Transcript of Driven to Death

I'm John Quinones. Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old soldier, vanishes while on duty at an army base in Texas. Her family demands answers.

How can she go missing on a military base?

That's too ridiculous. The search goes on for months.

Where is Vanessa? Where is Vanessa?

And a dark story starts to unfold.

She told her family that she was being sexually harassed and wasn't reporting it out of fear of retribution and retaliation.

What investigators finally uncover is horrifying. Find out how one soldier, a beloved sister and daughter, ignited a movement and sparked a reckoning in the US military. Listen to Vanished: What Happened to Vanessa? A new series from ABC Audio in 2020. Listen now wherever you get your podcast. This is the Death Mobile, the last and final ride every one of us will take at the end of life's journey.

If you could write a script, isn't this perfect? You have a body transport person, a deputy coroner, and at least one visit to a funeral home that night.

How did you find out your father was missing?

His car was still there, but he wasn't in there.

His friends and family start searching, right?

Yes. Everybody starts to look, trying to find his last known whereabouts.

Police ask for your help in finding the missing man. Who you see right here is Gregory Rice.

I think we just all assumed that he was going to be found in a ditch someplace.

He had a feeling that he was being followed.

Greg had actually said, If anything ever happens to me, it's not a suicide.

It's full of scandalous secret sex. Erica Dontel began to receive anonymous text messages that said, your husband has gotten somebody pregnant.

Giving you every opportunity to get yourself out of the situation. There's nothing for me to get.

I don't know I don't know where he is.

What went through your mind?

I was like, this can't be true. I dropped the pedal and I started crying.

And you were scared?

Yeah, I was scared.

They were in the business of death.

So you learned how to do autopsies?

Correct. Took pride in getting all the answers. We don't have people standing in line to get this job. I felt like that was what I was put on this Earth to do.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Every year, these shores welcome millions of tourists. They come for the sand, the sun, the surf. But it's not always fun and games. At night, a darker, more sinister side emerges.

We do have some problems in downtown Myrtle Beach. After 10: 00 PM. That's like a joke about Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach.

The Myrtle Beach, we're Dirty Myrtle. After dark, it's its own monster. It's really become a dangerous place. And there are a lot of beachfront and alligator farms and ways to dispose the bodies that people are never going to be found.

When a dead body is found, Megan Jackson is likely to get a phone call. The 35-year-old mother of four and her boss, Chuck Benjamin, provide a service everyone will one day need, but nobody really wants.

My name is Chuck Benjamin. I pick up bodies for the local funeral homes in the coroner's office. It is about 3: 40 in the morning. We are headed to one of my local funeral homes to pick up a body to take it to the airport in Charleston so it can fly out to their final destination.

How long have you been doing this?

Since 2011, whatever that is.

12, 13 years. 14 years. Okay. Yeah.

This is the right schedule for today.

8: 29 leaves at one o'clock this afternoon, so this has to be there by 11: 00, 10: 30, 11: 00.

What are you grandkids call this?

The Death Mobile.

And you have it in your driveway ready to go? Oh, yeah.

All my drivers have one in their driveway.

Because you can get a call at any moment.

24/7, 365 days a year.

With those hours, not to mention the grim realities of moving the dead, Chuck says it's not easy to find transporters for his business.

We don't have people standing in line to get this job. We bet.

People work one day and leave.

Megan was a next door neighbor to Joan and Chuck.

She had moved from Ohio with Greg and her kids.

She wanted to try when I needed somebody.

So I said, I'll take you on a few calls if you If you like it, fine. If not, it's no big deal.

She had an interest in science and blood and things like that.

The very first call we went on was that somebody had been down for a week. It was a decomposition on the third floor. And I mean, she She hold her own. She could pick up a body, which is clearly dead weight, by herself and put it on a stretcher or in a car. And she's teeny.

And just like that, Megan becomes an Uber driver for the dead.

I looked at my mom in a lot of ways. She did a lot of work.

How would you describe her job?

It's a pretty sad and can be an overwhelming type of job. But I think that as long as you're being respectful and caring about what you're doing, then I think it's actually a really good job to have.

Everyone loved Megan. Everybody that she worked with in the business. We worked for a variety of different funeral homes.

At the time, we worked for the coroners.

Megan's job requires her to work hand in hand with the Oree County Deputy Coroner, a man named Chris Dontell.

Megan was a great worker. She endeared herself to all of us at the coroner's office.

Did you ever go with her to work?

I've done quite a few calls with her, and It would be something I would actually look into doing in my future.

You would think of doing the same thing. Yeah.

It never really bothered me as a kid because everybody passes at some point.

As Megan thrives at work, her relationship with Greg Rice, the father of her children, fizzles out. After 15 years together, the couple splits up, but they share custody of their kids.

Greg moved to the Arrowhead community where he lived in an apartment. Megan, who had inherited a good deal of money from her parents, purchased the home in River's Edge.

On October third of 2020, Megan went over to Greg Rice's home with the children. He was going to get the children for that day. There was no answer at the door.

I received a phone call from Megan asking if I heard anything from Greg because he's not answering the door. He's not answering his phone.

Ryan and Greg work together building patios and are best friends. Ryan tells Megan he last saw Greg when they both left work the night before.

I felt it was fishy, and she ended up putting in a missing person's report.

Megan files the report in person at the police station.

Megan, right? Yeah.

E-a? M-e-a. J-a-n.

What's your last name?

Jackson. Jackson.

What were you all married for? We weren't married. We weren't married. How many kids you got together? Just curious. Four. Four, really?

I was with him for like, 15 years.

How long you all been separate?

Over a year. Over a year. Megan says she last spoke to Greg on Friday, the night before he went missing.

You talked to Greg on the phone? About 9: 58, you Yes.

I told him that I was still going to...

I was still good for taking kids to your house in the morning, and he said yes. Everything He was fine.

That was the last time you spoke with him? Yes. So you never physically saw him Friday? No.

Megan was pretty much painting the picture that Greg hood of, possibly overdosed, was in a ditch somewhere. Here.

What drugs did he do?

Oxy, broxy.

I can't remember what he was on. Did he get hurt or anything? Is that why he started taking him? Or just... No, he just started taking him. He lived right beside the Intercoastal Waterway, and she was saying he may have wandered off and drowned or just wandered off and ODed. Police ask for your help in finding Gregory Rice.

It was a mystery that shook this Myrtle Beach community. One day, 46-year-old father, Greg Rice, is living his life, and the next day, he disappears. Seemingly, without a trace. So this is where he lived, right here.

Yes, his children would come visit him for scheduled visits and unscheduled visits. He wanted to see his kids often.

What did you find in the apartment?

So at the apartment, his wallet was found. His front keys were found, stuffed in a cushion on the front porch. His car was here, but not his phone.

Is that suspicious? It is suspicious. Why?

Most people would have left with their wallet. Most people would have left with their keys. Or why walk down the road? Why not take the car? That stuff. So, yeah, that is suspicious.

We set up arrangements to go to Greg's apartment and split up in teams and search his apartment and grounds around it for anything, and we didn't find anything.

The investigators canvas the Arohead community, trying to see when he had last been seen, but none of that was really fruitful.

The investigators talked to neighbors, and by all accounts, it appears that Greg Rice was He was a good father. He had a job. He was a hard worker. He seemed to be just an average guy.

Greg had some very good friends in the community who just found him funny and caring and really enjoyed spending time with him. The children all loved him unconditionally.

How would you describe your father?

He was always that person that would be there for you at the end the day, if you had something you didn't want to say to anybody else, you would go to him.

Greg had the kids almost every single weekend. That's the one thing that mattered the most with him.

You did a lot of fun things with him.

Yeah, I did.

What?

We used to surf together a lot, and he used to actually take pictures for the surfing competitions I used to do.

Our favorite hobbies would be He was definitely surfing and golfing. We would golf three to four times a week. He was absolutely terrible, but a blast to play with. He spent a lot of time in the woods.

How did you find out your father was missing?

My dad always came and picked up the kids, and that didn't happen this day.

Savannah says her parents' relationship relationship took a bad turn after her mother got that job, working in body transport.

She just acted different. Was homeless. Could be a lot more mean than before.

She was never home, would leave at all times, day and night, and just leave the kids.

At some point, were your parents arguing more?

Yeah, they argued a lot, but it definitely did get worse. Once my mom got a job, they stopped just talking things out, and everything became an argument.

And then they wind up breaking up. Yes.

After Megan and Greg Rice part ways, Megan purchases a home in the same neighborhood as Christopher Dontell. She moved into our neighborhood, and then a few times, she started popping up at different places. We would go to the same places to eat, have the same routine.

So quickly, she went from your husband's coworker to a good friend, family, a friend.

Very quickly, yeah.

After a while, when Megan moved to Chris's neighborhood, he would just call her and say, I've got a corner call, and I need you to go to this address.

She would call me, Hey, Chris has got a call. You mind if I go on it? I didn't care for you long as it gets done, it gets done within the time parameters that I have to do with.

Megan and Chris are constantly in need of each other because the coroner's office needs body transport. And that would involve meeting each other all hours of the night, all days of the week.

And then in 2020, Chris and Megan's workload explodes because of the COVID pandemic.

The alarming surge in cases of coronavirus, hospital Hospitalizations are up in 21 states. Funer homes didn't want nothing to do with it. They didn't want to go on the calls, so they would call me because they didn't want nothing to do with COVID.

We were doing 2,500 calls a year, and Megan volunteered, and especially, she always did Chris's calls.

Megan and Chris are together for work constantly, and the new neighbor's families become COVID did bubble buddies during the lockdown.

After Megan moved into my neighborhood, her kids and my kids virtually had an open door policy at each of our houses. Her kids would come and go from my house. We ate dinner with them several nights a week.

She was showing up with groceries when everything shut down for COVID and we were struggling financially.

We were expecting a little boy. Megan had a full load of brand new nursery items and baby boy items.

We never asked to do it. She just came in and was going to be the savior.

And then you hear that Greg is missing.

Chris came home and he was like, Megan reported Greg missing.

It would all become more troublesome when police learned Greg feared for his life.

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Whenever someone goes missing in Ory County, we always write a story about it. We're a small enough community that if somebody's missing, it's absolutely a news story.

Police ask for your help in finding the missing man who you see right here, Gregory Rice. Police kept them coming by and just questioning us. Have you seen anything out of the normal?

That's when red flags were starting to raise. Something seriously happened to Greg.

When When was the last time you had seen him?

The week prior. And that was the weekend that I promised I was going to come see him, and I didn't get to see him.

What were you going through?

I was in a pretty bad shape. I wasn't handling it very well, and it didn't help that my mom was still going out every night and getting drunk, coming home plastered.

Did she seem worried about your missing dad?

She She seemed worried at first on the phone call and when she originally came home, but after that, it was just like... Nothing.

From all accounts, they had a somewhat tumultuous relationship. There was a lot of friction between Greg and Megan.

She never caught him by his name. It was just, Oh, he's this terrible guy. I'm going to drop the kids off. If I'm not back in an hour, send somebody to look for me. I wasn't surprised at them breaking up because I know things she said about him, how he would drink and do drugs and things like that. I think we just all assumed that he was going to be found in a ditch in place from a drug overdose or jumping stupor.

Megan started making stories up about Greg being on drugs. Never once have I seen that out of Greg.

Law enforcement, they did look inside Greg Rice's apartment for evidence of the substance abuse issue. They didn't find evidence to support that.

No evidence of drug abuse, but investigators did find evidence to suggest Greg was increasingly nervous and suspicious in the days leading up to his disappearance.

Detective Susie called me over to the phone, asked me if I would come in for an interview, and I said, Absolutely. He was really mean. So I'm Detective Susie. I'm the one that calls you on the phone. So you're a friend of them? Yeah, I also work with them.

They had actually worked together that last day, and Greg had actually said to Ryan, If anything ever happens to me, it's not a suicide.

Greg mentioned to me that if something was to happen to him, he didn't offer himself. What do you think could have happened? What were your thoughts at first? She had something to do with it.

What gave you those suspicions?

Just the way Greg talked. He had a feeling that he was being followed by a silver unmarked car. Megan made it known that she hung out with cops, was real friendly with cops. She always made the comment that she knew people. Do you think she would be capable of doing something? Not by herself.

Not herself. That statement stood out to detectives. Walk me through Friday.

I know that I went to a boy loo on Friday.

Why did you go to a boy loo?

Not a clue. It was nighttime. I was there with one of the coroners.

Initially, when investigators spoke to Megan, she had just gone to dinner with someone from the coroner's office. And then later, when questioned about that, she said it was Christopher Dontail.

We ate it a boilers. Who did you eat it a boilers? A boilers, please.

The corner. Oh, Chris. Chris.

Dontel.

So you wound up getting closer to Megan. Did you see her as someone you could confide in?

I did.

And you did.

I did.

Based on interviews and just other information from the investigation, I certainly think there was a belief that Megan Jackson and Christopher Dontel were romantically involved, but it hadn't been confirmed. So that was one thing that the investigators did want to either confirm or refute that there was this affair going on.

It's now been 10 days after Greg Rice's last seen, and Megan and Chris are both being questioned by the Ory County PD.

One thing that we have to do is, we know who you are. We work with you. But we have to 100% clear you out as a suspect in his disappearance. Okay. So some of the questions I'm going to ask are intrusive. They're uncomfortable questions. How we got your name was Megan said that you guys had gone out to eat on Friday night. And then with Greg going missing sometime around that time frame, we're trying to gather what happened on Friday. We went to, I believe, Abuelos that night. What did you do immediately after you got done eating?

We both in my car.

Okay.

That's the uncomfortable part, right?

Yeah. So you all were in your car? Yeah. Okay. Did you all have sex in your car? Possibly.

Okay.

It's not possible. He had adult relations. That's him. Okay.

Eventually, the naked truth bubbles to the surface.

What's the relationship with you and Megan? If I'm being I'm honest, it's something I would get divorced over. So you think his intentions are to leave his wife? No. Are you all planning on starting something?

Oh, hell no.

I'm never moving a man back in my house ever again.

So this is just a fun.

I don't know what we are. Your wife doesn't know. She knows a little bit, but not the full extent of it.

I just don't want to wreck his...

He's got kids. I know. Again, that's not mine.

Well, then be curious. Do you want me to answer it?

No, just... It'll be okay. He can wait.

Investigators ask both Megan and Chris for their cell phones, which they voluntarily hand over.

I get this back today, right? Yes.

But It's someone else's phone that leads to a shocking revelation.

Erica Dantell began to receive anonymous text messages that said, in essence, Hey, your husband has gotten somebody pregnant.

It must have been a hard pill to swallow that your husband had impregnated this family friend. It all turns into a twisted tale. What started out as a missing person's case uncovers a secret affair between a deputy coroner and his partner in body removal.

They were in the business of death, and I really do think that that was something that drew them together. It takes a certain special personality, I would say, to deal with death on such a regular basis, voluntarily.

So how did it go from you two being coworkers to something more than that?

She said, Have you ever cheated on your wife? And I said, No. And she climbed over the console and got on top of me and started to kiss me.

How were you able to carry on the affair? Where would you go?

Because of our job, I would get phone calls all hours of the day and night, and it was easy to leave.

One night, you realized that Chris and your mom might be more than just coworkers or friends.

Well, I just had friends over one day, and they were just being loud in the bedroom. And the next day I was like, Wait, were you guys sleeping together? And she told me, Yeah, I thought you knew. And I was just like, No, I didn't know. But thanks for telling me.

You had a great wife at home, Erika.

The most amazing wife.

Why did you continue the relationship with Megan?

She made our lives easy. She was going to be the answer to everything.

You did it for money.

It sounds terrible to put it that way, but yes, I was not at any point physically attracted to her.

Really?

I was attracted to the lifestyle she was providing.

Did you suspect Did you expect at all that she and your husband might be having an affair?

No. Because the way they acted, she treated him almost like brother and sister type. Erica Dantil began to receive anonymous text messages. And it just said, I think you should know that your husband is having an affair and got somebody pregnant. Oh, and I think you should know it's Megan Jackson.

It must have been a hard pill to swallow that your husband had impregnated his family friend.

Yeah. It was so far out of character for Chris. He told me it wasn't happening. He was like, Who would say that? Like, what? If that's ridiculous. Somebody's messing with us.

Your wife receives some texts from an anonymous account. What's going through your head? Do you think about coming clean to your wife?

I didn't. I downplayed it. I didn't even know that I believed Megan was actually pregnant. I didn't know what to believe at that point.

They end up calling Megan right then, per Erica his request, and it's all on speaker, and Megan dismisses them and basically, Well, it must be Greg Rice. This is what Greg does. Greg causes problems. This is what he does. He just tries to come in between any relationship that she tries to have.

So you let it go?

For the time, yes, she said she was going to take care of it and get him to leave us alone.

Chris Dontell is having an affair with Megan Jackson.

Greg Rice may have been leaking information to Erica, Chris's wife.

Authorities believe that if Greg was sending those messages, Chris and Megan would have a reason to silence him. They know, thanks to their interviews, that the pair was together the night Greg disappeared.

Chris was in the entire night?

Yeah.

So you have to drill down exactly where Chris and Megan were that night, right? Yes. When Greg disappears. Where did Megan and Chris start off that afternoon?

They both lived in the same residential community. This is Megan Jackson leaving in her car at 6: 16. There was another still showing Christopher Dontel leaving just about the same time. In separate vehicles? In separate vehicles. So this is the van that she was known to drive to transport bodies. And Christopher Dontel is always seen driving a county Explorer.

Minutes later, both vehicles are seen entering a nature preserve, where they stay for several minutes. The two work vehicles then leave and head to Abuelos Restaurant.

Abuelos is not that far from the preserve. They went There we had surveillance video of them coming in. This is surveillance video for them.

That's them sitting at the counter.

Sitting at the bar. And one of the reasons why this photograph was important is because it helped us corroborate phone records, because you can see Megan Jackson on the phone in there. And that's one way that we say, look, the phone records are correct.

Looking at the forensic results of their phones, they started to get GPS locations. Then they could go back and there's license plate readers.

This is the entrance to the community where Greg Rice lives. Right there on that pole is a silent watchman on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It's called a license plate reader or L PR, and people drive past them all the time, all over Ory County. On the night Greg disappeared, Chris Dontell and Megan Jackson drove by this one, not once, but twice.

So in this photograph, We see this is the license plate that was assigned to Megan Jackson's transport van entering into Greg Rice's community. This was right around 10: 00, and then just about six minutes later, you see the same van with the same license plate leaving the community. And one of the things that this helped us with is that Megan Jackson swore up and down, Christopher Duntell swore up and down, that they had never been to that community.

Did you ever go to his apartment that Friday night? No. Have you ever been in Greg's house? No. I never went to. I've never been to his.

So this was clear evidence that they were hiding something.

On the night of October second, of 2020, me, Greg Rice's phone records indicate that he was at home most of that night until he got two calls from Megan Jackson, and that was just shortly before 10: 00. Shortly after that, it did show his phone leave the area of his apartment, which would have been going in the same direction as Megan's phone as well.

It's a short ride to the next stop of the night, and where Megan's body transport van ends up, couldn't be more on brand.

If you could write a script, you have a body transport person, a deputy coroner, and at least one visit to a funeral home that night. It's the business of death.

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By October 23rd, the investigators had done a fabulous job of gathering different pieces of electronic evidence.

Investigators say Megan's body transport van is seen leaving Greg's community the night he disappears. They also say Greg's phone is with Megan. According to the evidence, where do they go next?

Their phone records place them at the Myrtle Beach Funeral Home.

Chris and Megan have access to that funeral home because of their jobs, right?

Yes. Just based on his position as a deputy coroner and hers as a body transport person, they pretty much had free access to funeral homes.

What about surveillance video from the funeral home?

That would have been wonderful, but life is rarely that easy. It wasn't working.

The cameras at the funeral home weren't working.

They were not working.

Megan and Chris are racking up the frequent flyer miles in interrogation rooms. Now the regulars are back in the hot seat.

They knew that her van had driven into Greg's community, and That's certainly information that they used in their interviews.

Did you ever go to Greg's house?

No.

Then can you explain why the van you were driving that night hits on a license plate reader going in the air. It was like, Well, it shouldn't. I have pictures of them. I mean, that's fine, but it shouldn't. But it did.

Okay, but I can't explain it because I- You were When you were driving in the van.

Well, I can't explain it. You and Megan were together the whole night. Megan's van drives into Harrohead at 10: 00 that night. We could have been by Harrohead. Do you remember? Anywhere you would have gone. I'll be totally honest with you because I'm sure you know already, she's given me a while while I was driving the car.

Dontel used this oral sex while driving as his reason for not being able to tell exactly where they went and when they went.

I tell you about Aaron, about pulling into Aaron. He said, I don't remember that. All I can tell you is that I don't have anything to do with Greg being missing. All I'm guilty of getting fired is that. You know who has the motive?

It's Chris.

He has a lot to lose. He's got the motive. I think you're covering us something up for him.

I'm not.

We're giving you every opportunity to get yourself out of the situation. There's nothing for me to get.

I don't know where he is.

I feel like I'm being investigated for something that I didn't do. Chris, you are being investigated. You are absolutely a thousand %. I hope it's worth it, Megan. I really do. I don't have anything to charge you with, but there's no doubt. I didn't do anything. Well, Chris, I'm going to tell you this. If someone asked me to put a bet on it, I would say that you did.

Without more direct evidence, police led let Megan and Chris go. Meanwhile, the search for Greg continues, retracing Chris and Megan's steps.

Maybe that body has been cremated. Let's go check the gas and see if an amount of gas was used that would have represented the burning of a body. And there was nothing to see there. No extra gas had been used.

And then weeks go by with no sign of your dad. It must have been agonizing for you.

I just wanted him to come back. I just wanted him to be found and be okay so that I could go to his house. It was just a lot of begging and pleading for him to come back.

This is the Little Pee Dee River, miles of slow moving water surrounding It's surrounded by natural wildlife, and that makes it a very popular recreational spot for swimming, canoeing, and catfishing. For Donna Sue Soul, it's the relaxation and family tradition of catfishing that has brought her here for decades. You said you called this your happy place? Yes. Why?

It's just peaceful. It takes all my worries away.

And then 37 seven days after Greg Rice's disappearance, a discovery. So November seventh, 2020. How did that day start out?

Well, we come and set up. We set about eight hooks that night. And then when we turn around and come back through, then that's when... I mean, you could smell the smell.

All right, tell me about the smell.

It was really bad. It was horrible.

On a closer look, what do you see?

Yeah, So it looked like the tarp was just laid up there. And then once you got the paddle and we lifted it, that's when we've seen the ratchet straps tied around the bottom parts of the legs. It was around both and then around the head on the other side.

What went through your mind?

Well, I dropped the paddle. It scared me, and I started crying. I was like, This can't be true.

And you were scared?

Yeah, I was scared.

The Marion County Sheriff's office gets a 911 call. Tell me about that.

We get a call for some people fishing, found what they thought was a body. They found a tarp, and they knew something was in the tarp.

The tarp had black zip ties on either end, and then also ratchet straps with cinder blocks securing it. Obviously, trying to keep the body submerged.

It sounded like a Mafia hit.

It would seem that way. It would seem that way. They didn't take into account that when the decomposition starts, the gasses fill up and it'll actually float.

Big mistake.

Big mistake.

This body was extremely decomposed. There's always this thought, Okay, here's a body. Maybe this is Greg Rice.

Things had to be done, DNA and dental records, to positively ID this person, unfortunately, as Greg Rice. The medical examiner determined that there were positively five gunshot wounds on Greg Rice. Investigators start to look at the tarp that Greg's body had been wrapped in and in fact, discovered that the Lowe's Home Improvement here in Conway, South Carolina, actually sold that particular name brand, and they go to that store, and they start to inquire, has anybody purchased these items? And lo and behold, someone had.

But what really blows up this investigation is a piece of evidence that's literally full of hot air.

Why would you use a plastic club doll?

Sex and scandal, and then murder. Let me ask you, have you seen anything like this?

This is a new one for me.

What am I under arrest for right now that I'm being murdered?

It just was like, oh, Oh, my gosh.

You've transported hundreds of bodies in your life, and now here you are involved in a real life murder.

Has Megan ever told you that she killed Greg? I asked her how she knows he's dead. She said, Why? It doesn't matter.

And I asked her, What do you mean? And she just went, I'm saying things.

They both claimed to be not really knowing how Greg was killed.

This was a high-profile case with a lot of twists and turns. They had A blow-up doll?

There was a blow-up Betty doll in the front passenger seat.

My mom could be an evil woman.

She threatened to kill me. Felt like for the last five years, I've been looking in the barrel of Megan Jackson's gun.

He made this big cry, Oh, I'm afraid of her.

Sounds like a horror movie. It's so cute.

Never seen anything like it in my life, ever.

Weeks go by with no sign of your dad.

I just wanted him to come back.

Did your mom seem worried about your missing dad?

Not really.

The former partner of Megan Jackson is now missing, and we've got the idea that there's this affair going on.

I mean, it's scandalous. Somebody from the coroner's office and somebody from a body transport having an affair. Over a month later, Greg's body was found along the Little Pee Dee River.

Once Greg's remains were recovered, there were very specific items found used to wrap his body. Ding, ding, ding.

How did detectives wind up at this store?

They wound up at this store because after the murder of Greg Rice, they found Greg Rice's body, and he was wrapped in a tarp. And investigators later looked that tarp up, and it happened to be a name brand that was sold here. And so they did a follow-up on that to see if there was a tarp sold anytime recently.

Police are able to get a receipt from Loews for a tarp, cinder block, zip ties, and a diet soda. And that's not all. As most of us know, in stores like these, there are security cameras everywhere.

When you go back to October third, the video surveillance showed the person buying those items, and that person was Christopher Dontail.

He's very relaxed. He's very well dressed in the video.

He's wearing khaki pants and some nice shoes.

He buys a Pepsi Zero. He's just nonchalantly pushing his cart with his murder dump kit through the line it lows. But now you know without a shadow of a doubt that he is involved. He bought all of these things that are used. There's more work to be done, but we were certainly on the right path.

As you drive out to the Little Pee Dee River, you pass the Pee Dee Exchange, just a little gas station convenience store, and you can actually see what we know is Christopher Dontel's vehicle driving past it one way and then returning the other way. And that, coupled with LPR hits for Dontel's county vehicle, really cemented the fact that Christopher Dontel had driven Greg's body out there.

Conviced at the corner, did a lot more than just sign a death certificate, investigators rush over to the Dontel home.

Hey, Eric. Hi. You're 20. Greg is Chris home?

Yes.

Okay.

Hey, Chris. He was just sleeping in bed, found asleep, a lot of care in the world.

He's worth an insurance.

He's probably better than to just come off this and talk. Over the past month, Chris has not provided detectives with much.

Chris, you got some questions and probably some things to say. I like to have my lawyer present.

But in this case, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Chris, I'm not going to ask you any questions. What I do want to do though, because He's always be here with you. I keep shopping and loathing. There's the body you threw over the bridge. He gets the phone, he goes, Well, you understand you're not leaving the building today, you're going to be going to county jail for the short. Okay? What am I under arrest for right now that I'm here? Murder. Murder. At what point can I speak with my lawyer?

At the same time time, Megan Jackson is taken in.

Well, all I want to do is to...

Okay? I don't have anything else to tell you in the name that I told you.

Well, I can tell you that's not Nobody here thinks you're a bad person. Nobody thinks it's going to happen to Greg. You have no motive to Greg. But Chris does. So the night of the second When you guys were together on that one.

Everything that I remember, yes.

I know you weren't with him on the third between 2: 30 and 3: 00 because he called you. But I know where Chris was between 2: 30 and 3: 00 on that Saturday. We're at a call. No, you weren't.

The detectives then confront Megan with some very powerful images.

So you mean to show you where Chris was at 2: 55 on Saturday? The center blocks, the torp, the ties, rapid strap. I'm going to show you where I was, sat her glass, this past Saturday. Here it is. Is that Greg? That's Greg. And guess what he was wrapped in and punk with in the river? The shit Chris bought on the third. He got two choices. Explain to us what happened. It looked like the horrible person he You're still in jail? No. Your father. Got two choices. You know what happened that night.

Yes, you do, Megan. At that point, they had enough probable cause, and they were able to make those arrests.

Chris, stand up, turn around. And after your father's body is found, the police come to your house.

They told us that my dad was found, and my mom and Chris would be being charged.

That must have been so hard for you to lose your father and then to find out that your mother might be involved.

Yeah, it was a lot because I just never believe that my mom could do something like that.

We start with breaking news.

Two people have been charged with the murder of a missing man.

Police say Dontel and Megan Jackson are connected to Rice's death.

Both are charged with murder.

And I was like, Oh, my gosh.

What the heck? I had no idea. I was shocked. When we got this information, it was beyond a shocker because Chris Dontel was a man who we would reach out to for homicide investigations And now you have a Deputy Coron who is arrested in a murder case.

And you had no idea from his behavior that he might be involved.

Erica, I really think at At that point, she still did not want to believe that her husband was having an affair with Megan Jackson. She did not want to believe that he had anything to do with the murder.

With Chris and Megan now booked in jail, investigators continue to search their homes for any items that may be connected to Greg's death.

That is spooky.

The police say they saw some very concerning things.

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When One investigator with Horry County PD did a search warrant at Megan Jackson's home. She had multiple guns in the home. Strangely enough, all of them were accounted for, but they found an empty gun box that was a 22 long rifle pistol that is consistent with the murder weapon in this case.

As investigators look through the home for evidence, their search takes a drastic new turn.

She's got bottles in every crevice you can find.

She drank a lot.

It was just very clear that she was not a good mother.

It's like a doomsday ring.

You got a code lock.

There was a lock on the pantry door, so the children did not have free access to food.

And then, in investigators head up the stairs to Megan's 13-year-old daughter's bedroom. When did the police find out about that?

Well, they found out that she had an alarm on her door.

An alarm?

If she was to open the door, it would beep. Eventually, it just got worse.

Their doors had locks that were turned to the outside so that they would not be able to open their doors from the inside.

The windows, they were nailed shut, and then spray foam insulation was sprayed around the windows.

It was like a prison. Yeah.

Yes, pretty much.

She would essentially lock them in the room so that she could go, and she would go to work or do whatever she was going to do.

She was busy doing this job and obviously involved with Chris.

I felt bad for Savannah that she always had to be in charge.

I was the parent of the house while living with my mom because she was never home. And on the weekends would be the times I would go to my dad's, but it would be also the only times I could actually have free time and hang out with my friends.

So you didn't go to your dad's? Yeah.

It's one of the things that I regret most of my life because I should have and I could have, but I didn't. And I really regret that.

The situation in Megan's home, besides murder, It was so concerning that Megan's children were placed into emergency protective custody.

As a result of what investigators saw, she was charged with four counts of unlawful conduct toward a child.

Nothing at all to do with the murder or the arrest for the murder. It was totally separate.

Days after Greg's body is discovered, a bartender at this restaurant sees Chris and Megan's shots on the local news, and she remembers serving them rum drinks one night at the bar and overhearing a conversation Chris and Megan were having with a fellow patron.

So the conversation they were having? They were normal conversation like, What do you do? Well, he explained that he was a corner, and she transports bodies. And he was like, That's got to be a weird job. Small talk like that. Later on, it got into conversations about their families. She started going into great detail gails about how much she hates her kids, how she never wanted them. She said, I think about killing them all the time.

The bartender says she overhears Megan making some disturbing comments about her family.

I I heard Megan say the same things, but I didn't believe Megan would actually do that. I chalked it up to the alcohol.

And a week after their for arrests, Megan and Chris have their bond hearings. Prosecutors decide to try Megan first on the more serious murder charges.

Megan and Chris were ultimately let out on bond, but they were on house arrest.

One of the standard conditions is no contact with the co-defendants, no contact with the victims. In this case, for Megan Jackson, it would have been her children.

Chris loses his job with the coroner's office, and now, armed with an ankle monitor, he returns back home where his wife is waiting.

At his bond hearing, they said, We've got Mr. Dontel on footage at Loews buying the things that Greg was found in.

Now, are you a little more suspicious?

Yeah. So then I was like, That doesn't sound good.

Do you confront him then? Oh, yeah. Were you angry?

Oh, yeah.

How did he explain it?

Just that it was the perfect storm of just bad decisions and bad situations. And then it crossed the line for the affair.

Essentially, their job, the circumstances of their job made it easy to hide the affair. So now Chris and Megan are back home, living just a few blocks away from each other, but they're barred from having any contact.

I was fielding calls weekly from people in the community.

Both of them continuously broke those bonds.

Their ankle monitors were appearing at the same place at the same time.

They said they were getting together to exchange Christmas presents at one point.

He's out on bail, but he's still communicating with Megan. Yeah.

I found a cell phone. The only contact in it was It was a nickname, but I knew it was Megan. And I was like, After all this, you're still talking to her.

Personal drama aside, as investigators prepare to bring these cozy co-defendants to trial, they discover a silent witness.

Megan calls it blow up Betty. Let me ask you, have you seen anything like this?

Not with a coroner and body transport people. No, this is a new one for me.

So I get involved as an investigator here at the solicitor's office after their arrest, and we start looking at the evidence we have, clearing things up, and making a timeline a little more crispy.

Where are we driving into now?

We're in Louis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve. It's a recreational area. Hours before, Greg Rice went missing Megan and Chris drive into the preserve.

They had them on camera going in and out of that area.

What happened when did the preserve?

Prior to anything happening with Greg, Megan had a interest in guns and shooting. She would shoot in the woods, and on this particular day, we went to the nature preserve. Megan wanted to go shoot.

What was she shooting at?

She would shoot at everything from tree stumps to pieces of paper that she would fold up, random things.

So there's a still image on a license plate reader that you can see Megan leaving with this object in the front passenger seat of her vehicle. It was revealed that it was a blow-up doll, and the doll had a name, Blow Up Betty.

Betty? What was Is it used for?

At the moment, we don't know.

Your guess.

My guess is for target practice on this day.

So Blow Up Betty is no more?

I would surmise she probably isn't.

Was there a blowup doll involved in all this?

Not that is relevant to the case. Megan was a unique individual.

You don't know why?

No, that was just one of many eccentric issues about her.

And investigators uncover more shocking details about Megan's personal life.

Before Greg Weiss went missing, Erica Dontell began to receive anonymous text messages that said, Hey, your husband has gotten somebody pregnant.

It turns out what was said in those mysterious text messages was actually true.

Megan, she goes before anyone else tells you, I want to let you know that I'm pregnant. Oh, Megan. You're just getting in deeper. She told Christopher Dontell that she was pregnant, and then she had told people that she had a miscarriage. She did have a baby eventually. There has never been a paternity test. Chris, of course, just accepted paternity.

The baby was eventually placed in the care of a family friend.

Our office is no stranger to really high-profile cases throughout the state, and this was a high-profile case with a lot of twists and turns. This was an incredibly circumstantial evidence case against both of them. The problem was what they were missing and what they didn't know. Because of the lack of physical evidence, the lack of a crime scene, one of the things that as prosecutors, we always knew we needed was for one of these co-defendants to tell us what happened, to testify against the other one.

We signed what we call a proffer letter saying If you cooperate, if you testify truthfully, there may be either a reduction in charges or perhaps a reduction in sentence.

You all sure you don't know anything?

Yeah, I'm sure you did. With a lawyer present, Chris Dontel meets with investigators and vows to tell the truth about what happened.

So Chris says that on this night, when they went to the Myrtle Beach funeral home after they'd had dinner, that Megan had left some reading glasses.

She said, I need to go see Greg. So she leaves. I stayed at Myrtle Beach funeral. I did not leave.

Dontell tells us Megan Jackson left for a bit, came back.

She said, We have to go. I said, Is Greg here? She said, No, but we have to go. She was shaking. I never saw Greg that night. We left.

And the next day, it's like, You have to go get rid of the body.

I asked her how she knows he's dead. She said, Why? It doesn't matter. Has Megan ever told you that she killed Greg? I've asked her so many times because I wanted to answer it myself because I've had to answer to this, and my life's been ruined because of this.

He was not really knowing how Greg was killed or when he was killed.

Prosecutors don't believe Chris is telling the truth. And when he refuses to take a polygraph, they turn to plan B, Megan Jackson. What does she have to say?

This is the part that I didn't tell the truth on.

Chris had a favorite song, a Keith Urban song.

Only You Can Love Me This Way.

Only You Can Love Me This Way.

The night that Chris asked me to be his girlfriend, it was at the Keith Urban concert, and that song was playing.

Only You Can Love Me This Way.

You still hear that song? Still listen to it?

Yeah.

Chris Dontel has been in jail for violating the terms of his bond on numerous occasions for having contact with Megan Jackson.

I remember that.

But his wife, Erika, has continued to stick by his side.

So this is a photo from Charlie's his preschool graduation, and that was our last family photo altogether before his bond was revoked. So just how little they were. I mean, I feel like they're different people now. They're so big.

And the children, do they know that something's not right in the house?

Yeah, they do not know where he is or the situation.

You were trying to protect your kid.

And I never thought that he'd be gone as long as he has been caught.

Megan Jackson was in and out of jail as well for breaking bond conditions. And as pressure mouts, prosecutors offer Megan a chance to tell her side of the story. Property through her own proffer.

Some people call it queen for a day. This is your opportunity. You tell us everything, and we'll see if it's worthwhile.

We're here today because you, through your time, have requested to come talk to us today, okay? You are to provide How does any at all information in a truthful manner? Can I start from the beginning?

Megan Jackson says that Dontal had badgered her into luring Greg to the funeral home so that Dontel could confront Greg over spilling news of the affair. This is the part that I didn't tell the truth on.

I went to pick up Greg.

He got out the car, went into Myrtle Beach Funeral Home, and I gave him a couple of minutes.

As I got out of the car, Chris started coming out the door, and then I said, Well, where's Greg?

And he said he wouldn't talk to me.

He went out the front.

She says that when she brings Greg back to the funeral home, she just sends him in on his own and then never sees him again. That Dontel told her he had simply walked off in anger, and that was it.

When did you learn that Greg was dead?

After you showed me the body.

So Chris never told you?

Not until several weeks after.

They both claimed to be not really knowing how Greg was killed or when he was killed. They're both saying, I didn't have anything to do with it, but there's enough that maybe you should think the other person did it.

Did you shoot Greg Rice? No. Were you present when Greg Rice killed? No. Part of your agreement that you have is that you're consenting to a polygraph? Mm-hmm. What this case, I think, eventually just turned into is finger-pointing, and she failed the polygraph.

We were trying to get one of the defendants to testify against the other. We met with Megan Jackson, and it never got to the point where we believed we could ethically put her on the stand. We are putting up someone who is going to lie. And we said, Okay, well, we listed them both for trial.

A judge decided that the two trials had to be split.

Megan Jackson's attorney's got a continuance, so we said, Fine, we'll go forward with Christopher Dontell.

We had a pretty rock solid case for accessory after the fact to murder. He was on the tape at Lowe's buying the body dump kit. So we made the decision to go forward on both charges, the murder and the accessory after the fact to murder.

Chris did not go to trial until about four years after the crimes were committed. We're going to go ahead and get this trial.

We had picked a jury. I was actually doing the opening statement, and I was halfway out of my chair when Christopher Dontail's attorney stood up. And the defense attorney says, Judge, we've got a matter we need to approach. Christopher DonTill's attorney said he'd like to plea guilty. We immediately hit pause for the trial. What in the world is going on? What's he trying to do here. The major turn of events, just two days into the murder trial, former Oree County Deputy coroner Chris Dontell.

It was a really big deal. I mean, reporters were ready for a week of trial.

Hold on, we're going to just put a microphone on you.

And then all of a sudden, he just pleads guilty. For him to do that was quite shocking, but at the same time, he did not plea guilty to murder.

He pled to accessory after the fact and conspiracy to commit murder.

Hello, Chris. Hello. I'm John. I'm getting you on this. Why is it so important for you to speak with me today?

The most important reason is so that the Rice family can get closure. The first day I met with my lawyer when I told her that I would plea to whatever I'm guilty of, if I can help bring closure to those kids. I've never even hurt someone, let alone murdered someone. As soon as he entered the plea, we sat down with the prosecutors and told them the story with the actual missing pieces that he was able to fill in for them.

After he took the plea, Chris says that he will testify against Megan Jackson in her trial.

I'm afraid of her because I watched her kill the father of a kid.

I actually found out about Chris's plea, and that's when I called, and I said that I wanted to testify against my mom. I asked her, What do you mean?

And she just wanted to say anything. June, 2025. All eyes are now on the Oree County Courthouse, where Megan Jackson's trial begins five years after the murder of the father of her children, Greg Rice.

This case was a big deal. There was a A lot of media buzz. A trial is currently underway for a woman charged in the 2020 murder of a 46-year-old man. Mary Ellen, Walter, and Lee Waller are the prosecutors in the case. Mary Ellen is known to be a Bulldog trial attorney.

I don't see how it's not relevant, quite frankly.

And Lee is also a very hard-working prosecutor. It's a story of an affair, a pregnancy, and a murder.

There's one person at the center of everything, and that person is Megan Jackson. She may look meek and mild, but she is a master manipulator. She was literally in the business of death.

Megan Jackson was represented by the Britain family, Tommy Britten, the father, and then case impressed in Britain, his sons. I'd like to see a murder weapon.

I don't have it. I don't have any eyewitness testimony. I don't have any of that direct evidence, the stuff that a murder case should have. The very first witness for the prosecution, Megan Jackson's own teenage daughter, Savannah Rice.

We felt it important to open with Savannah because any time you have a child testifying against their parent, that sends a strong message. And Savannah, I know you're nervous. I get it.

And how much time had passed since you saw your mom that day in the courtroom?

Almost five years.

What did she look She just looked hollow.

And just having her sit in front of me, it made me uneasy. She had come home drunk I was drunk one night, and I was in the kitchen, and my sister wasn't... She wasn't behaving. And I told my mom, and she started screaming. And my sister was upstairs, but then she looked at me and she said, I hope what What happened to your dad happens to your sister. And I asked her, What do you mean? And she just wanted to say anything.

What would drive her mom to say that about her daughter?

My mom could be an evil woman.

This is your mother. And then the prosecution's star witness.

The whole trip and then the mother trip, something like that?

Yes. Chris Dontell takes the stand to tell the jury his version of what happened that night.

I drove her van. We drove toward Greg's apartment. I saw Greg on the road walking. I pulled up a few feet, stopped, and she opened the door, and in one motion, spun out of the seat, pulled a gun out, and shot him over and over. I didn't see a comment. Neither did he. We picked him up out of the road and put him on the stretcher that was in the back of her van.

You've transported hundreds of bodies in your life, and now here you are involved in a real-life murder.

Correct.

And you drove to the funeral home as if this was just another corpse.

Yeah. My emotions were high, but I handled the body just like would any other body.

They had all the tools in the world to assist them in this. They had a body transport van. They had a funeral home. They had a cooler.

I made a cremation container, and I put it into the cooler and pushed the stretcher up next to it and started to push Greg in. I went to Lowe's sometime during the day.

Did you realize there were security cameras there?

I did.

Tracking you buying the tarp, the cinder block ratchet straps.

You got to remember, this is not something that I've ever been involved with. I had no plan.

Chris tells the jury that the following night, he heads back here to a place he knows very well, the Myrtle Beach Funeral Home, to dispose of Greg Rice's body.

I waited till it was dark. I unfolded the tarp that I had purchased. I put him in my Explorer. I started out toward the river. I went back to the middle of the bridge, popped the back gate of the Explorer. Took about 10 seconds. Put them in the lock.

Mega's lawyers try to discredit Chris Dontel as dishonest and an admitted liar. You have lied to police throughout this process.

Correct.

So what stopped you from going to one of your acquaintances and telling them what happened?

The fact that your client told me that if I did that, she would kill me. And I had watched her kill the father of her kids, so I believed her.

You were still having sex with Baby Jackson afterwards?

Correct, for He was still here. He was still here.

You could have said what happened, and you didn't. That family suffered for more than four years.

She threatened to kill me.

But after she was jail, she couldn't kill you.

She kept getting out on bond. Felt like for the last five years, I've been looking in the barrel of Megan Jackson's gun.

He made this big cry. Oh, I'm so...

I'm afraid of her. Why did he continue to communicate with her?

That's a bunch of loning.

That's crazy.

You know, there's It's the danger that the jury does not believe everything that Dontel says. So how can we show them that the investigation has corroborated everything he said? And that's where Lieutenant Wells came in.

My name is Benjamin Wells.

I do digital forensics and digital extractions on mobile devices.

Erica learns in a really shocking way that her husband is having an affair through anonymous text messages.

Erica Dontel believe that these anonymous texts were coming from Greg Rice.

Through the analysis of her cell phone, it was able to be proved that Megan Jackson was the actual one sending these to Erica Dante.

They were created on her phone. They were all sent by her.

That was the aha moment. Like, wow, she really is trying to frame Greg, and this is it. Why would she tell you that she's pregnant by your husband?

I think she thought, Oh, I'll tell you this. You'll leave him. And then she'd have him. And then that didn't work because I stayed.

When it's the defense's turn, they call no witnesses. Instead, Megan's lawyers point the finger directly at Chris Dontell in closing arguments.

The only person that actually has a motive to get rid of Greg Rice is Chris Dontel.

Can you trust him? Two fates will be sealed.

As to the charge of murder, when the jury.

And a young woman confronts the demons-Who will never be able to live in a normal life. Of her past. Is there anything you would want to tell your mother? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back.

I understand the jury's reached birth.

Is that correct?

Every time a jury deliberates, you wonder how long it's going to take. But I don't think they deliberated that long on this case, truly.

As to the charge of murder, we, the jury, by unanimous consent, find this defendant guilty.

And then you hear the word guilty. Relief?

Yeah. Also a little bit of heartbreak. It is my mom.

The woman charged in the 2020 murder of 46-year-old Gregory Rice will now spend the rest of her life in prison.

And as for Megan's outstanding charges of child neglect, those charges were dismissed.

She's doing life in prison, so why put the children through that if we're not going to gain anything?

A month later, it's now Chris Dontell Chris's turn to be sentenced. How are you feeling? All right. What do you think will happen?

I just hope that he gets the time that he deserves. He hug me as I cried and beg for my dad to come back. He told me it would be okay and that we would find my dad. He didn't tell me that we would find him dead.

His wife, hoping Chris will walk out free on time served.

Megan Jackson infiltrated all areas of our lives and became the literal antichrist to our family.

To simply keep saying I'm sorry, just doesn't feel right. And I don't know that I can effectively articulate the depth of the combination of love, pain, regret, and compassion I feel for those kids and for everyone who loved Greg.

Christopher Dontail ended up being sentenced to 15 years for accessory after the fact, and another five years for conspiracy, and for those to run consecutive.

Your reaction to what happened in court?

Obviously, I'm not happy about it. I was sentenced to the maximum.

If you could talk to Megan, what would you say to her?

I have nothing to say There's a lot of victims in this case, Gregory Rice and his family, my family.

And you?

I believe so.

With that 20-year sentence, Chris's wife, Erica, needs to have a long delayed conversation with her two young children.

They thought that he was away for work, and so I told them that he was in fact in jail. That's where he had been, and then just explain the story the best I could.

I spoke with Megan on the phone, and she told me that she did not shoot Greg Rice, the father of her children. She denies those child abuse allegations, saying that she loves her children very much. And in a letter to 2020, Megan writes, Chris Dontel is a liar. What he said on the stand is a lie. Is there anything you would want to tell your mother or ask your mom?

I just want her to tell me why she did what she did, and to tell her that I hate her because...

That's a strong That's a wrong word, hate.

I hate that woman. I hate her.

Greg and Megan's youngest children are now being raised by their older half-brother, Zack. Greg's son from a previous relationship, while Savannah lives on her own in Ohio. But recently, Savannah found herself back on the shores of Myrtle Beach, where she still has her fond memories of surfing with her dad and his best friend, Ryan.

This was a board that I had designed to surf with Greg, and I'd like to give it to Savannah, so if he can at least use it and enjoy it.

Your dad, what would you tell him?

That I love him, and that I want him to know that I'm okay. There was a point in time living in that house where I thought I was never going to get out. No matter how hard and horrible your environment can be, you can always make it out. And you can turn your life around and be the person that you want to be.

I think he would be very proud of you. Thank you. Such a brave young woman. Savannah's brother has filed a civil wrongful death suit against those responsible for killing their father, Greg Rice. Greg Rice's ex, Megan Jackson, is appealing her murder conviction.

That's our program for tonight.

Thanks for watching.

I'm David Dior. And I'm Deborah Roberts from All of us here at 2020 and ABC News. Good night. 20th Century Studios presents a legendary movie event, Springsteen. Deliver Me From Nowhere.

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