Netflix has released the official trailer for Death of the Pastor’s Wife, a three-part documentary series that premieres on August 26, 2026. The series revisits the 2024 death of Mica Miller, the 30-year-old wife of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina pastor John-Paul “JP” Miller, and the questions that have lingered ever since.
Directed by Julia Willoughby Nason and Mike Gasparro—the team behind Netflix’s Murdaugh Murders and American Murder: Gabby Petito—the series promises never-before-seen footage and the first major public accounts from friends and family. Producers say it explores allegations of control and manipulation, the events leading up to Mica’s death, and the ongoing fight for answers.
A Life Rooted in Faith
Mica Miller grew up deeply involved in the church. According to the trailer, she made church her life at age 16. She loved the people, the community, and the music—her singing, family and friends recall, had a way of making people feel close to God. She met John-Paul Miller at Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, where he served as pastor. To many, they looked like the ultimate couple.
Mica became an active part of the church, leading youth groups, designing graphics, and singing on the praise team. The couple married in 2017. From the outside, their life appeared to embody the ideals of faith, partnership, and ministry.
Cracks Beneath the Surface
The trailer and subsequent reporting paint a more complicated picture. Friends and family describe a relationship marked by allegations of control, manipulation, and abuse—sexual, physical, and psychological. Mica is shown speaking out about her experiences. In one sequence, a man (identified in context as her husband) physically removes her from a car and takes her to a hospital. She describes physical changes: her voice struggling, hair falling out, weight gain. A voice in the trailer notes, “There’s incredible danger in unmet needs.” She sought a restraining order.
By early 2024 the marriage had deteriorated. Mica filed for divorce. Court records and family statements indicate she had expressed fear for her life and had contacted police about being followed and harassed. She told officers she was “afraid for her life” roughly a month before her death. Family members later said she had warned them that if she ended up with a bullet in her head, it would not have been by her own hand.
April 27, 2024: The Final Day
On the morning of April 27, 2024, surveillance and Ring camera footage tracked Mica’s movements in Myrtle Beach. She left and returned home, then left again. Around midday she entered a local pawn shop, purchased a 9mm handgun and ammunition, and left.
At 2:54 p.m. she called 911 from Lumber River State Park in Robeson County, North Carolina—about an hour’s drive from Myrtle Beach. She told the dispatcher she was going to kill herself and wanted her family to be able to find her body. She hung up. Dispatchers could not reach her again.
Law enforcement and park rangers searched the area. They located her black Honda Accord in the parking lot, along with a gun case and a pawn-shop receipt dated that day. Her body was later found in the water near trees, roughly 100 feet from spent casings. She had died from a gunshot wound to the head.
The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina medical examiner ruled the death a suicide based on surveillance footage, physical evidence, interviews, and the autopsy. Investigators confirmed that John-Paul Miller was at an athletic event in Charleston that day and was not in North Carolina.
Public Reaction and Lingering Questions
The next day, John-Paul Miller announced his wife’s death from the pulpit at Solid Rock Church, describing it as “self-induced” and linking it to her mental-health struggles. The announcement, combined with the couple’s recent separation and Mica’s prior statements to police, ignited national attention and the hashtag #JusticeForMica. Family and friends publicly questioned whether the full story had been told.
John-Paul Miller has denied the allegations of abuse. In the years that followed, he faced federal charges of cyberstalking and making false statements to investigators related to his conduct toward Mica before her death. Those charges remain pending; his trial has been delayed.
What the Series Aims to Do
Death of the Pastor’s Wife does not claim to reopen the official ruling of suicide. Instead, directors Nason and Gasparro have said they were struck by how hard Mica seemed to be fighting to be heard. The series gives space to the people who knew her best and centers her own voice through footage, writings, and the accounts of those closest to her.
It examines the gap between the public image of a pastor’s wife and the private realities some women face inside religious communities—issues of coercive control, isolation, and the difficulty of being believed when speaking out against a figure of spiritual authority.
Release Details
Death of the Pastor’s Wife is a three-part limited documentary series. It premieres globally on Netflix on August 26, 2026. The official trailer is available now on YouTube and the Netflix Tudum site.
The series arrives more than two years after Mica Miller’s death. For her family and friends, the fight for answers continues. For viewers, it offers a chance to hear the story she tried to tell while she was still alive.
