The tragic intertwining of a secret affair, a shocking murder, and disturbing allegations of child neglect forms the dark core of the case involving Meagan Jackson and Christopher Dontell, a narrative that captivated and horrified local communities.

Meagan Jackson’s professional life involved the solemn duty of transporting deceased individuals for the coroner’s office, a role that inadvertently led her into a clandestine relationship with Christopher Dontell. Dontell, a deputy coroner, was tasked with training Jackson when she joined the body transport company as a subcontractor in 2018, marking the illicit genesis of their affair.

Following her separation from Gregory Rice, the father of her children, Jackson strategically relocated to a home just two streets away from Dontell in Conway, South Carolina. She cultivated a deceptive friendship with Dontell’s wife, Erica, feigning concern for Erica’s financial struggles and often bringing her children over to play, all while secretly pursuing her affair with Erica’s husband.

The illicit relationship escalated with Jackson’s claim of pregnancy, a revelation that soon reached Erica through anonymous text messages exposing the affair and the alleged pregnancy. Despite confronted with the truth, both Jackson and Dontell vehemently denied everything, attempting to deflect suspicion onto Gregory, whom Jackson falsely painted as abusive and drug-addicted to manipulate perceptions.

Tragically, Gregory Rice’s life was cut short, preventing him from discovering the neglect his children endured. On November 8, fishermen made a horrifying discovery in the Little Pee Dee River: Gregory’s body, grotesquely wrapped in blankets and silver tarpaulin, secured with zip ties and weighed down by cinder blocks, bearing at least five gunshot wounds to the head and chest from a .22-calibre handgun. This brutal murder sparked an intensive criminal investigation.

The meticulous murder investigation swiftly converged on Jackson and Dontell. Crucial forensic evidence, including phone records, placed them near Gregory’s home on the night he vanished. Surveillance footage captured Dontell purchasing cinder blocks, silver tarpaulin, and zip ties the following day—items precisely matching those used to conceal Gregory’s body. While the murder weapon, a .22-calibre gun, was never recovered, an empty box for such a firearm was found among Jackson’s belongings, tightening the web of evidence.

Both Dontell and Jackson were apprehended for Gregory’s murder. Jackson faced additional, deeply unsettling charges of four counts of unlawful child neglect. The arrest warrant chillingly detailed how Jackson had subjected her children to abhorrent conditions, reportedly padlocking them in a room and forcing them to use containers as toilets, revealing a disturbing pattern of child abuse. Jackson later claimed to have suffered a miscarriage the day after Gregory’s disappearance.

Christopher Dontell’s trial commenced in December 2024, but it was cut short when he accepted a plea deal. In exchange for testifying against Jackson, Dontell pleaded guilty to conspiracy and acting as an accessory after the fact, with the murder charge against him dropped. He testified that Jackson ordered him to dispose of the body and threatened his family if he spoke out, stating, “I watched her kill the father of her children and she told me she would do the same thing to me.”

Dontell recounted how Gregory’s body was initially placed in a cooler at the funeral home, marked with a deceptive note, before he purchased the concealment materials. The following day, he wrapped the body and dumped it into the river. Despite the defense’s attempts to discredit Dontell’s testimony and argue a lack of physical evidence against Jackson, the jury remained resolute, ultimately finding Meagan Jackson guilty of murder, bringing a semblance of closure to a profoundly disturbing case.