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by JENN WOOD
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When Sam Rickman joined the Solid Rock at Market Common Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, he believed he had found more than a place to worship.
He thought he had found a community.
Rickman’s wife and daughter previously attended the church for three years before he began going. Despite reservations rooted in earlier negative experiences with organized religion, he eventually became immersed in church life — playing bass guitar in the worship band, building relationships with fellow congregants and growing close to Solid Rock’s pastor, John-Paul Miller, and his wife, Mica Francis Miller.
For roughly three years, Rickman stood on the stage alongside Mica as part of Solid Rock’s worship team.
What he did not comprehend at the time, he told FITSNews, was what Mica was allegedly enduring away from the stage.
Looking back, Rickman says warning signs that once appeared isolated now reveal a pattern of coercive control — including alleged surveillance, financial restrictions, intimidation and isolation.
“We were lied to,” Rickman said during a recent interview discussing the case. “We were gaslit.”
Still, it was the way Miller announced Mica’s death — and what he allegedly said afterward — that finally shattered Rickman’s remaining loyalty to the church.
According to Rickman, Miller told members of the worship band the controversy surrounding Mica’s death would “blow over in two weeks.”
It did not.
More than two years later, Mica’s story is the subject of the Netflix docuseries Death of the Pastor’s Wife. Miller is awaiting trial on federal charges accusing him of cyberstalking Mica and lying to investigators. He has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent.
For Rickman, however, the case is not simply a true crime saga or an ongoing federal prosecution. It is the story of a friend, a church community he once trusted and the warning signs he wishes he had recognized sooner.
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QUESTIONS DISMISSED…
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Rickman said most members of Solid Rock had no idea of the abuse allegedly occurring within the Millers’ marriage.
To many congregants, the church felt like a close family. Mica remained consistent in how she treated people, Rickman recalled, and did not publicly reveal the full extent of what she was experiencing.
Concerns eventually began to surface, however.
Rickman said he and his wife approached church elders about allegations involving Miller’s infidelity. Rather than seriously examining those concerns, these leaders reportedly dismissed them and redirected blame toward Mica and her family.
In hindsight, Rickman believes the response reflected a church culture built around protecting Miller.
Walking away was not as simple as recognizing something was wrong, though. Rickman’s family had personal, familial, financial and spiritual ties to the church. Also, his child attended the church’s school – and contracts and tuition obligations complicated their ability to leave immediately. He was also deeply attached to other members of the congregation — many of whom he still viewed as good people caught inside a troubled institution.
That changed when Mica left.
Rickman said his friend and fellow band-mate appeared noticeably lighter after she separated from Miller. Yet even then, he and others did not fully recognize the alleged pattern of tracking, financial control and psychological pressure that had shaped her circumstances.
Records later obtained by FITSNews documented the frequency with which Mica sought help. Between February 7 and April 15, 2024, she contacted law enforcement at least 14 times about matters involving her estranged husband, according to police reports and 911 calls.
Those records included allegations of harassment, vehicle tracking and the nonconsensual posting of an intimate image. They also demonstrated how conduct that may appear disconnected when reported to different officers or agencies can reveal a more troubling pattern when viewed together.
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FROM CONFIDANT TO CRITIC
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Rickman said his eventual break with John-Paul Miller did not happen overnight. Messages he provided to FITSNews show that he continued checking on the pastor as the Millers’ marriage deteriorated.
On Feb. 18, 2024, Rickman sent Miller a message asking if he was doing all right. The response came from a contact saved as “Pastor JP.”
“As good as I can be,” Miller replied, according to the screenshot. He then claimed he did not know where Mica was or whom she was with, and alleged she had drained their bank account and purchased a vehicle for her father.
The messages do not independently substantiate those allegations. They do, however, illustrate the version of events Miller was sharing with people close to him — and Rickman’s position as someone Miller apparently trusted during the couple’s separation.
Rickman also provided messages concerning Dare2Care Missions, an outreach effort he said grew from Mica’s vision. In one description sent to Rickman, Miller characterized the organization as a ministry operating under himself and Solid Rock Church.
Then, on April 24, 2024 — three days before Mica’s death — Miller instructed Rickman to make a prominent change to the ministry’s website.
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“DEDICATED TO MICA MILLER and the vision God gave her for FFA all over the world,” Miller wrote, referring to Faith First Academy in Kenya.
Miller asked Rickman to let him know when the dedication was online so he could send it to Mica. He also asked Rickman to help locate her or obtain her new telephone number. If Rickman reached her, Miller wrote, he wanted Mica told that he loved her, that the church missed her and that “she has nothing to worry about if she comes back.”
The messages provide a contemporaneous record of Miller attempting to communicate with his estranged wife through someone they both knew. They also lend context to Rickman’s assertion that he was not merely a musician who appeared onstage each Sunday. He had become entangled in the personal and institutional turmoil surrounding the Millers’ marriage.
Three days after those messages were exchanged, Mica was dead — and Rickman’s increasingly uneasy position inside Solid Rock was becoming untenable.
On April 28, 2024, Rickman arrived at church expecting another Sunday performance. Instead, he heard Miller announce from the pulpit that his wife had died.
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THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
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Mica was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head at 4:23 p.m. EST on April 27, 2024 at North Carolina’s Lumber River State Park – a sprawling 14,000-acre wilderness located roughly an hour’s drive northwest of Myrtle Beach.
Her body was discovered at this secluded location a short time after she called 911 asking the operator to pinpoint her phone – stating she was “going to kill herself” and wanted her family to be able to find her body.
Mica had traveled to the park from Myrtle Beach earlier that day, and her body was ultimately found in a swampy area approximately 40 meters from where police recovered spent shell casings and her belongings. She died less than 48 hours after serving divorce papers to her husband.
The following morning, Rickman arrived at Solid Rock expecting an ordinary Sunday service. He said members of the congregation and worship team had not been prepared for what Miller would announce after the first of two scheduled services.
At the conclusion of his sermon, Miller told congregants he had received word that his wife had died. He described her death as “self-induced” and instructed worshippers to leave the church without discussing the announcement.
Law enforcement had not yet publicly determined how Mica died.
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RELATED | MICA MILLER SAGA HEADED TO NETFLIX
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Rickman said he was blindsided — both by the news itself and by the manner in which it was delivered.
Between services, band members were instructed not to discuss Mica’s death, he recalled. The worship team then had to prepare to take the stage again in front of a second congregation that knew nothing about what had happened.
Mica’s death was later ruled a suicide by North Carolina investigators and medical examiners. Authorities said their conclusion was based on surveillance footage, interviews, physical evidence, Mica’s 911 call and the medical examiner’s findings.
Rickman remains skeptical of that conclusion and has raised questions about the investigation, the handling of evidence and how quickly the public narrative formed. His doubts are his own and do not alter the official finding. John-Paul Miller has not been charged with causing Mica’s death.
But for Rickman, the decisive moment came during a subsequent meeting with the worship band. Miller allegedly characterized the growing public scrutiny as an attack on the church and predicted the controversy would “blow over in two weeks.”
That was the final straw for Rickman – the comment that convinced him he could not continue supporting Miller or serving under his leadership.
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The relationship fractures
The tone of the messages changed sharply after Mica’s death.
On April 30, Rickman shared a fundraiser organized to assist her family. Miller responded by claiming the church had already provided more than $5,000 for flights, lodging, food and other expenses. He also alleged the family was raising money because its members intended to sue the church and retain an attorney.
Rickman did not engage with that allegation.
“I’m not sure about the funds,” he responded. “They just asked to help so I’m doing what I can to be a friend.”
One month later, the dispute had become openly hostile.
In a May 30 group message provided by Rickman, Miller categorically denied abusing Mica and claimed “99%” of what Rickman and others were hearing was false. He accused them of turning their backs on him and joining “demonic people” who were attacking him.
“Mica would be so upset and disappointed in y’all,” Miller wrote.
Included with the message was a document titled “Sam’s Testimony.” Rickman said it contained intensely personal information he had previously shared with church leaders — material he would later accuse Miller of using against him publicly.
For Rickman, the exchange marked a dramatic reversal. The pastor he had once supported, checked on and played alongside was now invoking Rickman’s history — and Mica’s memory — as their relationship collapsed.
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FROM CHURCH MEMBER TO COURTROOM OPPONENT
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Rickman eventually became part of the growing Justice for Mica movement, which sought accountability and greater awareness of coercive control.
He has also urged supporters to avoid harassment and personal attacks — arguing that advocacy for Mica should not become an excuse for abusive conduct by those claiming to act in her name.
His public break with Miller ultimately placed the former friends on opposite sides of a courtroom.
In January 2025, Miller and his associates filed nearly three dozen lawsuits against protesters, online commentators and former church members. In one of those lawsuits, Miller accused Rickman of harassment and invasion of privacy.
Rickman counterclaimed, alleging Miller had violated his family’s privacy by sharing sensitive details from his personal testimony during a recorded sermon. He also accused Miller of retaliating against his family through church-related financial demands and actions involving his child’s education at Faith First Academy.
Following a two-day civil trial in August 2025, a jury awarded Miller $100 on his claim but awarded Rickman $3,500 — a net judgment of $3,400 against Miller.
“Mica won,” Rickman declared after the verdict, according to FITSNews’ coverage of the trial.
For Rickman, the verdict represented more than a personal victory. It was a rare moment in which one of Miller’s former congregants stood his ground in court — and prevailed.
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THE FEDERAL CASE
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The scrutiny over John-Paul Miller’s actions eventually reached far beyond Solid Rock.
In November 2024, FBI agents searched Miller’s Myrtle Beach home, removing computers and other electronic equipment.
A little over a year later, in December 2025, a federal grand jury indicted Miller on charges of cyberstalking and making materially false statements to investigators.
Prosecutors allege Miller engaged in a prolonged campaign of unwanted communications, surveillance and electronic harassment beginning in November 2022 and continuing until Mica’s death.
The alleged conduct included placing tracking devices on her vehicle, contacting her more than 50 times in a single day and posting a nude photograph of her online without her consent, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
The indictment does not accuse Miller of killing Mica or change the official finding that her death was a suicide. It does, however, place many of the behaviors Mica’s family, friends and former church members described at the center of a federal criminal case.
Miller has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys have received multiple continuances while reviewing evidence and preparing his defense.
Rickman said he intends to attend the most consequential proceedings if the case reaches trial — including the opening hearing and any eventual sentencing.
He also hopes to speak more fully after the federal case and related legal proceedings have concluded.
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MICA’S LEGACY
Rickman does not want Mica remembered solely for the circumstances surrounding her death.
In an earlier interview marking the first anniversary of her passing, he described her as someone who embodied the Christian values preached from the pulpit — kindness, patience, gentleness and love — without needing an audience.
“Her superpower was just being a freaking good person,” Rickman told FITSNews. “She really loved God and really took to heart what it meant to be a true Christian and believer.”
He hopes her story will help churches and communities recognize coercive control before it is too late — particularly when alleged abuse is disguised by religious authority, financial dependence or concern for a victim’s mental health.
He also wants people experiencing similar circumstances to know they do not have to suffer silently.
For Rickman, that is where justice for Mica begins: with accountability, transparency and the willingness to believe people who say they need help.
And with refusing to let their stories simply “blow over.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
As a private investigator turned journalist, Jenn Wood brings a unique skill set to FITSNews as its research director. Known for her meticulous sourcing and victim-centered approach, she helps shape the newsroom’s most complex investigative stories while producing the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts. Jenn lives in South Carolina with her family, where her work continues to spotlight truth, accountability, and justice.
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SOUND OFF…
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