Shivangi Sinha
In October 2020, Gregory Rice was last seen leaving his workplace in Conway, South Carolina, but he never returned home. His keys and wallet were later discovered tucked between the cushions of an outdoor patio chair. A month afterward, his remains were recovered from the Little Pee Dee River, with gunshot wounds confirming his death was a homicide. Investigators reviewed surveillance footage from the area and noticed Gregory’s former partner and the mother of his four children, Meagan Jackson, near the scene. ABC’s ‘20/20: Driven to Death’ delves into the investigation, the mounting evidence, and how Meagan was ultimately apprehended and convicted for the crime.
Meagan Jackson’s Affair with Christopher Dontell Was Revealed to His Wife Through Messages
Meagan Jackson built a life with Gregory Rice in Conway, South Carolina, and together they had four children, Savannah, Dakota, Madison, and Blake. To outsiders, the family appeared stable and close-knit, even though Meagan and Gregory were never legally married. However, in a later interview, their eldest daughter, Savannah, revealed that the relationship was far from ideal. She alleged that both her parents were unfaithful and that genuine affection between them was lacking. Around 2017, Meagan began working as a subcontractor for the Horry County Coroner’s Office, where she met Christopher Dontell.
Though the latter was married to Erica Dontell and had two children, he and Meagan soon began an affair. In December 2019, just a few months after Meagan gave birth to her fourth child with Rice, the couple decided to separate. Meagan moved into a home located near Dontell’s residence and began living there with her children. According to Christopher’s wife, Erica, Meagan often accused Gregory of being abusive and portrayed their past relationship negatively.
Their children would sometimes play together, and things seemed calm until September 2020, when Meagan told Christopher she was pregnant with his child. Starting on September 27, 2020, Erica began receiving messages from an anonymous number that hinted at the affair and the pregnancy. Court records later revealed that when Erica confronted both Meagan and her husband about it, they denied the affair and Meagan even allegedly suggested that Gregory might have been behind the messages.
Cell Phone Records and Surveillance Videos Helped in Tracking Down Meagan Jackson
On the day Gregory Rice went missing, Meagan Jackson and Christopher Dontell were together. They first visited the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve and then practiced shooting before heading to dinner at Abuelo’s restaurant near the Coastal Grand Mall. Rice’s phone data indicated he was near his home between 5 pm and 10 pm, while Meagan’s phone also pinged in the same area around 10 pm. Between 10:15 and 10:23 pm, the phones of Meagan, Dontell, and Rice were all traced to the same location at the Myrtle Beach Funeral Home. Surveillance footage later confirmed Meagan and Dontell’s presence together, and it supported the GPS evidence, leading police to question Dontell. Both he and Meagan were arrested in November 2010.
In December 2024, Dontell pleaded guilty to being an accessory to Rice’s murder and agreed to testify against Meagan. In his testimony, Dontell claimed he had no prior knowledge of Meagan’s plan to kill her former partner. He said that their day had seemed ordinary until Meagan asked him to drive past Rice’s house. According to him, Meagan got out of the car, quickly shot Rice, and then forced him to help dispose of the body. He alleged that they transported the remains to a funeral home, returned around midnight, and that Meagan threatened him into helping further conceal the evidence. He claimed that she told him that she had a miscarriage a day after Rice’s death.
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Meagan Jackson is Serving a Life Sentence in a South Carolina Prison Today
Meagan Jackson’s trial began in June 2025, during which both Christopher Dontell and her eldest daughter, Savannah Rice, testified. Savannah stated that her mother behaved oddly after Gregory Rice went missing. The prosecution presented a gun box for a .22-caliber firearm found in Meagan’s home, though the gun itself was missing. While it couldn’t be proven that this was the murder weapon, prosecutors emphasized that the firearm had never been reported missing. Additionally, no shell casings were recovered at the crime scene. Dontell testified that Meagan asked him to return later to collect and discard them. Erica Dontell also took the stand and spoke about the affair that had ruined her family. The prosecution claimed that Meagan had perpetrated the crime to hide her affair, and she was the only one to benefit from the murder.
The defense, however, argued that no definitive DNA evidence linked Meagan to the murder and questioned the accuracy of the GPS data used in the case. On June 17, 2025, the jury found Meagan, 40, guilty of murder, and she was sentenced to life imprisonment. She is currently incarcerated at the Camille Graham Correctional Center in Columbia, South Carolina. Prison records indicate that she works as a food service aide and has also served as a ward keeper assistant during her time there. Meagan is not eligible for parole, meaning she will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
