The South Carolina pastor whose wife’s suicide generated national interest released a statement through his attorney denying her accusations that he “groomed” her from the time she was 10 years old until they married 14 years later.

Mica Miller, 30, made those accusations in a report to police earlier this year after John Paul Miller, a pastor at the Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach took her purse and car when she was hospitalized for two days, as CrimeOnline reported. Mica Miller filed a stolen vehicle report, but Myrtle Beach police investigated and determined that because the Millers weren’t legally separated and the car was “marital property,” no crime was committed.

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Mica Miller was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at Lumber River State Park in North Carolina on April 27. Because she had accused her husband of abuse and harassment in several police reports as well as privately to family members, speculation that he was involved somehow in her death spread.

But the Robeson County Sheriffi’s Office in North Carolina conducted a thorough investigation that found Mica Miller buying the gun she used to kill herself on April 27, before she drove to North Carolina. Deputies also found that John Paul Miller was in Charleston, South Carolina, with a woman he was “romantically involved with” at the time of his wife’s suicide.

John Paul Miller, who immediately claimed his wife suffered from mental illness and refused to meet with Robeson County investigators unless they came to him, was relieved of his pastoral duties by his church, which also deleted its website, during the investigation. It’s unclear if that has changed since the Robeson County investigation was completed.

In a letter from his attorney, Russell B. Long, John Paul Miller threatened legal action against “all individuals and media outlets … perpetuating these harmful falsehoods.” Long wrote that Robeson County officials’ investigation “completely exonerates Pastor Miller of any wrongdoing,” although it only found that he wasn’t directly involved the Mica MIller’s death on April 27.

According to the attorney, the pastor “refutes any report that suggests he ever abused his wife,” including her claim that he “groomed her from age 10, saying that “she moved to Myrtle Beach at the age of 15, was married to another man at the age of 18, and divorced at the age of 21.”

The attorney’s letter notes that “it has come to light that Mica Miller struggled with mental illness” — without noting that it was John Paul Miller who brought that to light — “specifically, bipolar disorder, which when not properly managed led to paranoid episodes and self-destructive behavior.”

“Again, Mica suffered from mental illness and some reports made by her in the recent past are nonsensical,” Long wrote.

The attorney says he has made “a complete inventory of these defamatory and libelous statements” and that “those that have, to date, violated Pastor Miller’s right to live in peace and to mourn the passing of his wife respectfully, will be held accountable.” He further says that “any previously posted or published false statements” that “remain in the public domain” will be the subject of “civil litigation.”

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[Featured image: John Paul and Mica Miller/Facebook]