What happened on Day 2 of murder trial for woman linked to ex-SC deputy coroner
The second day of Meagan Jackson’s murder trial, a police officer detailed the timeline of the night she allegedly killed her ex-boyfriend
Jackson is accused of shooting and killing Greg Rice, her ex-boyfriend and the father of her children, on Oct. 2, 2020. She had assistance from former Horry County Deputy Coroner Christopher Dontell. Dontell pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and criminal conspiracy in December 2024 after he admitted he dumped Rice’s body in the Little Pee Dee River overnight on Oct. 3-4, 2020.
Dontell is expected to testify against Jackson on Thursday.
Horry County Police officer Ken Marcus laid out the events and how Rice’s phone moved with Jackson. Because there is no direct evidence, such as video or eyewitness accounts, of Jackson shooting Rice, this was important evidence. During this time, jurors dutifully paid attention.
Here is a timeline of events from Oct. 2 through Oct. 4:
- On Oct. 2, from 5 p.m. to 9:45 p.m., cellphone data showed Rice at his home with no calls.
- From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Jackson went from the Lewis Ocean Bays Heritage Preserve to Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant.
- At 9:14 p.m., Jackson’s phone pinged at the Myrtle Beach Funeral Home.
- At 9:45 p.m., Jackson called Rice from the Myrtle Beach Funeral Home. They spoke for a little over two minutes.
- At 9:58, Jackson called Rice again, this time near his neighborhood. The phone call lasted 13 seconds.
- At 10 p.m., Jackson’s vehicle entered Rice’s neighborhood.
- At 10:06 p.m., Jackson’s vehicle exited the neighborhood.
- From 9:55 p.m. to 10:34 p.m., Jackson and Rice’s cellphones pinged at Rice’s home, then at the Myrtle Beach Funeral Home. Their cellphones were at the funeral home for about 30 minutes.
- From 10:34 p.m. to 11:07 p.m., Jackson and Rice’s phone data showed them headed to the Lowes Foods in Carolina Forest. Rice’s phone stopped sending signals at 11:07 p.m. and at the exact same time, Jackson and Dontell were seen in the parking lot on security footage.
- From 11:12 p.m. to 11:32 p.m., Jackson appeared to go to her River’s Edge Plantation home.
- On Oct. 3, from 12:20 a.m. to 12:38 a.m., Dontell’s vehicle was seen heading from the Lowes Foods to the Myrtle Beach Funeral Home.
- At 2:46 p.m., Jackson and Dontell spoke on the phone while he was at Lowe’s Home Improvement buying supplies to dump Rice’s body.
- From Oct. 3 at 11:15 p.m. to Oct. 4 at 1:35 a.m., license plate data and cellphone towers showed Dontell going through Conway in the direction of Pitts Landing, where Rice’s body was found, and then returning through Conway.
Jackson’s face and body language remained neutral through the trial until Marcus began explaining the timeline. She rarely fidgeted, but as Marcus put up maps with timestamps, Jackson began to grab her mouth and spoke to her lawyers in a hurried way.
The defense tried to argue that six minutes would not be enough time for Jackson to shoot Rice and load him into her car. However, Marcus said he drove from the entrance of the neighborhood to Flintlake Apartments and said he was able to do so with a few moments to spare.
The defense was dealt another blow to its case when Tom Morrison, the former Arrowhead HOA president, testified. On Tuesday, the defense asked multiple police witnesses if anyone had called about shots fired near Rice’s apartment or reported hearing gunshots, to which they said no.
Morrison said that given the large amount of wooded area nearby, Arrowhead residents fire guns regularly. Some people hunt in the woods and Morrison said he once shot a snake in his backyard.
There was palpable tension between the defense and prosecution, with prosecutor Mary-Ellen Walter bolting out of her chair to shout, “Objection,” at one point. Later, when discussing pieces of evidence with Judge Benjamin Culbertson, the lawyers would interrupt Culbertson and talk over each other, taboo in court.
“Y’all, please quit interrupting, OK?” Culbertson said in an exasperated tone.
On Tuesday, Savannah Rice, the daughter of Jackson and Rice, testified against her mother. Before the discovery of Rice’s body, Savannah Rice said she remembered a particular fight between her mother and sister.
“My sister was upstairs, but then (Jackson) looked at me and she said, ‘I hope what happened to your dad happens to your sister.’ And I asked her, ‘What do you mean?’ And she was not saying anything,” Savannah Rice said.
