Mica Miller's Friend Doubts Suicide: 'Don't Believe It for a Minute'

Friends of the wife of a South Carolina pastor who was found dead last month say they don't believe she took her own life.

Mica Miller, 30, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Robeson County medical examiner Dr. Richard Johnson told local news station WPDE-TV on Monday. She was found dead in Lumber River State Park in North Carolina on April 27.

Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins has scheduled a meeting with Miller's family on Tuesday to discuss the medical examiner's findings and will release "detailed information to substantiate" them on Tuesday evening, the sheriff's office said on Facebook.

Wilkins asked "for everyone to please await the full timeline of events before making assumptions and coming to conclusions," the post said.

John-Paul Miller, a pastor at Solid Rock at Market Common church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, announced her death at the end of a service, saying she had taken her own life after struggling with mental illness.

"I got a call late last night, my wife has passed away," he said. "It was self-induced and it was up in North Carolina." He also told congregants not to discuss it while in the church.

He was released from his duties "for a time of healing, counsel, and guidance, pursuant to our governing instrument," WPDE-TV reported on Monday.

John-Paul Miller has been contacted for comment via an email to the church.

Some of Miller's friends have said they do not believe she ended her own life.

Tim Carter told NewsNation that he has a "gut feeling" that she didn't take her own life. "I don't believe it for a minute," Carter said.

Other friends, Kenn and Alicia Young, shared that view.

"I absolutely do not believe that she took her own life because she was energetic and her faith in God was unwavering," Alicia Young told NewsNation's Ashleigh Banfield.

"She was always quick to encourage somebody else including myself. We went to lunches together, we worked out together. You know, just the things that I do know about John-Paul. I truly do not believe that she took her life."

Mica and John-Paul Miller were in the process of getting divorced when she died, ABC 30 reported, citing online records.

On March 22, she posted a video on Facebook offering advice for those who may be in an abusive relationship.

More than a week prior to posting that video, she told a police officer that she was "afraid for her life." Two incident reports from March 11 detail Miller's reports about someone following her, deflating her tires and harassing her, WPDE-TV reported.

In one report, an officer wrote that Miller heard a pop and noticed metal protruding from her tire. The metal was a tire deflation device that could be purchased online, the officer wrote. Miller said it was the second time a tire on her vehicle had been deflated and named a suspect—whose name was redacted in the report—she believed was responsible for it. However, police said there was not sufficient evidence to prove it was the suspect who placed the device.

Later that day, Miller reported to police that the suspect she believed was responsible for slashing her tires had pulled up next to her pump at a gas station and tried to talk to her. She told the man to go away and said she did not want to talk, the report said.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "988" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.