Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Fixate Today Gone Tomorrow. I'm Nikki and I'm here with my Aunt Joy. We are two neurodivergent ladies who obsess about various topics. Joy is autistic and I have ADHD and we are letting our hyperfixations fly. Today we are fixating on the death of Micah Miller.
Speaker: All right, welcome back everybody. We decided to switch up the order we were recording and releasing because I became hyper, hyper fixated on this case from South Carolina that's happening right now. funny thing is I, this is Joy, was not. And Nicki basically texted me over the weekend and was like, okay, you need to start looking at this. So ah ah she's far more up to speed. But I did find it interesting and did slowly get myself fixated too.
Speaker: Yeah, I am doing what we do. I am soaking up every bit of information I can find. And there are some parts of this that I i was you know researching and looking over and thinking about and thinking there is so much here that Joy could try to untangle in the way that she loves to. So I texted and said, you have to get fixated on this one too. Hence the reason I was up till 2 AM watching surveillance videos from the part start to finish. So before we jump in, I'd like to give our sources for, I think this is going to be a multi -episode series again, shooting for four, probably going to be more, but the sources are Micah Miller's Facebook profile, content creator, Robbie Harvey,
Speaker: Content creator, Kyler Marlow, Myrtle Beach Online News, True Sunlight Podcast, Someplace Underneath Podcast, Rabia and Ellen Solve the Case Podcast, Cup of Justice Podcast, JLR Investigates, WPDE News, and The Daily Mail. For the most part, I am using Robbie Harvey and Kyler Marlowe's Facebook profiles where they are doing just some crazy hardcore intense deep research. um And also True Sunlight and Cup of Justice, those two podcasts are actually um hosted by the same people. It seems like one is more of like the presenting information.
Speaker: the other, the Cup of Justice seems more like kind of a round table discussion. But fun fact for our next series, I think we're going to be jumping into the true sunlight pod is ah the murdough podcast um ah Mandy Matney is the host and she she did like all of the I think and I think it was just called the murder murders podcast or something like that. yeah yeah um But she did insane, just this deep research and she is going into deep explanations as well about South Carolina law enforcement and things like that because she's seeing a lot of similar themes in how the cases have been handled.
Speaker: um But just a shout out to them. They're doing phenomenal work. Agreed. All right. So on April 27th, 2024, which is one month ago today, we are recording on May 27th, 2024. I didn't realize that. So April 27th, 30 year old Micah Miller was found dead in Lumber River State Park from a gunshot wound to the head. The following day, Micah's husband, 44 -year -old pastor John Paul Miller, preached a sermon that ended with the announcement that his wife had taken her own life and he would be taking a break from preaching at his church called Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Speaker: Had it not been for this peculiar announcement, the world may not have known about Micah's death at all. But what we have learned from that point to now is that Micah was, allegedly, systematically abused and stalked by her estranged husband to the point that she may have believed suicide was her only escape. Micah's friends and family have been outspoken since Micah's death, believing that if JP didn't pull the trigger himself or pay someone to do so, he drove Micah to pull the trigger. In the days before her death, Micah had been quite vocal about the religious convictions within her church about divorce, sharing videos on her Facebook page with words of encouragement for people looking to escape abusive situations. She boldly proclaimed that while God hates divorce, he also hates his people being abused.
Speaker: Micah had left ah recently left her estranged husband's church, where she served as the praise and worship leader, head of women's and youth ministries, and was JP's ministry assistant, all for little to no pay. She found a new church home and had been baptized, marking a new beginning in her own faith journey away from JP. With all of this information, let's jump into not only the death of Micah, but JP's history as what I'm calling an abusive church leader. All right. So let's, I think how we're going to start is we're going to do kind of a shallow dive into the day of and a couple days after Micah's death.
Speaker: And then we're going to look into kind of the history of both families, more extensively JP's family, just to get a feeling of the environment he's accustomed to being in, I guess. Influence. Yeah, I guess. Influence as he has had growing up. All right. So let's walk through April 27th, the day Micah is found dead. in Lumber State Park in Robeson County, North Carolina. So throughout the morning, Micah was seen on different surveillance videos before her death. She was scheduled to work a shift as a server at JP Peters restaurant. JP Peters restaurant. do you know was her I thought I heard her shift was supposed to start at noon. Had you heard that? okay yeah That's what I heard, yeah.
Speaker: just for timing sake. i yeah So the first video we have, Micah is seen on her ring camera leaving her apartment in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at 10 .13 AM. At 11 AM on the same ring camera, she's seen returning to her home and then leaves again at 11 .38 AM. So I feel up to the point, like she's on on schedule basically. Yeah, I think that her morning's going normal. She's about to drive into work. Yeah. probably like ran an errand or something before work, ran home to change or would do whatever. So the next time we see Micah is 12, 12 p .m. when she walks into Dick's pawn shop in Myrtle Beach. At 12, 13, she's seen purchasing a firearm and ammunition and she leaves the pawn shop at 12, 34 p .m. So we are past when her shift is about to start.
Speaker: Now, during that, I mean, she still looked pretty, pretty calm. I didn't think when I'm watching the surveillance video that even at that point now, obviously something must have happened. Again, because you're right. She's like that was not scheduled. But I did think she looked remarkably calm. Yeah, she looked very calm and and we'll find later and talk her father spoke to I think the Daily Mail, but I'll bring it up again when we get there ah that she was talking about purchasing a firearm for protection. And she was raised around guns and knew how to safely handle firearms. um She'd had training and her father was not surprised that she would purchase a ah firearm for protection.
Speaker: One other just random side note was kind of surprised. Yeah. Pawnchop cell ammunition. I don't know. I suppose. Yeah. Yeah. I can't imagine. I mean, unless she had arranged this in the days before this happened, I mean, she had, we'll get into it, but she has a history of being um involuntarily hospitalized. And I don't know if background checks are required in South Carolina, but I feel like that would have been a red flag to prevent her from getting a firearm. And that didn't happen. unless something you know that she maybe submitted to a background check in the days before, or i you know I don't know. I don't know how South Carolina gun laws work. Yeah. I mean, its it does seem like like she went through the process pretty quickly. so i get yeah i
Speaker: um like yeah you know what I will dive into a little bit more what is considered a red flag when you are trying to purchase a firearm. Is two days being hospitalized? you know what make does that yeah does is it Is that the level that they would look at? I did notice it did look like when you could see the surveillance video. that he was entering some information into software that looked, if if you watch the screen, it was like very old, very antiquated software. So either just the the pawn shop itself used olds old software, or I swear most government fraud state run software looks that bad. So like if that could be, you know, if if he was looking into the system, the system they use, didn't look the most up to date.
Speaker: Yeah. So it would make sense that perhaps she had gone there before and, and, you know, submitted to the background check and did all that. And this was maybe the waiting period or something. And yeah I mean, it went pretty quickly. Yeah. She was only in there about 20 minutes. The next time we see Micah is 1 27 PM. We see her black Honda Accord arriving at 41 grocery and grill, which is just a gas station. It seems like she purchased an energy drink, uses the bathroom. Uh, there's porta potty on the side of the, uh, building or building, but you know, and she gets $25 worth of gas. So some interesting things happen in the parking lot there that when we kind of dive deeper, we'll get into. Uh, so the next marker we have in this timeline of her day is at 2 54 PM a 911 call is made Micah.
Speaker: asks the dispatcher if her phone can be tracked because she's going to end her life and she wants to make sure her family can find her body. She says she's not sure where she is. The dispatcher tells her she found her location. And she the dispatcher, I think, did send officers to the location. Micah hangs up, and the dispatcher can't get in touch with her again. So let's move to the next day for, again, just an overview. April 28, 2024 is where we get John Paul Miller's sermon announcement. On that day, JP preaches two services at his church, a solid rock church.
Speaker: At the end of the second service, JP asks the congregation to stand up so he can give an announcement. He asks that everybody leave immediately, don't ask any questions and don't talk about what he's about to say. JP then goes on to tell his church that his wife has died and he says that her death was quote, self induced. I want to do a minor detour because I think people are reading that, ah perhaps a little too much. I'm not going to defend JP a lot in this, but I am going to say I think he meant self -inflicted and said self -induced. I've heard people being like, well, that's, he's, oh, something's going on. I think he's an idiot. Yeah. this my is wrong word doesn't seem like Make that very, very clear. I think he's dumb. Not not the sharpest tool.
Speaker: Um, so when he announces that she died by suicide, this had not yet been officially determined by the medical examiner's office. This video of the sermon almost immediately goes viral. Despite the church removing the sermon from its website and YouTube page, I think by the next day, everybody is talking. as it should Yeah, it should it should be taken down. I think it's been taken down for the wrong reason. It's not out of respect for Micah. I think it was taken down to protect JP. but Regardless, when it's on the internet, it's on the internet. People can get it forever. One thing I noticed, I mean, obviously there was a lot to notice about this sermon and we will get back to it, but one thing I noticed was when he announced, the yeah you made the announcement, there wasn't an audible yeah i thought that too outcry or shock even from the congregation.
Speaker: it And maybe it's, you know, the sound system and all that. We just couldn't hear it, but I was expecting, uh, you know, uh, loud, you know, some sort of audible gas. Yeah. And I did not hear that. So I thought the same. Um, I just know at my own church, if it's a similar way, we record sermons is like, it's only the only microphone that's on is the pastor's microphone at the time. So maybe it wouldn't have, maybe there was more of a reaction, but I thought the same thing. I thought this is a very quiet. church for just hearing this information about their head pastor's wife. Yeah, is it just just calling it an announcement. Usually an announcement at the end of services, you know. And when I first saw it, I didn't realize that he had preached two services. This was the end of the second service. And i preached fairly normal for him.
Speaker: services that day. Yeah, nobody had suspected that he was upset. Anything. So all interesting. So in the following days, ah JP starts speaking to a couple of media outlets. He spoke to ABC 15 on May 2nd and the Christian Post on May 4th. In those interviews, he highlights Micah's struggle with mental illness. He says that she has been diagnosed ah with bipolar 2 schizophrenia and dependent personality disorder. And he also says that he was the only person in her life who cared about her mental health and that nobody would ever help him when he begged for help.
Speaker: um I will add it is possible that in one of these interviews he is wearing one of her necklaces. So just an interesting thing to be aware of. It will be interesting to see in her medical records if these diagnoses are listed. Yeah, I'm curious about that. Or if or if if they're just his diagnosis. Right, right. I also would be interested in the relationship with any of her doctors that he may have had. Yeah, I wish it said I wish it did because there's several references to medications. And my background was a pharmacist. So I wasn't I was interested. I would like I would like to know what medications both he and she were on, even though obviously, that's probably private, private medical. Well, there is a bit that he has shared um that I think are later
Speaker: in my information, but it's lithium. He always, for both of them, he always discussed lithium in terms of his own mental health and hers in all different ways. I can't think of any other things he said for both of them besides lithium. So I don't know. And i he is the most not trustworthy narrator. So who knows what she was actually on or what she was prescribed to be on. Yeah, he seems to be a bit on the one side as far as narration goes to say the least. Very unreliable narrator. um So the same day on May 4th, news breaks about JP possibly having a fair with church member Susie Skinner. We'll get into a little bit more about Susie also later. On May 4th, photos are released of JP having a meal with Susie. They're laughing together. They look like they're sitting close.
Speaker: I know we shouldn't judge too much of a picture, but if it's innocent, he's real dumb. He's still wearing his wedding ring and he's having a meal with one of his congregants from his church. Now, I know my church get real particular about the context that men are women men and women are alone together, like sometimes to the point that I get it irritated about it. Like if I'm having a meeting with one of my pastors, the doors open. because it's just me and him alone in a room. So i based on ah something I found later that's an outline of like what is required of people to serve at their church, at Solid Rock Church.
Speaker: It says very clearly what you do outside of Sunday services is between you and God. So i do having an affair with a church members between him and God. Really with him and God. I do, I, you know, just, I mean, in the rash of crazy headline grabbing murders just across the board, I am in all of them shocked at how bold yeah some of these accused murderers are in the days directly following yeah theyre you know the ah their alleged crimes. yeah and It's kind of over and over again. and You think, okay, you wow, that that's yeah pretty bold move just to in any way to become be out socializing with another woman or yeah even anybody while he's laughing and chatting. Yeah. And we'll we'll again, I'm going to keep saying it for this. We'll get into it more. but
Speaker: There is a, you know, helping the gun a widely known secret that's not a secret. Everybody at the congregation knew that JP and Susie had been in a relationship fourth since when her husband died. We'll get back to. So, you know, not the best look. But so at this point, Micah's family hasn't spoken out too much about JP. It seemed like my understanding, it felt like they were trying to wait for the medicals
Speaker: examiner's determination of the cause of death. But the next day, May 5th, two separate memorial services are held for Micah. Micah's family has one service at a beach in North Myrtle Beach, which interestingly, one of JP's kids, who is not one of Micah's biological kids, one of her stepchildren attended her family's service. But the same day, JP holds a service at his church. He of course leads it. He claims some kind of unhinged things that I think he thought would make him sound like a grieving husband, but make him sound insane. He says that he laid with her body and he tried to bring her back to life and three or four times he thought he had done it. ah so I know we're gonna get in this more, but he laid with her body? Mm -hmm. Is that a literal? I don't know. Was he speaking literally? And I would assume she was at the
Speaker: more i don't know ah because i don't think he did i don't i also don't think he did it all like i think he's lying i think he was in a room with her body Oh, yeah. On many levels, that would just be weird. yeah and So on the day of the service, protests break out at the church. Their content creator, Robbie Harvey, shared a bunch of videos of people actively protesting during her memorial service. And those were not those were not church members? I don't think so. Those were outside yeah yeah protesters. and After the service, a local bar owner confirms that JP was at his bar having fun and laughing and drinking. and
Speaker: Having just a lovely time and that's after the service. Yeah and I think this was the same day or I'm not sure when this announcement came. I think it was the same day, but I'm not sure what time but Solid Rock Church announces that JP will no longer be serving Ministerial duties Will come to learn that doesn't mean he was fired. That just means he's taking a break But I think they phrased it intentionally to make it sound like he had been let go from his job. And then when they could say, we never said that, when it was seen he was still you know actively working at the church. um I think that was intentional on the church's end. So the last thing that I just want to mention before we kind of go into some background about who these people are. um May 6, 2024, North Carolina medical examiner, Dr. Richard Johnson, says that Micah's death was from a self -inflicted gunshot wound.
Speaker: There's some interesting things also about the medical examiner, but I think for this part, I'm going to kind of just leave it at that so we can kind of learn some more about who Micah and JP and and their families, we can just learn about them and kind of see how this shaped. And the outside information, I would guess the outside information that helped him come to this method of death so quickly when it was completely, completely obvious. Yeah. Yeah. So first I want to just give a little kind of brief overview of what we know about Micah and a little bit about her family up until when she and JP got married. Micah's family is incredibly close.
Speaker: They have four years, rat gears they have four years, rallied around Micah, tried to protect her. They've done everything right in trying to get her out of this situation, this abusive relationship she was in. And they just seem like they are good people, just wanted the best for their daughter and sister. So they are, I think originally from Kansas. In 2017, her family moved to Myrtle Beach when she was 14. And they started attending JP's church and Micah became one of his youth group kids. And then eventually Micah started babysitting his kids that she would
Speaker: eventually become step parents too. Micah and her family now claim that JP started grooming Micah as soon as they started attending the church, which I assume can only be a hindsight is 2020 thing because grooming is so insidious and can be done so secretly. And when you are a religious family, you are told you trust your pastors. And so I don't, I don't want to sound like I'm blaming them for anything for if they say it now, that doesn't mean they saw it then. In 2012, Micah marries a worship leader from the church. She was only 18. You don't want to say too much about the age because I was a dumb 22 when I got married.
Speaker: But we're doing great. um But JP officiated that wedding. It's just all weird. And I've heard it said that that her first husband was a good guy. I haven't heard a lot more about how, you know, how the relationship developed. or But I have. Yeah, it sounded like I've heard speculation that he was almost JP kind of used him as a stand in or something because JP was married and probably obsessed with Micah. And so he kind of groomed this guy to marry her.
Speaker: Like if he couldn't, then at least this guy can. That's the, I've heard speculation like that, that this poor guy was. Yeah. I was to say, I heard that like he then at the same time, he then sort of was starting to drive a wedge, you know, keep them separated. Yeah. Um, so actually played a role. Yeah. That's why I don't even want to say, I don't even want to say that her ex -husband's name, because he just seems like a very innocent party and all of this. And I don't, you know, It's out there, but we don't need to. In 2015, it is discovered that JP and Micah are having an affair. Micah and her first husband divorce, and Micah and JP send letters to the congregation asking for forgiveness. So it not only comes out, it then comes out. Like explode, everybody knows. And then in 2017,
Speaker: Micah and J .P. Mary. so that is you know i Besides the weird stuff that of of you know once they joined J .P.'s church, there's not a ton about Micah's family because they're just normal family. It doesn't seem like there's anything nefarious about her history or anything like that. it just They were a normal family and she was preyed upon at a young age. and To be clear, they they they all lived in the area? Is that correct? Yeah. Yes. right so Let's jump into John Paul Miller's kind of background in history. To talk about JP Miller's history up to his marriage to Micah, we have to start with a discussion of his father.
Speaker: Reverend Reginald Wayne Miller. He goes by Wayne. I'm not going to be calling him Reginald Wayne Miller the whole time. So in um the first thing I saw about Wayne Miller is back in 1987. He was kind of a rising star in the world of charismatic pastors. He was vocal about keeping Jerry Falwell from taking over Jim Baker's TV ministry. So he was like in that like famous TV pastor rich guy thing back in the 80s. Had he started the church by then? Or did he the church? He hadn't started the church yet, but he launched his own TV show. Okay. All right. Interesting.
Speaker: So it was, it was 93 that he was attempting to buy property to start his church. So he, he did this weird thing to try to get this piece of property in South Carolina, South Carolina, I think it was called a public benefit conveyance, which was basically ah a benefit that was meant to help local economies by using closed military bases for, to like spark economics. So the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base had closed and he tried to take advantage of that and get it. And eventually he did. That's very interesting. Yeah.
Speaker: However, at the meetings, they had public meetings for this, of course, because the community kind of had to back up what but what the the property would be used for. um He would get angry. He would get his followers to kind of like get riled up and and be combative at these meetings about the use of the base. He actually threatened in writing that the redevelopment authority would contract a deadly disease if they didn't give him what he wanted, that God would like strike them with a disease. It's interesting to note that he had grown a following. yeah i mean If you go straight to so straight to TV, yeah who is your following? You know what I'm saying? like Who is your following? yeah How have you gotten to the point where people are listening to you? People cared.
Speaker: yeah yeah Well, despite the threat, or maybe because of it, who knows? He was allowed to buy that space in 1995, where he launched Cathedral Bible School, which was a K through 12 school. And I think it was in conjunction with a church. It was used for church services, but also a school. i would imagine I would imagine that, you given the fact that this was this redevelopment land, that you got the land at a very good price. Very good price, yes. Absolutely. And even some tax benefit, additional tax benefits. Oh, for sure. Especially because you know churches get tax breaks as it is, so I'm sure there were a lot of things like that.
Speaker: Um, so I don't have much information from when the church opened to 2006. I do know it went from being called cathedral Bible school to cathedral Bible college and was considered an actual church in addition to, I think an unaccredited college. And this was a non -denominational church. So I think, that correct so it's, it gets kind of tricky with churches like this. Like my church is, we're not with them anymore, but when they started, we were under the umbrella of the Southern Baptist convention. And I had that explained to me once that basically, if you are any sort of like Christian kind of non -denominationalish church, you don't get started unless you join the Southern Baptist Convention. Like that's, so basically it's like, if you try to do it without them, it's a it's so much harder. So i I think they are probably, would fall under the umbrella of some sort of Baptist, but I do know that they're not linked to the Southern Baptist Convention. I did see that somewhere.
Speaker: which ah my church isn't either. So it's not, that's actually a good thing. Southern Baptist Convention is kind of ew.
Speaker: and So, ah okay, 2006, Wayne Miller pleads guilty to indecent exposure. He followed an undercover police officer into a bath house, exposed himself and asked, what are you into? So this gets weird. um There was something called a pretar pretrial intervention. i don't know I don't know the details, I don't understand it, but somehow this was expunged from his record. Like maybe kind of first conviction, he went through some kind of therapy. Something. Something along those lines. But it's not even, it's like, it's not on his record at all. So this wouldn't have come up for anything else. Like if he, not if, when he's arrested for other things, this won't come up. So this resulted, this was when the family decided to move to Myrtle Beach. I'm not sure where they were in South Carolina, but
Speaker: They made the move to Myrtle Beach. It's important to know that right now, 2006 Cathedral bible ah Bible College is one of the largest charismatic churches in South Carolina. And they they did kind of the things that make me feel weird and uncomfortable, like faith healing, speaking in tongues, prophecy, claiming to be prophets. Yeah, stuff like that. No judgment, but a little judgment. Is this the same building, like physical church that he had built? I think so. Okay. So they moved, but we still, i they must have just still been in the area prior? I think so. It's still South Carolina. I think they just moved themselves away from this arrest. So 2007.
Speaker: Wayne and his ex -wife, JP's mother, Susan, divorce, she said she had to step away from him because their whole life revolved around working for their parishioners. What she didn't say publicly was that their marriage started crumbling back in the 80s when the wives of two students from the college accused Wayne of making sexual advances toward their husbands. So I forget where I found that it was in maybe a court record or something that that was not what she said publicly, but that was what she said. When she didn't think anybody else would hear, perhaps I don't know, despite this 2013, you know, let's backtrack a little bit. We will get into, I'm going to get into the weeds of South Carolina divorce law a little bit, you know, in another episode, but in the church, divorced divorce is so frowned upon.
Speaker: But the pattern I'm seeing in this story is it's frowned upon for women. Imagine that. It doesn't seem like much changed for Wayne Miller when he got a divorce. However, it feels like Susan was probably looked at differently. And we'll see with JP's ex -wife and Micah, the guilt of divorce would have but put on them. Do you know if Susan still became affiliated with the church? I don't know. ah That's all I've seen about her. that You know, they lost parishioners having gone through a divorce because when you're in a church preaching about being against divorce and then you get a divorce, you are going to lose some people. But it didn't impact them terribly. um So I think that's important to remember. God forgave. God forgave the men.
Speaker: um And we see this because in 2013, Wayne is awarded the key to the city of Marion. He's also given a local award for his efforts in attempting to redevelop an old healthcare facility to a new college campus. but a guy Now a year later, 2014, he pleaded guilty to having 16 foreign exchange students work for him for little to no pay, withholding their visas, and threatening to meddle in their immigration status. He's basically pleaded guilty to having slaves.
Speaker: Oh my, i yeah I had not heard that. yeah Wow, okay. Where do you find these foreign exchange students? It's my first question. He started because he because it's a college. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, okay. He had a ministry of you know kids from other countries coming saying this will help your immigration status. This would be how you can come to the US and stay here. And he had these people come over and took all their documents and said, You work here now. Wow. Yeah. Okay. You'll come here. You'll have a job. Yep. Okay. So it ended up he, so he served, I think only four months in prison. However, he spent 14 months awaiting sentence. So in I don't think he, injur je I think so. I think so. Once he was released, he had 12 months of health house arrest.
Speaker: 500 hours of community service, one year of probation, and one year of supervised release, which he asked to end early. asked it he asked to end early I'm not, in this one though, I'm going to say I am surprised this even came to light for that he was ever yeah held accountable for. It doesn't seem like enough, but he was. No, no, yeah, agreed. But just because of yeah you know the how difficult it is to be you know a foreigner, much less a young foreigner, I'm just sort of surprised it even came to light, ah sadly enough. But it didn't. I mean, that's good. Yeah. Yeah. yeah and And like you said, there is any
Speaker: accountability. There's a court decree that he it arranged for $70 ,000 to be paid, I think, to the victims, which doesn't seem like a lot for 16 people, but he also had to do anger management classes after his victims described his rage. All right, so now this is the last bit. We'll talk about ah Wayne, but it gets real. It gets weird and I had a hard time kind of following all of this. Things are quiet for a little while after he's released. August 2020, he moves to Pakistan to plant a church with Dr. Jerry Savelle, I think. Okay.
Speaker: So he's in Pakistan now. A month later, Dr. Savelle kicks Wayne Miller out of the home they're sharing while they're trying to plan a church for sexual abuse allegations against boys in Pakistan. Also, he found out, this is the Dr. Savelle found out that Miller was sleeping with a man, having a not just sleeping, but having a full relationship with a man while playinging to trying to plan a church, which in this denomination, you know the the kind of evangelical Christian is a huge no -no. Dr. Seville suspected grooming behavior. he Wayne was like throwing money around trying to convince people he was this rich guy who could help them do whatever. So this is the part that gets kind of, I can't super follow it, but it seems like it's so
Speaker: Wayne lived in, the the source said private society called Eden Garden. I don't know what that means. because I'm sorry, are we still and are we still in Pakistan? We're still in Pakistan. and then umm so Yeah, we're still in Pakistan. I don't mean to go back, but is Dr. Savelle like um someone who's well known at all within the church? Okay. I don't think so. Okay. I think he was maybe a friend who just was trying to help plant this church. So this place called Eden Garden, young boys lived there with him. He sexually coerced locals throwing around his money. People in Pakistan where he lived called him the quote, great gay white Christian American. Was that said in a positive way? I'm assuming not. I don't super know. Well, they put great in there. In Pakistan at the time, and I think probably today too, but I don't know for sure. And I'm sorry if I'm speaking out of turn, but homosexuality was illegal.
Speaker: Oh yeah. yeah So um somebody was preparing to make, or no, somebody was going to charge him with this. He was actually going to court to, he went to court to make some sort of false allegation to kind of deflect from, you know, the possible charge of homosexuality in Pakistan. Somehow this false allegation was and in fact proven false and he fled and came back to the US. Got the heck out of there. Yes. so A man named Troy Taylor, who is, it seems like Wayne's current to this day roommate, who also has a history of sexual molestation against minors, was sentenced to 20 years in South Carolina, but was released due to an unknown discrepancy in the case. That's who he's living with right now. That's an interesting roommate. yeah So Troy sponsored, okay, follow me, Wayne's Pakistani
Speaker: male lover's sister. Oh my goodness. Okay. To marry Wayne. So way the sister and and Wayne's, the man he's seeing can come to the US. Okay. I know it's the same. Let's go back on this one real quick. So Wayne has a, wait, was it a mistress or a mistress? ah a man he's having a relationship with in Pakistan. Okay. And then it's that gentleman's sister. Yes. In like a K1 visa somehow to get them to the US by saying that she is going to marry Wayne.
Speaker: Okay. And Troy's, do we know where Troy came from? He's just like a scumbag. He's just, I have no, he's from South Carolina. It's just like a guy that he knows, but the only reason I even bring up his name is because he also has this conviction of molestation. Okay. So the reason I'm having a hard time following all of that is because a lot of the information um came from and investigators YouTube channel that I watched that he had shared, like all of these Pakistani YouTube videos from people showing the evidence of all of these things, but they're not in English.
Speaker: So I did my best. I'm sure I'm wrong on some stuff. All this to say, Wayne's not good. And for sure he abused donations from his congregation in all of this. And also abuse some, some other young men and along the way too. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, 100. So that's what we're working with. So if JP turned out to be a good person, like it would have been just a miracle if he could have come out of that unscathed. So I i don't, you know, he's, he's not a good person, but I don't think he was raised with the best.
Speaker: Um, uh, you know, I know just not the best home life it seems, but with the understanding because he is way, his father is a public pastor. You better look perfect all the time. So we don't actually know a ton about JP's childhood. Like nothing's really come out about his childhood. Um, besides the stuff about his dad, nothing about how it like impacted him or where he was or what, you know, nothing like that. But we do know that it's a very patriarchal home and um seems like a father who didn't know what to do with power. And maybe he knew what to do with it a little too well. Absolutely. Let's say as a Christian didn't know what to do with power.
Speaker: ah So we're going to rewind a little bit. We're going to go into JP's early ah life is an as a young adult up to about when he met Micah or up to I'd say his divorce. 1998, JP is arrested for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. He ran over a woman twice. There's no further information. i'm gonna I did hear something. I don't know if this is the incident. Was this the time? like It was during a flood? Did you really think about the flood? It was like a flood in super high water? I think so. and I think so. mean Just to add one more strange thing to this whole, yeah, I think it was during yeah like terrific flooding and there was like two feet of water. Yeah, I think so. He hit the woman, kept
Speaker: driving with her on, I guess, the front hood. And then very strange. I've never heard it feel like if he knew this woman or if this was just a, mean um you know, I have speculation. I have speculation when I get into his son, but it's probably not what it is. Probably not. He probably didn't know her. But so the interesting thing about this is in South Carolina, attempted murder wasn't a thing until 2010. So the assault, it was assault and battery with an attempt to kill instead of attempted murder. He pleaded guilty. He had, he got, oh my gosh, he got a four year suspended sentence and three years probation. He was 19. A former girlfriend has come forward. I don't know names. I don't know anything at this time who was dated him at this time when he was 19 and very weirdly. So I guess take it with a grain of salt. It could just be somebody who's.
Speaker: coming forward to have their story put out. But when he was 19 and she was 14, when they were dating, she described him as a philanderer who was very into state parks. Very funny. And I feel like I know we'll come back to that. But a very weird thing to it to describe a person as an interesting that she was also 14. Yeah. no no yeah yeah
Speaker: So the other thing we have before we take a quick detour is around this time, again, I couldn't find a year, um JP's father Wayne wrote a lengthy letter to a judge during a custody battle over JP's son, Logan. Logan is JP's son that he had before his marriage, his first marriage. So JP has five children. Four of them are with his ex -wife. Logan is from before he got married. So it seemed like they were very, very young. It seemed perhaps, I don't i don't know much about Logan's mother's side of it.
Speaker: But in the letter that Wayne wrote, he told the judge that he and his wife would homeschool Logan's mother so she could get her GED. So is this the same 14 year old that we were just talking about? No, I don't believe so. But I'm wondering if the assault battery, I'm wondering if it's Logan's mother. Or it could be. That's just, like I said, purely speculative. But we'll see the pattern of abusive behavior with JP.
Speaker: I don't know. Well, also if you're homeschooling to get one's GED, presumably again, she was young. Yes. Yeah. But she could be 19 and never finished high school. So that's why I don't know for sure. Okay. Okay. So he said in this letter to the judge while they were trying to get custody of Logan, that when it be the best for Logan to be raised in a quote, stable Christian home,
Speaker: Uh, it seems like Wayne had huge offense that Logan had his mother's last name and not Miller. He was, I mean, that was a big part of this letter was what boy can be raised without his father's last name. And that he, you know, he threw around like, We have churches. We're good people. Look at all this money we have that Logan's mom doesn't have. We should get them. We're just like very manipulative. So, you know, I think it's fair to wonder if the woman from the car, I don't even want to say accident, the assault and battery charges was Logan's mother, but I don't know. I don't know anything about her.
Speaker: I know her last name, which I'm not even going to say Logan's last name because she, again, she has nothing to do with it. there's She's done nothing. so that's you know I just thought the last name thing was so interesting. Before we go back to JP, we are going to do a little detour again. to the current charges that JP's oldest son, Logan, are facing is facing. Yeah, I was just about to ask, how's Logan doing? Well, now in December 2023 and January 2024, he was arrested twice for first degree domestic abuse. I'm not sure which one this is if it's the December or January, but in the article I saw, police were called to his home around 2 a .m.
Speaker: The victim was going in and out of consciousness when police arrived. They got into an argument and he started breaking her items. Eventually he pushed her down, took her phone. This is all according to the victim. I should say that. After he pushed her down, took her phone so she couldn't call anybody for help, he hit her in the back of the head with a glass bottle. When the police were called, he fled the home. He eventually turned did turn himself in, but he said that the victim shredded his documents. So he broke her computer and that was it. Real quick. How old, how old, how old is Logan? I'm not sure. ah approximate I couldn't find ages. I couldn't find anything. All I could find about his, about JP's kids was what was listed on the solid rock website. And when I looked today, it's still up. He is the only, it looks like he's the only one of JP's kids who are married. So I think we can assume who the victim is.
Speaker: There's nothing new at this point about these charges. There's been no trial. There's been no hearings. Maybe there has been, and I can't find anything, but that's what we got. So that's Logan. All right, so let's bounce back to JP now. So we're gonna go back to JP up to the point um that he married Micah, I'd say. Yeah, now we are in April 13th, 2003. JP was found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and knowingly cause causing property damage in excess of $300. I don't know anything else. I don't know against to anything. Two years later, February 28th, 2005, JP is charged with domestic assault and battery and bodily harm. Again, don't know the victim.
Speaker: possibly, I don't know if this could be core coinciding with that custody battle and maybe this is Logan's mother that these things are happening with. I don't know. I can't figure out a lot of this time. like Things seem quiet for the next few years. He's working, he's starting his church. He's building his ministry. um March 15th, 2014, JP marries Allison. They go on to have four children together, which seems like a lot of kids very fast by the time they divorce, but oh boy. And is this church, is this a continuation of his father's church? Is this the same church or did he start his own? No, he he kind of, he launched his own.
Speaker: oh So he's not under the umbrella of his dad's church, which I think was probably a good move with all the charges and things to make a clean break in church name. His dad's still involved in a lot of JP's life. He's come and spoken to media quite a bit since Micah's death. 2015, the affair with Micah and JP is discovered. So while Micah divorced her husband in 2015, JP doesn't want to get a divorce. He wants to fix things with his wife. So he spends that year trying to win Alison back. So he and Micah marry in 2017. The affairs discovered 2015. He spends 2016 stalking his now ex -wife while carrying on with Micah. Yep, absolutely.
Speaker: March 6, 2016, Alison files a police report alleging JP's stalking behavior. He keeps coming to her job and home and her new church. He shows up at her home when she's not there. he alleges She alleges that he moved into a house across the lake from her so he could watch her. And I guess she said in a report that there was one magnolia tree that blocked that house's view of her house. And one day she went out and found something, she called it Epsom salt, but she doesn't know. There was salt sprinkled all around this one tree that was blocking the view. Like someone was trying to kill that tree. Okay. I'm going to, I swear that's one of those things I'm going to have to go research. Yeah, right. So interested to know. So he was also doing like these grand gestures that could look really sweet, but are also just scary. Like sending singers to work, like serenade her.
Speaker: like sending flowers and notes and then just like escalating. So at this point in 2016, Allison's father called the police on JP for laying in her front lawn. This we have seen video of because a member, a former member of the congregation took video of this and posted it after Micah's death. Oh, I would say that was more than just laying in her front yes yard. so he is like his door car doors open he seems like he fell out of the truck and is laying in the lawn he is like
Speaker: I would call it whining. He's speaking incoherently in this high pitched voice saying how he needs to get his wife back and he wants to go see Jesus and yeah yeah like he's just going on and on. It looks like a tantrum to me. It looks like he's faking a mental health incident. See, I took it as it looked like. drug withdrawal. I was just going to say. how as Because of the ants all over him. yeah but I didn't take that one as faking. I thought that one was legit legit. I don't know what, but I also found it interesting. Whoever was talking him through that and videotaping it did not seem to have a lot of sympathy.
Speaker: So I'm assuming there's something more than I'm wondering if that was maybe Allison's dad, since he called 911. Very well could have been. Yeah. And I know he kept talking about his mark. Yeah, I don't know. Which maybe I don't know if Marcus one of his children. But yeah, the dad there. I'm sorry, I shouldn't say that that the person talking him through did not. Yeah, he's like, you need water.
Speaker: Do you want me to pour it in your mouth? So JP claimed to have mixed up his medications and he took his sleeping pills during the day. And that's what it was. We will see that JP has an extensive, we said earlier, kind of an extensive history, whether prescribed or not with lithium. So I don't know. I don't know. I feel like that there was something more going on there. And and I bet, yeah, there's a lot more. There was something with his medications, but I think it was more than taking a sleep in until the end of the day.
Speaker: he was he didn't take the wrong pills, that he was overtaking something and it was withdrawing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Alison did say at the time that he had been coming around the house and it seemed like he was under the influence of something when he did. So that is kind of it. Then we get to 2017 when he, i I don't know if he gives up on trying to repair his marriage, which he's actually just abusing his ex -wife, but they divorce. And 2017, he and Micah marry.
Speaker: Well, I think that's probably a good place to stop for this episode. Yeah, that's that's a lot. yeah It's a lot. Some of the allegations against his dad, like I said, I mean, do your do your own research, I'd say, because I had a really, like I said, a difficult time following everything and then you know, confirming everything. You know, what we'll say about his dad is like he was obviously not a stable parental influence and has some of demons of his own. And definitely a history of abuse of power. Yeah. That he seemed to have shared with his son. Right. There seems like there is quite a history of abuse of power in this family.
Speaker: We just saw, you know, three generations being abusive. So I think that's a good place to stop for today. Like I said, yeah, it kind of even, yeah it's, this is just a heartbreaking story and I don't know, we need to protect women. Yeah, it seemed like it was an avoidable situation. But I also see where in retrospect, it's easier to, to say that. Yeah. And when it's happening. Yeah.
Speaker: All right, well, join us next time if you want to keep feeling really good about the world.
Speaker: Yeah, there's so much more to talk about with this one. And i ah I'm so excited to hear more from you. Yeah, so next time we'll go to we'll do we'll talk about kind of what Micah's world was like um from when she and JP got married to about the end of 2023. That's my goal. Very good. All right. We will see you all next episode. All right, bye. Bye.
Speaker: Bye.
