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(NewsNation) — Mica Miller’s family has responded to last week’s John-Paul Miller interview, recounting the months leading up to Mica Miller’s death and the public speculation that spread in its wake.
Anna Francis and the family attorney Regina Ward joined NewsNation’s Rich McHugh on Monday to fact-check what they say were lies spread by the former pastor.
“We can prove everything he said wasn’t true,” Francis said, detailing the evidence that her family has to prove John-Paul lied. Mica Miller accused John-Paul in court filings of stealing her car, installing a tracking device, hospitalizing her against her will and “grooming” her when she was 10 years old. In an emailed letter obtained by NewsNation, John-Paul Miller apologized for posting a topless photo online.
During his interview with NewsNation, John-Paul Miller backtracked on his apology, claiming certain parts of his letter weren’t true.
John-Paul is “spinning” his story, according to Ward, who added that Mica Miller was telling her “horrendous” things before her death.
“Every kind (of abuse) that you can imagine. Even kinds that you can’t imagine as a rational human being,” Ward said. “She wanted to be the best Christian woman there ever was, and she had a hard time reconciling.”
John-Paul Miller told NewsNation he spent months trying to get his estranged wife, Mica Miller, to take lithium and stay with him before she was found dead in April.
He told McHugh he warned her family she would likely die by suicide since he’d been unable to persuade her to keep taking her medicine. John-Paul placed the blame on Mica Miller’s family, entirely.
Officials ruled the death a suicide, but Mica Miller’s family has called for a thorough investigation, noting that her death happened while she was pursuing a divorce. John-Paul Miller continued to deny any involvement and told NewsNation he “saw it coming for years.” Investigators have verified his alibi and John-Paul Miller faces no charges in connection with his wife’s death.
What happened
Mica Miller, 30, was found dead April 27 at Lumber State Park in Lumberton, North Carolina — about 70 miles north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
She got into her car alone that day and drove to a pawn shop, where she bought a gun and ammunition. She made another stop at a gas station and then drove to the Lumber River State Park in North Carolina. There, Mica Miller dialed 911 and told the operator her plan to die by suicide and where they could find her. Police arrived within 10 minutes and discovered her body.
“I didn’t think it was real,” John-Paul Miller said. “I thought her family had made it up and had somebody call me and say that. So that’s one big thing. I didn’t think it was real. When I found that it was real …You don’t want to say I told you so because it’s a horrible thing.”
Family: Mica’s Law is our goal
Mica Miller’s family and Ward introduced “Mica’s Law,” also known as the Coercive Control Law.
“Our family wants to have Mica remembered as the amazing person she was throughout all of this,” Francis said. “We don’t want her absence to leave a hole. … There’s tons of men like John-Paul that want to do the same thing to others. This law is so important.”
NewsNation’s Katie Smith contributed to this report.