Christopher Dontell Case: Guilty Plea, Evidence, and 20-Year Sentence

Christopher Dontell, a former Horry County, South Carolina, deputy coroner, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on July 14, 2025 for helping his lover Meagan Jackson cover up the 2020 murder of Gregory Rice, the father of Jackson’s four children. The Christopher Dontell case ended with a guilty plea to criminal conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact; the original murder charge against him was dropped in exchange for his testimony against Jackson, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.¹

Who Christopher Dontell Is

Dontell worked as a deputy coroner for Horry County. Jackson worked in the same field, transporting remains for funeral homes and the coroner’s office. Their affair began in late 2019, while Dontell was married to his wife, Erica, and while Jackson still shared custody of four children with Gregory Rice, her partner of roughly 15 years.²

By October 2020, Jackson was pregnant with Dontell’s child. Anonymous text messages had gone to Erica Dontell exposing the affair and the pregnancy; investigators later determined Jackson herself had sent them, though she blamed Rice.³ Text messages between Jackson and Dontell discussed wanting Rice to “suffer a popped tire on the highway” or to “have his brake lines cut.”²

What Dontell Did on the Night of the Murder

Gregory Rice was last seen alive on October 2, 2020, near Flintlake Drive outside Myrtle Beach.⁴ Dontell later testified he was driving Jackson’s van that night when they came upon Rice walking along the side of the road, and that Jackson pulled a gun and shot Rice repeatedly. A medical examiner found five gunshot wounds.⁵

Dontell said Jackson then ordered him to help load the body into the van, and that he complied because he feared she would kill him too.⁶ The pair drove the body to the Myrtle Beach Funeral Home and placed it in a cooler. Dontell testified that using the funeral home cooler for temporary storage was “something coroners did sometimes,” which kept the body hidden overnight.⁷

Dontell then wrapped Rice’s body in a tarp and dropped it into the Little Pee Dee River, weighed down with cinder blocks and secured with zip ties and ratchet straps. He said Jackson had told him to “deal with it and dump him somewhere outside of the county.” Cell tower data placed him near the river in the early hours of October 4, 2020.² Rice’s remains were found in the river on November 7, 2020, secured exactly that way.⁸

The Evidence Against Him

Surveillance footage from a Lowe’s home improvement store showed Dontell buying a tarp, zip ties, cement blocks, and tie-downs before Rice’s death. Those were the same items later found securing the body.² Other surveillance placed Dontell and Jackson together at a bar called Abuelos earlier the evening of October 2.⁹

Both Dontell and Jackson were charged with murder and criminal conspiracy in November 2020. Dontell was initially released on a $125,000 bond with home detention, and his ankle monitor was removed in May 2021.¹⁰ He was later returned to jail after investigators found he and Jackson had violated no-contact orders by communicating and meeting in person while out on bond.¹¹

The Guilty Plea and Deal

On December 4, 2024, with a jury already sworn in and prosecutors ready to give an opening statement, Dontell pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact. Senior Assistant Solicitor Mary-Ellen Walter said the plea came after Dontell lost all of his pretrial motions. In exchange, the state dropped the murder charge and an accessory-to-kidnapping charge. The deal required him to testify against Jackson.¹²

His attorney, Aimee Zmroczek, argued Jackson had manipulated him, saying Jackson had used a pregnancy Zmroczek claimed was never confirmed to control him. “It never ceases to amaze me, when people create a romantic relationship, how their brains fly out the window,” Zmroczek said in court.¹³

The 20-Year Sentence

On July 14, 2025, Circuit Court Judge Benjamin “Alex” Hyman sentenced Dontell to the maximum on both counts: 15 years for criminal conspiracy to commit murder and 5 years for accessory after the fact, for a total of 20 years. With credit for time served since his re-arrest, his effective remaining sentence was roughly 16 years.¹

Judge Hyman told Dontell the plea deal gave him lesser charges but that the court recognized how close he came to Jackson’s fate. “You very easily could be right where Ms. Jackson is, doing life in prison,” the judge said. He noted it took Dontell roughly 1,500 days to take responsibility.⁴

Savannah Rice, the eldest daughter of Gregory Rice and Meagan Jackson, told the judge she would “never forgive” Dontell. She recounted how, in the days after her father’s disappearance, Dontell had held her as she cried and told her everything would be okay. “He didn’t tell me that we would find him dead,” she said, and asked for the maximum sentence.¹⁴ Impact statements from Rice’s son Zach and brother Kenneth were also submitted; the judge read them silently before imposing sentence.¹⁵

Erica Dontell, Christopher’s wife, described Jackson as the “anti-Christ of their existence” and said Jackson had weaponized marital struggles Erica had confided in her. She told the court she believed her husband was “an amazing person” beneath the decisions he made “under the control of Meagan,” and explained she had chosen to remain in the marriage in part because of their two children.¹⁶ Dontell himself addressed the court, expressing remorse for concealing the crime and for the pain caused to the Rice family.¹⁵

Where Meagan Jackson’s Case Stands

Jackson’s trial began in June 2025. Dontell took the stand on June 12 and testified that Jackson shot Rice and then forced him to help dispose of the body.¹⁷ He also testified she had leveraged a miscarriage to pressure him into finishing the disposal.¹ Jackson did not testify. Her attorneys argued Dontell himself could have been the shooter and urged the jury not to rely on a confessed co-conspirator. The conspiracy charge against Jackson was dismissed by the judge on June 10, before the case went to the jury.¹⁸

On June 17, 2025, the jury found Jackson guilty of murder, and she was sentenced to life in prison.¹⁹ Her defense later moved for a new trial, arguing the “hand of one, hand of all” theory of co-conspirator liability was improperly applied. On February 19, 2026, a Horry County judge denied the motion. An appellate lawyer was present at the hearing, signaling Jackson’s team may take the case to a higher court.²⁰

1
WIS TV. Judge Sentences Ex-SC Deputy Coroner Who Helped Cover Up Murder
2
Court TV. SC v. Meagan Jackson Coroner Affair Murder Trial
3
ABC News. Father’s Disappearance Exposes Shocking Affair, Murder Plot
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WBTW. Meagan Jackson Co-Conspirator Gets 20 Years in Prison for Role in 2020 Murder
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WIS TV. Jury Deliberates Trial of SC Woman Accused of Killing Father of Her Children
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WBTW. Meagan Jackson Verdict Caps Five-Year Saga of Betrayal, Conspiracy, and Murder
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WMBF News. More Witnesses Expected to Take Stand in Horry County Murder Trial
8
Myrtle Beach Online. Discovery of Greg Rice’s Body Near Little Pee Dee River
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WPDE. Day 1 Opening Statements in Meagan Jackson 2020 Murder Trial
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MyHorryNews. Former County Coroner Charged With Murder Has Bond Modified
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WPDE. Former Horry County Deputy Coroner’s Bond Revoked for Murder Charge
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ABC News 4. Meagan Jackson Trial Date and Christopher Dontell Plea
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WMBF News. Ex-Horry County Deputy Coroner’s Murder Trial
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ABC News 4. Former Horry Co. Coroner to Be Sentenced in 2020 Murder Case
15
WMBF News. Ex-Horry County Deputy Who Helped Cover Murder Up to Be Sentenced
16
Myrtle Beach Online. Christopher Dontell Sentencing
17
WBTW. Testimony Continues in Horry County Murder Trial for Meagan Jackson
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WBTW. State Rests Case in Horry County Murder Trial of Meagan Jackson
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WPDE. Defendant Chooses Not to Testify as 2020 Murder Trial Continues
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WMBF News. Judge Denies New Trial for Horry County Woman Convicted of 2020 Murder