This Feels Criminal: A True Crime Podcast (Formerly Killer Queens)

Death of a Pastor's Wife Part 1: When Control Sounds Like Faith

September 8, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

On a 911 call, a woman tells the dispatcher she is about to kill herself and just wants her family to know where to find her. That call is the end of the story. The beginning is in Wichita, where a 13-year-old girl named Micah Francis meets a 28-year-old pastor named JP Miller. Over the next decade, what looks like faith and mentorship becomes a system of control so complete that when Micah finally starts to trust her own judgment again, she tells a friend exactly what she believes will happen: "He's going to put a bullet in my head and stage it as a suicide."

The Pastor and the Child

Micah Francis grew up in a faith-centered family and relocated to Myrtle Beach after her mother remarried. When her parents divorced a few years later, the family became homeless, staying in hotels. Her sister Sierra says Micah took the displacement the hardest and leaned heavily into scripture to cope. At that vulnerable moment, JP Miller—the charismatic pastor of a small church of about 20 to 30 people—told the sisters directly that if they ever needed anything, they could call him. Micah was 13. JP was 28.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Upwork & Megan Kelly Advertisements** - Two separate sponsor messages before the episode begins.
2 (02:02) **Episode Introduction and Case Setup** - The hosts introduce the Netflix documentary "Death of a Pastor's Wife" and frame the story as a collision of religious weaponization and entitlement.
3 (03:48) **Introducing Micah and JP Miller** - Background on Micah Francis, her faith-centered upbringing, and the charismatic pastor JP Miller who enters her life when she is 13 and he is 28.
4 (05:53) **Micah Becomes Worship Leader at 16** - Micah is given the highly unusual role of worship leader at age 16, placing her in a position of prominence and proximity to JP.
5 (07:18) **Micah's First Marriage and Growing Closeness with JP** - Micah marries a man her age at 18, with JP officiating, and both she and her husband become deeply integrated into JP's inner circle.
6 (11:58) **The Affair Begins and is Discovered** - JP begins sending Micah inappropriate texts, and the affair is discovered by his wife, Allie, who confronts Micah.
7 (18:19) **The Church's Unequal Forgiveness** - JP receives grace and a "restoration" from the church, while Micah is shamed, highlighting a double standard rooted in patriarchal theology.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Regina Ward

Show Notes

Mica Miller was 13 when she first met John-Paul "JP" Miller—the pastor who would eventually become her husband. Long before their relationship became romantic, JP had already become her pastor, mentor, trusted adult, and spiritual authority.

In Part 1 of our coverage of Netflix's Death of a Pastor's Wife, we trace their relationship from its beginning through the disturbing allegations about what Mica experienced behind closed doors.

But Mica's story raises a much bigger question: What happens when coercive control has the language of God behind it?

We're talking spiritual abuse, submission and "helpmate" theology, the very different ways shame and grace can be distributed inside the church—and what happens when the person claiming God's authority is also the person no one seems able to hold accountable.

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