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 hyper -fixations fly. Today we are fixating on the death of Micah Miller.
Speaker: Well welcome to episode two of looking into the life and death of Bika Miller. Today we are going to focus more on about the time when she got married in 2017 through about the end of 2023. There is a lot to go through. So and to just to remind I this was was a little bit more Nikki's fixation than mine so and as she goes through as we go through it I'm kind of learning a bit two And if I said last time, this was a kind of a test on whether one person can encourage another to have a fixation, which, um, because this was not something I had been looking into. And I think the key is yes. The answer is in this case, yeah, you got me. You reeled me in. I did it.
Speaker: ah But there may be times also, ah you know, in other stories, i'm I'm curious to see if we can, if there's some where we will not reel the other person in. I'm curious as well. And like, I know for sure there are a couple of ones that you want to do that I've said, I haven't looked into because I won't stop. So like, you'll for sure get me, but I am curious to see if there's anything of the ones we don't share that the other one will be like, okay. And vice versa, like when I start something, I have a really hard time like changing. and You know what I mean? like And at some point, you got that whole ADHD. At some point, I think you're like, okay, I'm done. like yeah I get bored, and I'm like, I can't do this anymore. At some point, I'm like, oh my gosh, I just i can't i can't let it go. I just want to keep learning. I just want to hear that keep hearing the same things over and over again, because there's nothing more to hear. So i do I'm going to say the sources again. There's a lot, but I think it's important, especially because
Speaker: This is happening in current time. So I am following these sources and just adding things into notes as I go. So I do want to make sure it's important to me that I'm highlighting the people who I'm getting information from or who are, who is gathering the information, I guess. So here's the list again. The main sources for this episode are content creators, Robbie Harvey and Kyler Marlow, Myrtle Beach online news. JLR Investigates, WPDE News, The Daily Mail, and then a few podcasts, ah True Sunlight Podcast, Cup of Justice Podcast, Some Place Underneath,
Speaker: and raia and ellen solved the before we get into it one thing i noticed was you have the daily mail ah there and ah u k-based yeah publication it is and was it like his jp like dad yep who like that was his first time speaking about it and like sent it or whatever to the Daily Mail. Yeah. I don't know. I just that struck me as an odd choice. I thought the same thing um because they're aren't they even like kind of they're pretty tabloidy too. Yeah. Yeah. They are. Yeah. Yeah. That's who he spoke to JP's father when so I don't know if like people didn't want to hear from him. Yeah. And that was like the only person that he or the only
Speaker: i you know journalists yeah who was out loud spoke to i at least out that time maybe he's added well and I think because all of the things I'm seeing from the Daily Mail, I'm trying not to use them too, too much, but when I do you see an article? I think that it backfired on JP's father to speak with them because they do not like them. Well, I'm not sure he could, I'm not sure he could have spoken to anyone like his his opinions. Not great. Yeah. Maybe he just, i you know, I love hearing a nice, um, British accent. So maybe that's why he went to them just to hear the accent. Well, so let's get into it. Um, we're going to start when Micah and JP got married.
Speaker: A lot of the information in this episode comes from the True Sunlight podcast. They were able to work, and I think they are still working with one of Micah's best friends named Charlotte Corn. She, I think was like really ingratiated with the church and um kind, I think they met even before Micah and JP got married. So Charlotte's been in it. with Micah and she's speaking out now. So I would really recommend listening to that podcast and you can just hear, um, you know, you can hear how hard Charlotte worked to do all she could for Micah. And even when it hit a point that Charlotte, I think didn't think she could protect her necessarily from JP, she made the choice to just say, okay, my job now is support and I'm going to be here for my friend no matter what happens.
Speaker: And I think with an abuse victim, sometimes that's the only thing you can do. And it's horrible and heartbreaking, but you just have to stay steadfast for the person. I i agree. And I understood, um, she made a comment about like, yeah, um, I think even Micah said back to her at one point, uh, you know, I, ah you did everything you could. Your subtle encouragement for me to leave and move on. Um, uh, you know, I see what you are doing and I appreciate it. And I think there is something to say about the fact that if you push too hard and she's not ready, then you know, you risk that friendship. And so at some point you, you need to do, you need to do what you can do, but also just be there to support that person. Yeah. You can't force anybody to do anything, but if you give up on them, that's going to put them more in danger.
Speaker: Agreed. All right. So we are in 2017 when Micah and JP get married. The way Charlotte and Micah met was, uh, Charlotte and her husband and family were attending the church. They actually lived across the street from the church for a few years. Um, Micah reached out as pastor's wives do when there's new people in their church and they connected, um, and decided to be gym buddies. I, it's interesting in this podcast, Charlotte makes a point to say that Micah said JP would only pay for her gym membership if she promised to go five days a week. Oh my gosh. So already we'll we're seeing the financial abuse.
Speaker: Yeah. And it's like, I don't know, even the attracted to the yeah physical aspects of her. And she's beautiful. inch hey i mean it I guess maybe five days, it could be seven. Oh, no. Yeah. No, I guess she has church at least on Sunday. Exactly. yeah Could be six. So ah in this podcast, Charlotte says that Micah just idolized JP when they were dating. um would do anything he said, just thought he was, you know, everything. Um, they hit their relationship. So if you remember, they started seeing one another when they were both married and they had come out to the church congregation about this affair. So they kept everything very quiet when they were dating. Nobody, it sounds like it was an open secret that they never announced they were dating publicly, but it was very well known.
Speaker: So in 2017, they had a quiet ceremony. And they did this because Micah had some sort of surgery scheduled. We know it was something cosmetic. I don't think we've heard what. And we've heard JP has encouraged encouraged this cosmetic procedure. So I have a guess what that would be. Yes. So, yeah, I mean, I'm guessing it had to do with, you know, her chest getting in here. Yeah. Which, you know what? Do what you do. I don't care. Do what you want to do to your body, but that
Speaker: it was possibly her husband strongly encouraging it is upsetting. Side note, inside no ah this might be TMI, but I have had one and the funniest thing is that like my husband, what at night so I don't have a JP type of husband. But yeah, he was like, like, you know, like, maybe a little bigger, just like, because you're paying for it, and the sun didn't go in there. And so was my doctor until the moment I was like, weeled off to have the surgery done. They were both pressuring. That might be a strong word. Yeah. Encouraging, encouraging, slightly bigger. And I'm like, like, both of us.
Speaker: yeah You know, knowing, you know, my Uncle Kevin, I feel like it was more about like, we don't want to do this a second time. You're right. You're right. Like, if we're, let's get the most free of money. It's like, that's a thing. We're not paying for this again if you're not happy. So anyways, bye. Sorry, don't mean that. Oh, that's funny. Um, so for this surgery, JP had wanted to quote, take care of her after, which would, my understanding means he would like, they would move in together. And that would mean that they were quote, living in sin if they live together before they were married. So they had this quiet quickie 2017 wedding after the surgery, after her recovery, they had a larger ceremony in 2018, which we've seen some pictures and videos of. We don't
Speaker: No, what the 2017 wedding was like, except for small. I just, I think I'm struck by the hypocrisy of what we consider sinful and then, you know, what we don't consider, I guess, in his mind, the affair. Okay. The living together after a surgery, taking care of her? Not. Yep. Hitting a woman with your car? Okay. Living with your girlfriend after surgery? Sinful.
Speaker: I should also say quickly, I say this as a person who identifies as a Christian who attends church weekly, who's deeply involved in our church. Yeah, this is not what being a Christian is. All right, let's get back to it. So Charlotte says that the surgery really changed the power dynamic between Micah and JP. This is kind of the moment that things started to go bad. JP says that Micah had a bad reaction to anesthesia and her pain medications. And this is what led to her bipolar diagnosis. He said that after the surgery, he would not bring her home if she wasn't medicated for bipolar. So I'm going to jump in here as a pharmacist slash ex pharmacist. Yes, please.
Speaker: I do get where you can have a bad reaction to the anesthesia. Say it for me. Anesthesia. That's it. And pain meds. But usually after cosmetic surgery, you're not on any pain meds that are usually too strong and you usually aren't it on it for long and usually like if you know you could either have either have itching or you have or you're just um groggy out of it like i there's not really a way that this could have made her bipolar yeah right just right i i mean that's that's just i feel like that's just not
Speaker: thing. Also, I mean, she was recovering from cosmetic surgery. It's not like this changed her life. I mean, it was not like some life threatening. I became a different person. We're not talking of 1940s lobotomy. No, no, not at all. And I just, it just kills me. I'd love to see some medical records. I get that, you know, ah privacy, but gosh. I know. And i I think because it's still, I think everything is under investigation still. I think someday we'll see some medical records.
Speaker: But who knows one other thing that I just thought of as we were talking um he wouldn't bring her home unmedicated I just really like it's an outpatient surgery. Yeah, and and the implication is unmedicated for the bipolar and Yeah, no idea. I don't think she was getting a psych consult in an outpatient clinic. I don't know. A couple of things in terms of medication that just occurred to me. My husband ah was diagnosed with PTSD a few years ago and he has horrible reactions to anesthesia that trigger a PTSD reaction. He had to have a colonoscopy actually last year.
Speaker: And I picked him up and I was shocked. It was, it was still like I had to drop him off and drive around until he was done. I couldn't go in with him or anything. When I came back, he was upright. He was standing, he was drinking coffee. He said goodbye. I didn't have a chance to talk to anybody because he just pushed me out of the building. It was like, we have to go, we have to go, we have to go. And then we got out of the building and he had a full. kind of PTSD triggered panic attack because of the anesthesia. And it's happened a few times with him, but he calms down, he gets it together, he knows what's happening, and we go on with our lives. He's not bipolar. He doesn't walk out bipolar. So did he, did you ever notice or had he ever had anesthesia? I can't say it. It's so hard. Anesthesia. Okay. Prior to the events that caused his PTSD? Yes, or actually.
Speaker: And, um, he did twice and both times he woke up panicking. It wasn't a full panic attack. Like it is, and it I'm assuming probably the rest of his life, it'll be a, be a trigger for him. Sure. But it's helpful to know that going in that we both know what to expect. Um, but he would wake up, he like, I love being in a deranged anesthesia because I'm telling the truth. It caused, he hates it. He wakes up, he, he just wakes up panicked. and he wakes up confused and that makes the panic worse. yeah So like but before the diagnosis, before the PTSD events, it was just like he would wake up and it he would be incredibly anxious and want me you want to be able to like touch my hand somehow, like touch me and kind of ground him. Now it's full -blown kind of panic attack. but So I can understand how there can be a bad reaction to anesthesia, but it's not long -term.
Speaker: No, I mean, and you could have like, you know, whatever, nausea and vomiting and that kind of thing. Yeah. But I don't think that that's not triggering bipolar. No. OK, one more time, like off off topic. So when I wake up from in this, I have a lot of back procedures and when I and it's always at the same place. And when I went back or they're like, there's something about you like we remember there's something Oh, yeah, So happy like you are the that's how I am. So I guess if you're gonna be anything, that's nice to be done. I'm the same way. I'm like, put like, oh, surgery is terrifying. Like I had my appendix out a couple years ago. And I was like, well, the upside is I get some anesthesia. And you'll all really like me when I wake up. My sister wakes up swinging. Oh, like like trying to punch the doctor.
Speaker: Oh, okay. She was I think she was little when she had her tonsils out. And ah she it's the only my sister is not a fighter, except when she's coming out of anesthesia, she's and she's trying to punch grow men. ah i For a second, I thought you were talking about when she comes out, she is a switch.
Speaker: Which would definitely be very, ah very weird. slide That would be shocking. yeah yeah And then the other thing I do want to mention for pain meds that is just another anecdote that just happened to us that I don't know could suggest that there something may have happened but I can't imagine it had lasting effects on it it doesn't make you bipolar. My daughter was in the hospital with a bone infection and it was it was to the point that like you know medications weren't really touching it so they tried morphine and
Speaker: And it made it worse. It like, I don't know if it made the pain worse or just made her experience the pain worse. Like it heightened her reaction. Yeah. So I don't know. There are weird things about meds that could have happened that perhaps he jumped to. This is life changing. This is a diet life. This requires a diagnosis and medication. But that is very hasty on his part if that's the case. That's the only justification I can find besides this was a plan. And I don't keep mean to keep harping on the same thing. But once again, this was cosmetic surgery. If you go home on pain meds, it's for a few days. And it's nothing like really strong. It's just not necessary. No. And also, if if he was requesting her or insisting she go home
Speaker: medicated for the bipolar. I can only imagine what that, uh, plastic surgeon was like, wait, you, I don't, I'm not really qualified to go into. Yeah. So that I find, uh, right. Right. Interesting. I also heard that after this point he controlled her medications, um, giving it like from this point forward. Yep. yeah Yeah. He was definitely in control of that. And, and it sounds like. Anytime he's talked about her medication, it's been lithium. So let's keep that in mind. If he's talking, if he's talking about Micah being off her medication, it usually means the lithium. I have also heard, um, Sarah Quill with ah the generic name is quetiapine, which is, um, an anti -psychotic mood stabilizer. So, uh, and I've just heard, i you know, i I've just heard that one or two times. Don't know if that's true. Just something to throw in there.
Speaker: I mean, we'll, we'll get to the point in this timeline, but it, that would make sense. Uh, when we get to a point later discussing her, uh, seeding medicated over medicated. All right. So let's get back to it. 2018, the beginning of their marriage, the beginning of their public marriage as well. Yeah. Charlotte said that there was a lot of animosity between Micah and JP's kids. Um, they're close in age and she babysat them. When Micah or I'm sorry, when JP and his ex wife are still married. So that makes a lot of sense. I didn't realize that I hadn't heard. Yeah. Yeah. However, I think I mentioned this last time, um, JP's, one of JP's kids did attend the memorial service that Micah's family held. So hopefully, I mean, this could have just been kind of some growing pain stuff of, you know, there's a new stepmom.
Speaker: And how do you recognize somebody who's a stepmom who's close to your age, who you have a relationship with outside of this context, perhaps? And I guess I forgot who was cheating on your... Yeah. She can be blamed. Yeah. yeah Okay. i yeah That makes a little... Throughout the marriage, JP dangled kind of the carrot to Micah of her having her own child. Personally, I don't think he wanted any more children. Personally, I don't think he probably wanted the children he had. He had a lot. He had a lot. And I think it i think it's it was a power thing. all these yeah I think it was more about like, I have these kids than raising the kids. and sort like i'm a bit I do hear what you're saying. I'm a little surprised he didn't use it. I mean, I see where he's using using it as a control mechanism.
Speaker: Um, but I, yeah, I'm surprised like as a trapping mechanism. Yeah. And maybe that was going to happen eventually. I think it could be seen as a trapping, you know, a way to trap her with the promise of having her own baby. And maybe if she did, it would have escalated to further. And this is really petty, but he was making her go to the gym. He was obviously, yeah. Her. Like beauty and looks were obviously very important. Yeah. I think, I don't think he was ever going to have a baby with her. I think, uh, she was like his younger hot wife. So, and he had his kids. Yeah. All right. So in 2021, the affair with Susie Skinner begins.
Speaker: Charlotte says this was an open secret in the church. Everybody knew this was going on. Nobody said a dang thing. But let's take a little detour about Susie and her first husband, Chris Skinner, who were members at JP's church. So Susie had been married for something like 20 years. Or maybe, no, she hadn't been married for 20 years. They'd been married a very long time though. Her husband, Chris Skinner, ah had an accident that left him in a wheelchair. He was paraplegic. That had been, he'd been paraplegic 20 years. So, so he was already paraplegic when they, presumably when they got married. I'm not sure. but we did yes We don't know that. I'm not positive. That's why so I wanted to retract that they'd been married 20 years. I don't know that. So I'm not sure. A very long time. He has had been in a wheelchair. This was part of their lives. In 2021, labor day, 2021, Chris Skinner died in a community pool.
Speaker: He was by himself and he was swimming. He swam daily as part of his kind of treatment for staying fit and healthy while being confined to a wheelchair. Which is amazing in and of itself. Yeah. Yeah. um It's weird. It was rolled a drowning. It was rolled accidental drowning. ah the They said that his wheelchair was too close to the pool and it rolled in. Yeah. I mean, Maybe. Maybe it was just a true accident, but I mean, there is something. It's weird. Yeah. Given other stuff that goes on later and the fact that she was having an affair already at that point. I think. Yeah. That's what the same year it start, the affair started because the year that her husband.
Speaker: ah tragically died. One thing I have not heard is about anything about life insurance money with any of this. And maybe I'm listening to a little too much Chad and Lori fallow daybell and I so I have been listeninged to that a lot and there's a lot of talk about life insurance money, but um I hadn't heard anything in any of these about life. Yeah, that is interesting. I'll be interested to see if there is anything. So Susie story of overcoming this tragedy is prominent on the Solid Rock Church website as kind of her testimony. But it is also important to note that JP conducted the funeral. And I think like, I think he's just ah not, I don't know, I don't, I just don't think he thinks before he speaks sometimes. And this might not be as
Speaker: nefarious as it sounds, but he said something in the service that he was excited to perform this memorial service because he said it was the first service he was performing that he didn't have to lie about somebody's like dedication to the church and his beliefs and his faith, which is a weird thing for a pastor to say in my opinion? I mean, I, I understand in a way because, um, you know, I think when pastors have to sometimes perform memorial services for people who aren't necessarily true believers, that could be feel disingenuous. Don't think you need to say it. yeah I wouldn't throw that out there. no
Speaker: I mean, we've talked about, you know, he performed Micah and her previous husband, I think Jeremy, their wedding, maybe. I mean, there's also maybe he gets some weird satisfaction or I don't know. There's some power thing and of the women he's he's involved with like where he has doing these services. I don't know. Yeah. that ah Yeah. Gross.
Speaker: All right. So a month later, October, 2021, JP goes to the South Carolina pardon board to have his rights to vote and own firearms restored. So remember he's got a pretty expensive criminal record. And when you have a record, you're not able to vote, which don't get me started on that. I think that's horrible. And you can't own firearms. He tells the board that he wanted a gun to protect his family and his congregation. as a pastor and a leader of the community. I assume he got these right. I mean, i used i mean it says they he he was requesting them. I assume he got the... Yeah. And this was primarily for that attempted murder? or I think so. Yeah, it wasn't called that at the time, but the ah car accident, I think. Accident, I'd say. When he hit the woman and kept driving. Yeah. okay yeah
Speaker: All right, so for all of 2022, Charlotte says that Micah just seemed visibly stressed and overwhelmed. ah Do you think that had to do i mean ah with the affair? and um I think it had to do probably with walking on eggshells and feeling like she had she was being hypervigilant all the time to make sure JP was happy because if he wasn't happy, he was probably horrible. yeah I think it was an exhaustion in that, yeah probably. So this is this is a weird thing. August, 2022, something happened at the church, like at the physical building, police were called. So in the police report, the victim and offender, all of their information's redacted. It ah was regarding lewd messages and pictures and a video call of the offender performing an obscene act.
Speaker: being sent to a female member of the church. We don't know the age. There's suggestion that is not somebody who is an adult. The offender, whose, again, name was redacted from the report, claimed he claim to not even be at the location. And the last I saw, this was still listed as an active investigation. The suggestion, I think, is that the obviously offender was JP and the victim was a probably teenage teenager in the church. Interesting. So just something to put in your hat. He's definitely had a pattern of some questionable. So the next thing we're going to talk about is a pretty big moment in and the whole story of of Micah Miller.
Speaker: November 16th, 2022, Micah left town to visit her sister. It was just a visit. She wasn't leaving her life. She was just going to get some space, go see her sister. She told Charlotte it was because she was having a bad time at home. So keep in mind, Charlotte and her family lived across the street from the church. So Micah asked Charlotte to just keep an eye on JP for her. Was Micah's family in Kansas or was there, I think I've heard Kansas, I don't know. i I'm not sure. they Later, I think in 2020, end of 2023, beginning 2024, she did move back to Kansas briefly for a few months. I don't think the sister she went to see her name is Sierra. I don't, she was only a few hours away. So I don't think it was Kansas. I think Sierra lives closer.
Speaker: So Charlotte did check in on JP. She sent him some text messages and it pretty quickly went unhinged. JP said Micah left him. He started, I don't know if it was group texting with Charlotte and Micah. I think that's what it was. Or at the same time texting Charlotte on his, ah just, just Charlotte saying, tell Micah this, tell Micah this, tell Micah this. So he was demanding that Micah come home. He was being really mean and threatening. Charlotte describes it as manic psychotic behavior on JP's part. And I think when she was asked to keep an eye on JP, my understanding was she thought Micah was talking about like making sure he had dinner and mote the wand. Yeah, it was like, you know, what church people do for one another. Not this.
Speaker: So no Charlotte's suspicion is that Charlotte got brought into this specifically to embarrass Micah. What we'll find out is there was a stupid fight that led to this explosion that caused Micah to leave. So ah according to Charlotte, JP liked taking, she said some sort of gummy. We don't know if it was like THC, CBD, something along those lines. And he wanted, he always wanted Micah to take them with him and said that they would like have these deep conversations. And he, he liked asking her questions, which side note, I would just be so annoying.
Speaker: well especially when you hear the, the deep questions he's asking her. Yeah, it's, it's so he ended up asking her if she could, if she absolutely had to, what woman would she kiss? She wouldn't answer it. Like she was uncomfortable. She didn't want to, it wasn't even that she didn't want to answer it. Like she didn't even want to think about it. She's she's married. She, she didn't want to think about kissing anybody else or, or who would it be, especially a woman because she wasn't attracted to women. Who thinks about, I mean, who thinks about
Speaker: I don't know. Maybe it's me, but I get like, yeah, like you said, she's married. i I don't know. Do you have a list of people you would, I don't know. I wouldn't. I wouldn't want to ask my husband anything about kissing somebody else. Man, woman, I don't know. I don't want to think about my husband kissing someone else. Well, yeah. And I don't think he probably has a rank system. No, probably not. So he kept pushing and prodding and and and basically forced her to answer. And finally, she said she'd kiss Charlotte because Charlotte would never tell. Like that was her answer. Like ah it would be my best friend because my best friend will never say anything to anybody about it.
Speaker: And this enraged him. So after he pushed her, he flew off the handle. And that is kind of why Charlotte thinks she was brought into this. Because he started saying things like, Micah, tell Charlotte what you said. Or like, tell her why I'm jealous of your friendship with her and things like that. And so it was just like too embarrassed her. It was too embarrassed Micah. So moving forward, during this JP was also texting Sierra and he was also texting Sierra and Micah. Like he was he had multiple conversations with the same people going on.
Speaker: multiple text threads. Okay, so Sierra sierra was a sister, right? sierra And then Charlotte was a friend. Yes. okay yeah And it should be, um Sierra and Charlotte also, I don't know if they have a friendship, but they they like each other. they They text each other about the situation as well going forward. Like they check in with each other about Micah. So just wanted to say that. During all of this, Micah ended up calling the police for a wellness check. She sent them to the church where um they thought he was. They didn't think he was home. He was at the church still. JP saw the police coming and doing a wellness check as Micah attempting to have him arrested. So this just made it worse. The text that Sierra is getting, so keep in mind they are at Sierra's house. Sierra has a young child as well. So that's another layer to this is he's making these threats while her son is there.
Speaker: And I don't think her husband was home. Her husband was working, or her husband wasn't home for some reason. JP says that, you know, if Micah's not coming home, I'm going to get her. I'm coming, I'm on my way to your house. And he says, I'm armed and ready. Or I'm armed, I'm ready. After that, Sierra called the police and said, this guy's coming to my house threatening, saying he's armed. To Micah, he's saying, armed doesn't mean I'm armed with guns. He's got his nunchucks. Oh my gosh. His nunchucks. Sierra told the police that JP had purchased six guns since getting his rights reinstated to own firearms and that JP kept saying he was going to keep the whole family, but everyone in the house up all night. Like he wasn't going to leave them alone to win Micah back. Okay, this is just weird. okay
Speaker: yeah i've not So was this Sears family? I'm sorry. Yeah. or they were So like, was he just going to keep calling? What? what How is he keeping them up or waving the gun around? Well, I think he was, yeah, like threatening to just not stop. calling or he was gonna show up and like ring like terrorize them while he was there or some you know he was not gonna let them sleep during all of this which is kind of weird either you're not gonna sleep or I'm gonna come shoot you well so I think the not sleeping thing because he was controlling her sleep Micah sleep was a threat to Micah which is weird I mean it yeah I think we get into that a little bit more in a second right so at this point
Speaker: I don't think JP's texting Micah anymore, but he's talking to Micah through Sierra. So he's like saying, tell her we'll go to counseling. We'll have a baby. We'll go to Iceland like you've always dreamed. Okay. Iceland is really nice. so
Speaker: I'm just saying. I mean, take me to Iceland. I think I'd rather go to Iceland than the baby. But and no, I have three and I love them. But I took them to Iceland. You took them with you. so ah So he is actually still texting her, but he said he said, my blood is on you and my kids will know. So I think he was threatening suicide or hurting himself to her. And that was why she wanted Charlotte to check on him. I think the things i think the things that he accused her of, he was doing to her.
Speaker: as manipulation and then going being like, no, you said that to me. And don't think the kids would, uh, this would help the relationship with Mike and the kids. No, but it was bad already. Just that threat. Like he knew exactly what to threaten to Sierra. He's still calling Michael like horrible names and, and just, just tearing her apart to her sister. Can you imagine? Uh, Sierra told JP that his brain was playing tricks on him and Micah didn't actually leave him. She was on a visit with her sister. She, this wasn't a separation. This was a break. Not even like a relationship break. This was a break for Micah to go see her sister. He says, and this, we're going to go back to my beliefs, this and
Speaker: uriates me because he's wrong. I want everybody, we don't have a huge audience, but I want everyone to hear me when I say this is not being a Christian. This is wrong. He says in one of the texts to Sierra, biblically, when your spouse needs you, nothing else should come before that. So my response is biblically, your spouse should, yes, absolutely. If your spouse is having a an issue, a problem is if your spouse needs you, you do drop what everything and go to them. If your spouse is abusing you, you run like hell. So your your abusive spouse saying he's gonna kill himself if you don't come back is not your spouse needing you. That is your spouse manipulating you. And biblically, Jesus wants his people safe. So that's my, I'll get off the soapbox for now.
Speaker: At this point, Sierra, I think calls 911. They know he's not outside. He's not actually left the church. He's saying he's, I'm three hours away. I'm on my way. I'm driving there. He's not driving there. But he is texting that he's suicidal and kind of wants another welfare check. Like he wants another welfare check? No, Sierra thinks that the police should go check on him again. Like he's threatening suicide to them yeah in this conversation. There's just like piles of manipulation during all of this. JP's playing the victim saying, Mike is not a victim to anything. She's doing all of this to me. Um, he'll like on the one hand, put her on this pedestal and, and and just like be in awe of her. But then it's also like, yeah, but you're horrible because you left here. You're not here when I need you. He is financially financially, financially. He is the threatening her financially because she's not working outside of the church.
Speaker: So he is control of all of their finances and he's you know making threats about it, saying you know she's gonna not have anything if she leaves, which ended up being true. So he is claiming to be suicidal and they're having welfare checks. I don't know if at this point he has had Micah hospitalized involuntarily at this point, but how ironic is that? Yeah. that he he was not hospitalized when he truly was, you know that he would hurt himself. Yeah, there's there's proof. there's It's in the text messages. like The police could have looked at one of their phones and seen that this person is threatening these things. I don't think that can be said for Micah. There's not proof beyond what JP said, as far as I know. So this is, again, like this just infuriates me. He is just using God and her faith
Speaker: to convince her that coming back to him is the right thing to do, that God hates divorce. And divorce is such a huge sin. You need to come back to me. What is God going to think of you? What is our church going to think of you if you leave me? ah You're going to ruin everything at the church. The elders are going to hate me because I got a divorce again. You have to come back. like And she loves the church. And she loves the congregation and the people. And they love her. She felt such a responsibility. to the church to not. And he used that. Yeah. She didn't want to abandon them, like people that she truly loved. And he, gosh, he just took such advantage of that. I mean, to the point that I hope, and it seems like it, but it seems like a lot of the congregation is now found finding out about how he used them. And I hope they're upset. I hope they recognize that this was gaslighting them even.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree. But at the same time, I also feel bad for the congregation. Oh, yeah, too. Absolutely. Because I mean, they were just having faith. and Yeah. ah and And many have come forward since then, saying like, we are told, you listen to your pastor. He's, he's studied theology. He, he, you know, in, in what the faith that I believe they are, like the kind of the Baptist II, we don't believe like you have to go to a priest. to talk to God or to have a relationship with God or anything like that. But an elder is supposed to be respected and revered and and trusted as an authority on the Bible. And so a lot of the members of the congregation have come out and said, now like we where I was listening and I believed and I trusted my pastor and he took advantage of that.
Speaker: side note uh this is really from the beginning but the odd thing is he really hadn't done a lot of theology education um actually very little no which uh a little scary i think he said when he the first time he preached he knew one bible verse yeah not granted i don't think i could tell it i don't think i could recite a bible verse in fact i know i couldn't um but nor would i try to you know you know run this but on the flip side I know a lot of Bible verses. I have a Bible verse tattooed on my arm. I'm not an authority on the Bible, and I'm not going to pretend to be because I would be doing a disservice to people who are looking to ah follow me. Not that there are, but like if I put myself in that position, that would be, and that's the posture an elder of a church should have, is like you have to show deep respect and care for the position you have.
Speaker: And this is all power. this And this is like the mega church pastors, I feel the same way. Like they don't care. This is power and money. And maybe, I mean, because his father yeah was in the business. ye yeah ah I think that there was like a natural progression or people had more faith in him probably than they should have. Yes, absolutely. And not to their fault to his no, no, no, no, no, yeah, but I know that I must assume that it They feel somewhat do absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. My second thing with this ah is the financial threats and That's more I just haven't heard through any of this the stories like what their financial situation is
Speaker: was, um, like as a couple, I mean, I assume they lived decently well, especially if he was like tapping into the church reserves. Uh, but I assume he just controlled it so much that it, you know, it wasn't, um, she was not able to access any of ah that money. So this is, you know, it's interesting. Part of what we'll learn is that the reason he didn't want another divorce is because after his first divorce, he did lose a lot of members of his church, a lot of tithing members of his church. I've seen multiple documents of their handbook for different things. It calls tithing very loudly. ah it It says, like you have to be a tithing member of this church. Now, my church says, like for certain things, we require membership, that you're a member of the church.
Speaker: My church does not demand tithing as a means of like having an inn to like serve the church. and i'm gonna this This is a point that i like I agree. I want to put a pin in because There is some written information about the church. It it comes back to this whole idea of, yeah of tithing and of how you, how yes how to get to God. um And so, yeah, and I do want to share that at some point because it's pretty, ah pretty ironic. Some of the things that they ah they say is part of the benefit. So I think the financial threats also come in the kind of gender binaries that I'm sure we're set.
Speaker: um i Micah's only job outside of the house was working for JP at the church. I don't know that she was getting paid for those things. yeah um She was listed as an employee, but I cannot imagine that she was, you know, I'm sure that the justification was like, well, we're getting the money because it's my church and the tithing's coming to us, so this is what you do because we are getting the money. And first wife of the pastor, or some I know sometimes they even call him a first lady.
Speaker: ah Yeah, that's seen as, that is their position to do, not a job, not a paid job. Right. um So if there was any sort of salary with any of the bajillion jobs she had at the church, it just went right back to JP. So she had nothing of her own. I mean, even the cars that were, it she had two cars in her name, South Carolina recognized those as marital assets. So she had nothing of her own. She didn't have access to anything on her own. And I think, um if I recall, the they're even their home was a possession of the church. Once separation started getting floated, ah legal separation, he started putting all the assets in the name of the church. up Or are his kids, I thought I heard. yeah i think yeah so the church that His house is in the church's name. So he was making good on that already.
Speaker: okay and And another control. Yes, absolutely. So after after all of this, after this blow up, this is when Charlotte and her family officially decided it's time to leave the church. Later they'll move, and we'll get into that a little bit later, but as of right now, they said we can't, this can't be our pastor. We don't want him to be the demonstration of godly love to our family and our children. So they officially stepped down as members of the church at this point. And I think this might be a good spot to pause. And this episode, um I thought I could do all of this in one episode, but I think. Sorry. Yeah, we got a little chatty. Yeah, you know, as we do. So I think now is a good time to maybe end this one. We'll pick back up after um this explosive fight.
Speaker: And we'll see how things just kind of kept spiraling for Micah. You know, and Charlotte leaving the church after your pastor like waves around a gun. I could see how that would just be a breaking. Yeah. but the way You know, I think she was holding on for Micah. I think she probably stayed longer than her family wanted, you know, her and her husband wanted to stay as members of the church. but they hit the point that they they couldn't do it anymore. Okay. Sorry. I know we were just said we were ending, but I had to make that one coming. That's okay. Okay. All right. So we'll end it here and join us next time for more of this disaster and tragedy. Bye guys.
Speaker: you
