Netflix’s “Death of the Pastor’s Wife” casts doubt

The dead don’t rest anymore, at least not until someone’s turned their stories into content. A bit of a nihilistic viewpoint? Maybe. But my experience with the new Netflix docuseries, “Death of the Pastor’s Wife,” came only a day after seeing that Target is selling game kits capitalizing on the true crime boom, with the company behind them, Unsolved Case Files, trading almost exclusively in fictional femicides. It’s impossible to witness the ways violence, tragedy and pain are made into a few hours of entertainment and not feel nauseated.

The same can certainly be said about the existence of and response to “Death of the Pastor’s Wife,” even if the series’ core message is an important one. In April 2024, Mica Miller, the wife of South Carolina pastor John Paul Miller, was found dead in an apparent suicide that friends and family quickly doubted. Given the years of documented emotional and sexual abuse and harassment by John Paul, Mica’s family naturally thinks that her husband has more to do with Mica’s death than police initially believed.

The conspiratorial nature of true crime fanaticism is kept blessedly brief in the three-episode series. Instead, the documentary homes in on John Paul’s unsavory behavior, approaching the story from Mica’s vantage point. The depictions of his increasing abuse are frightening and all too recognizable — vital for anyone who feels (or knows someone) trapped in a dangerous pattern of conduct, especially one emboldened by the structure of the church. 

“Death of the Pastor’s Wife” wisely emphasizes the frightening degree of sycophancy that can occur within a church like John Paul Miller’s — how a disconcerting sermon should alarm a congregation to take action Mica rarely received from those outside her circle of confidantes. With John Paul awaiting trial for cyberstalking and making false statements to federal investigators, and Mica’s family trying to pass legislation in her name, the doc seems set on rallying viewers. But is the intent to mobilize the public’s power, or to recruit their viewership? 

The answer is best summarized by a response from one of the documentary’s co-directors, Julia Willoughby Nason, when asked whether she thinks Netflix is the top source for true crime obsessives. “Yeah, I think so,” Nason said. “And we made them that.”