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(NewsNation) — Deep inside Lumber River State Park in Robeson County, North Carolina, after an extensive hike and through a stretch of knee-deep water is the desolate backcountry where authorities say Mica Miller took her own life.
However, Mica Miller’s family says her death doesn’t add up, especially since her body was discovered approximately 40 meters from where her belongings were left. In fact, her family believes her death may have been staged to look like a suicide.
Was Mica Miller’s death ‘staged’ as suicide?
“I believe that it was all staged. I believe that the whole thing was premeditated,” Mica Miller’s father, Michael Francis, told NewsNation’s Rich McHugh.
To get to the location where Mica Miller’s body was discovered, her family had to walk down two separate trails, walk through knee-deep water and climb through mud, trees and fallen debris.
“The theory of suicide does not add up to me. You’re telling me her body floated all the way down this stagnant water?” Mica Miller’s sister Sierra Francis said.
Sierra Francis pointed out some discrepancies between where Mica Miller’s body was found and where the bullet shell casings were discovered.
“It’s not like she could have, you know, left her belongings and walked down the water and then come out here and then somehow bullets and everything over there,” she said.
The shell casings were found on the bank near her belongings while the gun was found right in the water. Then, Mica Miller’s body was about 40 meters away. However, the water doesn’t flow — at all.
“We have video that I provided that shows the water just sits there. There’s no no way she would have floated 40 meters away from the edge,” Michael Francis said. “She was placed there.”
Both Michael and Sierra Francis believe Mica Miller’s body had been placed where it was found.
Family points to contradicting evidence
In surveillance footage that NewsNation obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, Mica Miller can be seen leaving her home, buying a firearm and stopping at a remote gas station.
The gas station owner said Mica Miller acted as if it was an ordinary day.
“She got the drink, came outside, used the restroom, got her gas and she left,” the gas station owner said. “Just an ordinary day.”
Mica Miller’s friend Angela Clark was one of the last people to speak with her. The night before Mica Miller died, she made plans for the following Sunday to meet with Clark at church. Clark also offered to help Mica Miller with her car payments.
Clark is among those who aren’t buying the official ruling that Mica Miller died by suicide.
“This is not somebody that’s ready to end their life. This is somebody that’s making plans for the weekend, you know, and getting her car payment made. Why do you worry about getting your car payment made? For that matter, why do you pay a lawyer $5,000 and file for divorce and have someone served?” Clark said. “There are so many unanswered questions. I can’t wrap my brain around it. None of it, there’s so much that just doesn’t make sense.”
Mica Miller files for divorce
Just two days before Miller’s body was found in Robeson County, Miller’s husband John-Paul Miller was served with divorce papers, according to an affidavit filed by Sierra Francis.
Plus, Mica Miller told police in March after a series of harassment incidents that she feared for her life.
“The victim advised me she was afraid for her life,” Horry County Police Department Officer Nick D’Amocamtonio wrote in an incident report from March 11.
Mica Miller’s report of harassment included someone slashing her car tires and someone putting a tracking device on her car. However, it’s unclear who the suspect or suspects are; a name in those police reports has been redacted.
According to reports, Mica Miller had filed multiple times for a legal separation from John-Paul Miller. Mica Miller also posted a video on Facebook about abuse in March, offering advice for people who may be in an abusive relationship. Some believe the video is proof that Mica Miller was in an abusive relationship herself.
Mica Miller’s cries heard before gunshot
A fisherman who was on the lake near where Mica Miller was found dead retraced her steps with McHugh. He told NewsNation he heard cries and a gunshot before finding Mica Miller’s belongings, which included a Bible, her driver’s license and $500 in what looked like a fanny pack.
The fisherman said he saw Miller’s belongings sitting up on the bank of the lake. He pulled up to the bank and grabbed her items without looking at anything, putting them in his boat to go back to the landing.
He said he did not, however, find or see her body. He did speak with the police, giving them the items he recovered on the bank. It was then that he found out about Mica Miller’s death.
“I had a feeling something happened, but I didn’t find out later until I gave the laws the stuff and he told me what had happened,” he said. “That’s when I found out, I was just fishing.”
The medical examiner investigating Mica Miller’s death concluded she died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, echoing what John-Paul Miller said happened.
However, the FBI in South Carolina confirmed to NewsNation that the Robeson County Sheriff has asked for their assistance.
“They requested the FBI’s assistance. I can confirm that we have had communications with them, but I’m unable to go into the substance of our communication,” the statement said.
NewsNation’s Devan Markham contributed to this report.