The estranged wife of a South Carolina pastor who died by suicide called 911 to ensure authorities could trace her phone to a wooded area where was found dead last week, according to newly released audio.
Mica Miller, who claimed her husband, John Paul, abused her, threatened suicide during the April 27 call with a dispatcher ahead of her tragic death.
The recorded phone call was among new details the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office released Tuesday in an effort to push back against conspiracy theories surrounding her death.
“I’m about to kill myself and I just want my family to know where to find me,” Miller said, according to the audio provided by the sheriff’s office.
Miller started the phone call with emergency services by asking, “are you able to trace the location of my phone?” She mentioned she was at a national park and then gave the dispatcher her phone number.
She also said she was sharing her location on her phone as the dispatcher tried to pinpoint where Miller was.
“The Lumber River State Park,” the dispatcher asked, to which Miller replied, “Yes, that’s where I am.”
Miller’s death was ruled a suicide due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound by the Robeson County Medical Examiner’s Office on Monday.
The sheriff’s office stressed that John Paul Miller and another woman he was allegedly involved with were not in North Carolina the night before or the day of Miller’s death.
The pastor was at an athletic event in Charleston, South Carolina the same day his spouse was found dead, law enforcement said.
“This incident has garnered much attention from across the Carolinas and beyond. I want to assure everyone that a very methodical investigation was conducted by our Criminal Investigations Team and Crime Scene Investigative Team,” Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, rumors and conspiracy theories were spreading quickly, and assumptions were being made. However, in the end, we must make decisions based on the facts, and evidence that has been gathered. While I know it’s not what many people wanted to hear, the evidence is quite clear and compelling, and we are as saddened as anyone that this occurred.”
When deputies reached the state park last month, they found a handgun in the water near the crime scene during a search of the area, the sheriff’s office said.
Robeson authorities also provided a timeline of when Miller left her house and went to buy a gun at a store on her way to the state park.
Prior to her death, she reportedly said if she was ever found dead, her husband was behind it, according to an affidavit filed by her younger sister Sierra Francis in Horry County Probate Court, according to the Christian Post.
Miller met John Paul when she was about 14 or 15 while he was 28 or 29, but the two were separated and their case was going through the legal system, the sheriff’s office said.
Mica alleged to relatives and other church members that she was abused by her partner, according to her sister’s affidavit.
John Paul Miller told the Christian Post his wife, whom he wed in 2017, suffered from mental illnesses.
John Paul Miller broke the news of Mica’s death during a recent service after he asked congregants not to chat about it inside the church.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
