“I never witnessed John Paul abuse Mica,” Mark Kaufman wrote in a statement addressing nearly every role Netflix’s “Death of a Pastor’s Wife” put him in. “Had I witnessed abuse or believed that Mica was in danger, I would not have ignored it.”
Kaufman gave the statement to Florida creator Robbie Harvey, who has covered the Mica Miller case since her April 2024 death and ran document-heavy watch-alongs of the series.
He says he wasn’t in John-Paul’s inner circle at all: “He was never part of the core group of friends with whom I regularly spent my time, and portrayals suggesting otherwise do not accurately reflect our relationship.”
On the claim he’d picked up a woman from the airport for Miller, he was blunt: “That is false. I did not do that, and I would never have knowingly participated in helping someone cheat on Mica.” He says he’s never even been shown the text messages referenced on the show.
He also disputes the framing of a phone call with Mica that appears in the series, saying he was never the couple’s counselor, therapist, or mediator, and that a short clip of one conversation can’t define his relationship with either of them.
Then there’s Crocodile Rocks, the Myrtle Beach bar that’s fueled speculation for two years. Kaufman says John-Paul held only a minority ownership stake, was never an employee, and never took a paycheck from it. After Mica’s death, he says, John-Paul was barred from the business, and Kaufman bought his remaining shares in 2025. “I have since severed my ties with John Paul and with the church.”
Mica Miller, 30, a Myrtle Beach worship leader, was found dead April 27, 2024, at Lumber River State Park in North Carolina, and the medical examiner ruled it a suicide. In December 2025, a federal grand jury indicted John-Paul Miller on cyberstalking and false-statement charges tied to alleged conduct toward Mica. He pleaded not guilty, is out on bond, and has a trial discussed for October 2026. He has not been charged in connection with her death.
Kaufman ended by asking for a line between the show and the record: “speculation, social media commentary, and implication should not be treated as established fact, and no one should be accused of wrongdoing without evidence.”
