Two people have been charged in connection with the death of missing man Gregory Vincent Rice in Conway, South Carolina.
Christopher Dontell, 37, is the Horry County Deputy Coroner, but was fired shortly after his November 11, 2020 arrest. Meagan Jackson, 35, was also arrested. Christopher and Meagan both are charged with the murder of Gregory.
Meagan and the victim have multiple children together.
Following an extensive investigation, on the morning of Nov. 11, 2020, members of the Horry County Police Department Criminal Investigations Division arrested Meagan and Christopher in connection to the murder of Gregory.
Gregory was reported missing on Oct. 5, 2020. In the following days, multiple bloodhound searches were conducted and search warrants were served in an effort to locate Gregory.
In the early morning hours of Nov. 8, 2020, Gregory’s body was discovered in a wooded area.
As a result of the investigation, both Christopher and Meagan were identified as suspects in the disappearance and murder of Gregory and hence arrested.
Additional charges are likely.
The Horry County Coroner’s Office has provided the following statement for release:
On or about October 5 my Chief Deputy, Tamara Willard, was briefed on the disappearance of Greg Rice by HCPD and informed that Deputy Coroner Chris Dontell would be questioned with regard to the investigation. Permission was given to examine Chris Dontell’s county phone and vehicle at that time.
On October 23 Chris Dontell was informed by HCPD that he was officially under investigation in this disappearance at which point he was suspended immediately from Horry County Coroner’s Office (through verbal interaction), denied access to all county property and promptly removed from the call schedule.
On Monday November 9 Mr. Dontell was terminated from the Horry County Coroner’s Office, due to the nature of this ongoing investigation.
