I first shared the heartbreaking story of Mica Miller’s death in Episode 112. At the time of her death, many suspected her estranged husband John-Paul Miller of being involved. While he was able to physically prove he was not with Mica when she took her life at a North Carolina state park, her friends and family knew he had waged a campaign of emotional abuse and stalking against her that led to her fragile state of mind. There has recently been an update to the story that I’d like to share with you.
On April 27 of 2024, a 30-year-old woman from Myrtle Beach, Mica Miller, was found deceased at the Lumber River State Park in Robeson County. Mica was a member of the Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, where she led the women’s ministry and worship team. Her friends also told the media she had a passion for going on missions in places like Africa and helping others.
A Suspicious Death
According to news reports, when her family members were notified of her death, which appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head, they were immediately suspicious. Mica and her husband had been involved in a contentious separation at the time of her death and many in the community questioned the circumstances under which she died.
At the time of her death, Mica was separated from her husband, John-Paul Miller, a pastor with the Solid Rock Church. She had filed reports with the local police that she was being harassed by her estranged husband. Weeks before her death, she posted a video on Facebook on the topic of abusive relationships.
In the days following her death, leadership at the church released him from his ministerial duties for what they called, “a time of healing, counsel, and guidance, pursuant to our governing instrument.” He told the media that his wife had struggled with mental health issues for years, even giving personal testimonies at the church in recorded sermons. He denied being physically or emotionally abusive with her.
Speculation Surrounds Death
The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office knew about the excessive speculation around Mica’s death, and on May 7, 2024, they released a lengthy news release with the following details about what they found during their investigation:
They said that the Robeson County 911 Communications Center had received a call at approximately 2:54 p.m. from a female. She asked the dispatcher if her phone could be located because she was going to kill herself and wanted her family to be able to find her body. This call has been released to the media. The caller hung up, but the dispatcher was able to find her location and dispatched a deputy to the scene at Lumber River State Park in Orrum, North Carolina. Deputies and park rangers conducted a search of the area, coming across a black Honda Accord with a South Carolina license plate that came back as registered to Mica Miller.
They noted a Sig Sauer gun case on the passenger seat, and a box of ammunition in the center console of the car. They also located a receipt for both purchases—they had been made that very day. Investigators made contact with a fisherman who said he found a bag near the edge of the water with identification inside that belonged to Mica. He’d also heard a woman crying and a gunshot while he’d been fishing. Law enforcement then heard from 911 that a person had called in after finding a body in the water. The victim was identified as Mica Miller. A search of her phone later showed that she had searched “national parks near me,” and then discovered directions to the Lumber River State Park.
The Robeson County Medical Examiner, Dr. Richard Johnson, stated, “Based on the nature of the wound, that is consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. And it was not in the back of the head, as it has been speculated.
Was John-Paul Miller Involved?
Investigators looked into the whereabouts of Mica’s estranged husband, John-Paul and confirmed that he’d been out of town at an athletic event with a female romantic interest when Mica’s death occurred.
Further video surveillance showed the time that Mica left her apartment that morning (around 11 a.m.), her stop at Dick’s Pawn Shop around noon, where she purchased the ammunition and gun, a stop at a convenience store in Mullins, South Carolina around 1:30 p.m., and then the 911 call made at close to 3 p.m.
The Robeson County Sheriff’s Department concluded the statement by saying:
“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.
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. There are many factors that we have reviewed that occurred over an extended period of time that are probably related to the reason for this investigation, but in the end, sadly, a tragic decision was made by Mica that ended her life.”
Those who were close to Mica believe that even if her estranged husband didn’t pull the trigger, he could be responsible for her death.
John-Paul Miller Indicted
In December of last year Mica’s story got an update. A federal grand jury in Columbia returned a two-count indictment against Myrtle Beach resident John Paul Miller for cyberstalking and making false statements to federal investigators.
Here’s what the indictment alleged:
Beginning in November of 2022, John Paul sent unwanted and harassing communications to Mica until her death on April 27, 2024. This included John Paul posting a nude photo of Mica online without her consent, placing tracking devices on her vehicle, and in one instance, contacting her more than 50 times in a single day. He also interfered with. Mica’s finances and on one occasion, damaged her tires.
Federal investigators had interviewed John Paul about these allegations, and he was not truthful in his responses. They asked him specifically if he had damaged her tires, and he said no, when in fact their investigation uncovered that he had purchased a tire deflation device online and sent messages to other people regarding Mica’s vehicle.
For these charges, John Paul Miller faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for cyberstalking and two years in prison for his false statements, plus a fine of up to $250,000.
Mica Miller’s Former Attorney Speaks
After his arrest, Regina Ward, the attorney representing Mica’s family, was emotional when asked about the case. She and Mica’s family members had compiled a cache of materials they called “Mica’s List,” and put together a document outlining actions Ward believed could be considered forms of abuse.
She said, “Everything that’s in ‘Mica’s list’ is supported by some form of evidence. And so, every bit of that was turned over to the FBI under the subpoena, and the allegations that are in there are, I know for a fact, supported by some of the evidence that she provided to me.”
Ward went on to explain that cyber stalking can elicit fear and intimidation as victims do not know what the final intention of them may be. She said before Mica’s death, John Paul would randomly show up at places where she was having located her through the electronic devices he had placed on her car.
The attorney continued, “I was angry prior to her passing, because there just didn’t seem to be any resource, law, or resolution to help her. I became a bit more enraged, of course, as I got involved in the case and saw all of the things that were going on with her. It’s the old cliché, ‘The wheels of justice turn slowly.’ But those wheels turn methodically. The Attorney General is a lawyer, and lawyers like to win their cases. They wouldn’t want to bring a case that didn’t feel confident that they could win.”
More Lawsuits Filed
In March of 2025, Court Tv reported that two women filed lawsuits against John-Paul Miller, alleging he sexually assaulted them years before Mica’s death, when he was working as a teacher and pastor at a church his father founded. One victim says John-Paul attacked her in 1999 while she was a student at Cathedral Hall Academy, while they were alone in a room playing the piano. Another lawsuit by a different victim alleges two assaults. She said John-Paul Miller raped her in July of 1998, and another time put a hand down her pants when they ran into one another in Myrtle Beach. These lawsuits were submitted as part of an affidavit submitted to the court as part of a custody case by John-Paul’s ex-wife, Alison Williams. Williams was married to the man for 16 years before they divorced and he married Mica.
On January 12 of this year, John Paul Miller pleaded not guilty to the federal charges against him. His bond was set at $100,000 and he’s required to stay away from the victims, family and witnesses involved in the investigation. He is required to wear an ankle monitor, cannot possess a firearm, excessively drink alcohol, and had to surrender his passport as a condition of his bond.
The statistics around cyberstalking are disheartening. According to the Stalking Prevention, Awareness & Resource Center (SPARC), tech-facilitated stalking impacts the daily lives of victims and is just as invasive, threatening, and fear-inducing as in-person stalking.
Victims of this type of stalking:
Often report a higher fear than victims who experience in-person stalking, and are just as concerned for their safety.
They experience a multitude of harmful and detrimental consequences for their mental health, including depressions, anxiety, PTSD, suicidal ideation, and panic attacks.
Online stalking prevents them from continuing with their regular routines, reduces time spent outside, and has resulted in them withdrawing from online life and developing a distrust of technology as well as people.
Here are some other statistics regarding cyberstalking victims:
62 percent fear not knowing what will happen next
62 percent fear losing jobs, friends, or freedom
58 percent fear it will never top
52 percent fear being killed or physically hurt
And 32 percent fear that someone close to them will be harmed.
The good news is that every U.S. jurisdiction has a statute criminalizing tech-facilitated stalking, with the majority explicitly recognizing online acts.
A Sextortion Scam Turns Deadly
On September 11, 2018, a 24-year-old young man from Greenville, South Carolina took his own life after getting caught up in a sextortion scandal. What his family and investigators later discovered was that the threats were part of a larger scam originating within the South Carolina prison system.
Jared Johns’ parents, Kevin Johns and Kathy Bowling, said their son made the decision at a young age to serve the military after the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States. Jared was only seven years old at the time. He enlisted in the Army right after graduating from high school and was deployed to Afghanistan in June of 2013. While in the Army, he did struggle with pain from a back injury he received while dismounting an armored vehicle in Afghanistan. He attempted suicide by taking an overdose of medication while stationed in Germany. He received a general discharge from the Army under honorable conditions and returned home to Greenville in October of 2015. Before he left for him, he had discovered an ex-girlfriend was pregnant with his child.
On the day Jared took his life in 2018, his twin brother found him in the apartment they shared together. Jared died of a gunshot wound to the head and had left a note on a dry-erase board in the apartment. The message said, “I’m sorry. I messed up. This isn’t what I wanted.” He had recorded a two-minute video before his death, apologizing to his two young sons that he wouldn’t get to see them grow up.
A Family in Turmoil
His family had no idea what he was referring to. They had believed he was working hard to turn his life around, welcoming a new baby a year and half earlier and getting engaged to his girlfriend. He worked as a manager at a local AT&T store and adopted a German Shepherd. He’d also met his son that was born two and a half years earlier in Germany. Until the police returned Jared’s phone to his parents. There they saw alarming text messages blackmailing their son. These messages were from someone calling himself James Harris.
It appeared Jared had joined the online dating website PlentyofFish.com at some point. He chatted online with a young woman who told him she was 17, almost 18. However, in the weeks leading up to his death, he began receiving messages from a person claiming to be that young woman’s father. The father accused Jared of asking his daughter to send nude photos. Jared said he’d never done that, nor received photos. He barely remembered messaging with the young woman. The night before Jared died, he received a phone call from someone claiming to be a Greenville police officer. That person said he’d been contacted by the parents of a 17-year-old girl who’d sent nude photos to Jared.
Jared continued to receive messages from people claiming to be this young woman’s mother and father. They demanded he send them $1,189 to cover the cost of disconnecting and replacing their daughter’s phone. They threatened that if he didn’t send them the money, they would press charges and he would go to jail.
Jared died a short time later, his mental health too fragile to handle the coercion and threats from the young woman’s parents. But as it turned out, it was all a scam, and this scam targeted United States veterans and active military service members. An informant reached out to Jared’s mother and told her they believed Jared had been the victim of a dating app scam.
The Blackmail Scheme Revealed
In May of 2019, the Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller announced at a news conference that Jared Johns had been the victim of a blackmail scheme created by inmates in a South Carolina prison. The scam, he said, “created sufficient mental anguish to cause Jared to believe he was going to be accused of a serious crime with lifelong implications.”
John Williams Dobbins, 59, and Carl Richard Smith, 43, were charged with blackmail in connection with Jared’s death. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service uncovered the sextortion ring that was nicknamed “Operation Surprise Party.” The investigation uncovered that South Carolina inmates had been using contraband cell phones to join dating sites like Plenty of Fish. Dobbins is serving a 25-year-sentence for methamphetamine distribution and Smith is serving 15 years for assault and aggravated battery.
South Carolina inmates used contraband cellphones to join dates sites like Plenty of Fish and create fake profiles of attractive young women. They would strike up flirty conversations that would eventually lead to the exchange of nude photos. Then, the victims would receive messages from a person claiming to be a young woman’s father, threatening to notify law enforcement if money wasn’t paid.
An investigation found that between 2015 and 2018, 442 service members from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps were conned out of more than $560,000.
The Greenville Police Chief suggested that service men were likely targeted because the consequences of being charged with child sexual abuse material or child pornography would be catastrophic for them. Even though Jared had been discharged from the Army, he was still mentally fragile and targeted by this group.
People questioned how these inmates were able to get their hands on cell phones within the prison system. South Carolina Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling said they had put netting over the prison yard to prevent throw overs to the inmates, but they were still having issues with drones dropping cell phones onto the property. He also mentioned that sometimes clergy members, correctional officers, and medical staff had been known to sneak cell phones into inmates for a variety of reasons.
John Dobbins pleaded guilty to his charges in May 2022 and was sentenced to an additional seven-year term. Carl Smith pleaded guilty the same month and sentenced to four years in August 2022. Three other South Carolina inmates were also sentenced for their part in the sextortion scam that targeted U.S. military personnel over the course of several years.
