Federal authorities have been called to help with the investigation into Mica Miller, the wife of a South Carolina pastor, who took her own life last month.
In a statement to NTD News on Tuesday, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it has requested assistance from federal agencies on the case.
Authorities also stressed that the probe is unrelated to the cause of her death.
“The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office has been in contact with the United States Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation in South Carolina since the early stages of the Mica Miller investigation. Based on the information gathered during the investigation and jurisdiction reasons, the Sheriff’s Office has requested the assistance of both agencies,” the statement said.
“The request made by the Sheriff’s Office is not related to the cause of death of Mica Miller. Mica Miller’s death remains to be the result of a suicide.”
Ms. Miller, 30, was found dead on April 27 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in North Carolina’s Lumber River State Park. She took her own life while she was in the process of divorcing her husband, Solid Rock Church pastor John-Paul Miller.
Since her death, disturbing allegations about the 44-year-old pastor have surfaced, including accusations he groomed his wife since she was a young girl.
The pastor’s attorney, Russell Long, denied the allegations and said that “unfounded rumors and false accusations” are being circulated on social media and various media outlets to suggest Pastor Miller was involved in her demise.
A timeline evidently disputes the claims that she was groomed by the pastor when she was just a child, according to his attorney.
“Recent reports claim that Pastor Miller ‘groomed’ his wife from the age of 10 years old couldn’t be farther from the truth. She moved to Myrtle Beach at the age of 15, was married to another man by the age of 18, and divorced at the age of 21,” he said.
The case first raised eyebrows after Pastor Miller announced his wife’s death at the end of a service the day after she was found dead. He requested that congregants not discuss her death while inside the church. He also told the church that she took her own life after struggling with mental illness.
“It has come to light that Mica Miller struggled with mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder, which, when not properly managed, led to paranoid episodes and self-destructive behavior,” the pastor’s attorney said in his statement.
The allegations of abuse surfaced after Ms. Miller posted a video alluding to such toxic relationships.
“You don’t have to stay in an abusive relationship. Whether that’s sexual, whether that’s somebody forcing you to take illegal drugs. Or alcohol abuse, or physical abuse, or psychological abuse, making you think that this is all your fault, or you’re a bad mom, or you’re a bad wife, or you’re a bad husband or you’re not giving it your all, when you know you are,” she said on her Facebook video.
“God hates divorce. But why? According to everybody that I’ve asked, the scriptures I’ve found. It’s because it hurts people. But does abuse hurt people? How do you think God feels about that?”
The Robeson County Sheriff’s office told NTD News in a statement that no other information will be released at this time.
Authorities also said that anyone with information pertaining to the investigation in South Carolina is asked to contact the FBI office in Columbia at (803) 551-4200.