Can Documentaries Like ‘Death Of The Pastor’s Wife’ Help Stop Clergy Abuse?
Netflix recently released a three-part documentary called “Death of the Pastor’s Wife.” The series was in Netflix’s top 10 shows for four straight weeks, accumulating 41 million views.
The documentary recounts the story of a woman named Mica who at the age of 13 began attending Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach with her family. The church was led by a pastor named John Paul Miller, who officiated Mica’s wedding to a fellow congregant when she was 18.
Three years into her marriage, Pastor John Paul began a sexual relationship with her — despite being 15 years older than her — which wrecked both of their marriages. Eventually, Mica married John Paul, which led to a spiral of horrific abuse, stalking, mental illness and trauma — all while John Paul continued to pastor at Solid Rock. The story ends in Mica’s suicide.
Pastors who have affairs or sexually abuse their congregants are all too common — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests already lists over 160 ministry leaders who have been arrested for sex crimes in 2026 alone. And that’s just the ones we know about — the number is likely much higher given the fact that 66% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police.
As a deep-dive into a case of severe abuse at the hands of a man leading a faith community, will the documentary inspire church congregations to be more vigilant in protecting their vulnerable from preying leaders?
Or sandwiched between other disturbing true crime shows on Netflix, has Mica’s story been molded into just another piece of macabre entertainment — a cash grab from a streaming platform that predictably gets millions of views each time it distributes a story that’s so horrifying that we can’t look away?
I wanted to understand how the documentary holds up as a piece of abuse education. I also wanted to understand if Mica’s death might have been prevented with more robust accountability structures and why pastoral abuse is so common. In this week’s episode, I spoke with Julie Roys. Roys is a Christian and the founder of The Roys Report, a watchdog news outlet which covers corruption inside churches.
Matthew Peterson is Religion Unplugged’s podcast editor and audience development coordinator. He took part in the 2025 European Journalism Institute held in Prague, an annual program co-sponsored by The Media Project.