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.
