – certainly not without anything credible to support them.
Considering the elevated degree of difficulty associated with civil actions being brought in Mica’s name (as she died before being able to divorce John-Paul Miller), it is impossible to say whether efforts to hold him or his church financially accountable for what happened to her would have prevailed … let alone even made it to trial.
As Jenn prepares her coverage of those issues, it is worth noting that despite the settlement with his late wife’s family, John-Paul Miller is nowhere near out of the woods – civilly or criminally. As we reported earlier this month, multiple civil cases are looming against him involving numerous alleged victims. And despite his attorney’s protestations to the contrary, we are reliably informed that criminal inquiries into Miller’s alleged conduct are moving forward.
In addition to attending Monday’s court hearing, I conducted interviews yesterday with Mica’s family attorney, Regina Ward of Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Abby Francis, Mica’s youngest sister. These interviews wound up being the last on-the-record interviews any attorneys or family members gave prior to the settlement being reached. Also, my conversation with Abby was her first-ever in-person interview about what happened to her sister and its impact on her and her family.
Be on the lookout for those conversations very soon …
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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3 comments
FitsNews has really moved into the big time! They are taking on the unenviable task of running two never-ending stories that have dragged on for so long that many no longer give a sh*t. Lots of interesting stories taking place all over our state and elsewhere and we have the incessant Murdaugh and Miller “stories” to clutter up the pages.
Next we’ll be hearing about the dude ordering a whopper with no onions and what experts believe that means for the case.
You are probably right!