← Serialously with Annie Elise
Serialously with Annie Elise
415: Anonymous Texts, Soundproof Bedrooms & The Affair Next Door | The Gregory Rice Case
01:20:55
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- [00:00]
Annie Elise
Hey, whatcha doin'? Are you doomscrolling other people's vacations? Miami, San Diego. With Expedia, your trip can earn rewards which you can use towards your next eligible stay. Soon people will doomscroll you. Expedia, the one place you go to go places. Terms apply. If you can 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.
- [00:24]
Investigator
They felt it was kind of fishy. She ended up putting in a missing persons report. Savannah says her parents relationship took a bad turn.
- [00:32]
Annie Elise
Greg had actually said to Ryan, if anything ever happens to me, it's not a suicide. Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serial Asleep. Hello, hello, hello. And welcome back to an all new episode of Seriously with me, your host, Annie Elise, here to break down another deep dive for you today. So happy Monday. I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, that you're having a great start to your week. Maybe you're not listening to this on a Monday, but it released on a Monday. But yeah, I hope you guys are all having a good week so far. You know, had a great weekend. And whether you're driving to work right now, really listening at work, maybe working out, cleaning the house, whatever it is you're doing, I'm right there with you. And we are going to go down this rabbit hole together. Because today's case, you know, I hate this word and you know I don't say it lightly. It is a doozy. It is like a doozy through and through. Because the family dynamics within this case are so bizarre and wild that it's going to take me a minute to like untangle it for you, to walk you through it because then it's like, it just, it's very, very interesting. Okay, I will say that. And there are, you know, anonymous text messages that get exposed. There are. What else do I want to say? Some shady stuff happening with a river. There's affairs. I mean, we've got a lot. And we are going to be together for a while today because like I said, I gotta untangle it, walk it all back for you and, and explain it from the very beginning because you know, if I'm going down the rabbit hole, I am bringing you along with me. And that is what we are doing today. Now, before we jump in, I did want to share some exciting news with you guys because it's that time of year. I've already seen the messages start trickling in, but our annual subscription sale is Officially here. So if you've been on the fence or you've been thinking about joining our true crime club, whether that's on Patreon, because you're a video watcher, you want the episodes ad free. You want more access, you want behind the scenes, you want vlogs, giveaways, our 24, 7 group chat, all of the things, and now is the time. Also, if you are an Apple Podcast listener and you just want every single episode completely ad free, plus bonus episodes, this is also for you. We only run this promotion once a year and it gives you our lowest pricing of the year, which is why I think so many people are asking, like, when's it coming back? When's it coming back? Well, now it is. And for my Patreon users, like I said, you can choose the tier that's right for you. Depending on which tier you join, you'll get access to things like BTS content, bonus content, extra episodes, our 24. 7 group chat giveaways, merch discounts, so much more. And for all of my Apple podcast listeners, you can subscribe through one click of a button on Annie Elise plus right in the Apple Podcast app. Just open up the show page, click the button and you will get all the bonus content over there. The extra episodes, which we have like over a hundred right now, plus every episode ad free, which I know you guys hate ads, so this is the way to get around all of that. However, the deal will not last for long. We only offer this discount once a year and it expires very soon. So if you've been on the fence, now is the time to, you know, jump in head first. Head to patreon.com Annie Elise to join on Patreon, especially if you are more of a video consumer or if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, simply open the show page and tap the Annie Elise plus subscribe button. More content, more access and no ads. Sounds pretty good, right? So go sign up. Well, it's ending soon. You're welcome. So this takes us back to 2020. I know, probably a year that most of us wish to forget, right? But on November 7, 2020, a woman named Donna Sue Souls was out at the pe, South Carolina with her family. She was doing something they had done plenty of times, also catfishing. And not catfishing, pretending to be somebody else, but like actually fishing for a catfish. Now, they were very experienced out on the water. They did this all the time, like I said. So when they spotted something strange just floating nearby in the water, they immediately knew that it did not belong there. Now, at first it just looked like a tarp. Maybe it was something that had fallen over somebody's boat by mistake. Maybe it was trash that had somehow blown into the water. Who really knows? But as they paddled closer to get a better look at what this was, they realized that this piece of tarp had a shape to it, a human shape. Donna later said, once we lifted it with the paddle, that's when we saw ratchet straps. Now, I will be honest with you, when I was researching this case and I first saw that detail, ratchet straps, I was like, what the hell's a ratchet strap? So I'm going to do my best to describe it for you for anybody else who might be unfamiliar, like I was, it basically is kind of like a seat belt, you know, like the big fabric belts. But then it has like the big silver clamps where you're like tightening it and you pull it and that's what pulls it together and tightens it. People use it for like pallets when there's like furniture or you need to hold something, like on the back of a pickup truck. And it's like you crank the silver thing to tighten this big strap. That's what a ratchet strap is. So they're paddling over to this tarp, they use their paddle, lift the tarp up and they see ratchet straps. And sure enough, wrapped inside that tarp was a body. A body that had five bullet holes in it. The legs and the head of this body had been tied down. A cinder block had also been attached to it. I mean, seemingly to make the body heavier, to weigh it down. So to hide it underwater forever, possibly. So they alerted the authorities, of course, and then the body was pretty quickly identified. But as the investigators were looking beyond not only who this body belonged to, but how it got here, what happened. They soon uncovered a whole host of new issues. I'm talking lies, secret relationships, and something even more disturbing. A trail of evidence that pointed directly at people who worked around dead bodies for a living. It was a lot. But let's rewind a little bit. Let's go back to the beginning. Like Hilary Duff says, let's go back. Let's go back to the beginning. Gregory Rice, otherwise known as Greg to the people closest to him, was a 46 year old man living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. And Myrtle Beach, I'm sure you've heard of it. It's a pretty popular tourist destination on the East Coast. Many people come for the nightlife, the tourist stops, and of course, the beach itself, but also plenty of people like Greg call it home. And really, it was the perfect place for him. He loved doing anything that involved being outside in, you know, the sticky South Carolina heat. He enjoyed surfing, golfing, fishing, you name it. I mean, any sort of outdoor activity, Greg was doing it. Now, Greg was originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, but as so many things happen with all of us, life happened. And he eventually ended up in South Carolina. But like I said, he really felt like it was home there. He loved it there. But it also helped that he wasn't alone during this move. Even though his siblings and his parents were still back in Ohio, Greg had a longtime partner named Megan Jackson. He also had five children, four of which he and Megan had together. Greg and Megan had been together since 2006, when they first met back in Ohio. But for whatever reason, they decided to never get married. And I'm not really sure how mutual that decision was. Apparently Greg had been married and divorced before, so in his mind, he just didn't want to go through all of that again, which, fair, I honestly completely get that. And I know a lot of people feel the same way. Divorce can be an absolute huge hassle. But the point is that for years, Greg and Megan were just life partners and parents together. And that really worked for them and their relationship. I mean, they had even moved to a different state together, they had four kids together. So a marriage license, it really wouldn't have changed all that much. I will say, as I was digging deeper into their history and their past, there isn't a whole lot of information out there about what Greg and Megan did for work during those years. Not until way Fast forward to 2019, when Megan took a new job. In fact, a job that was pretty unexpected. And let me tell you how this all came about. You see, living right next door to Greg and Megan was this very nice older couple named Joan and Chuck. But Benjamin, they were neighbors, they were friends, a kind of a mix of things. They were all four very close. They would see each other outside, they would wave to each other, strike up casual conversation, you know, typical neighbor stuff. And for years, Chuck had a job that was very interesting, very important to the community, but one that you never really hear much about because his job, it wasn't like a traditional coroner, but rather he would be the one who would go and pick up deceased bodies and then transport them back to the local coroner's office, which this job was pretty demanding. It didn't matter if it was 4:00am, 6:00pm you know, what time of night or day. It was if you got the call to go pick up a body, you had to drop everything and go pick it up. It also wasn't a super glamorous job either. It's not like he was, you know, transporting these bodies after they had been cleaned up and put in a nice outfit or things like that. He was the guy who was picking them up right after they died. And no matter what they died from what state of decomposition they were in, he was the one responsible for it. So like I said, it was a necessary job. Absolutely, but not one that people were exactly lining up to do. In fact, Chuck had struggled for years trying to find reliable help. People would start the job thinking that they could handle the hours and the gore that comes with it, only to then quit after their first day. The turnover rate was extremely high. So anyway, somehow Chuck and Megan, through their neighborly talk, they ended up talking about his work. And surprisingly, Megan was really interested. Now, like I said, I don't know much about what her career was before this point. I'm not sure if she had been a stay at home mom, if she was now trying to get back into the workforce or she wanted to just do, get out of whatever job she had. It's unclear, there are minimal details out there. But either way, Megan was eager to help. So Chuck figured, okay, great, why not? I mean, the worst that could happen was that she would decide that the job wasn't for her and quit like so many other people have done. Definitely wouldn't be the first time he had burned through an employee. But to everyone's surprise, Megan was actually really great at this job. In terms of size, Megan was pretty small, pretty petite, but she definitely did not act like it. She could pick up a body and load it into the van all by herself like it was nothing. And she didn't complain about it either. She didn't think it was gross, she didn't think it was dirty. She, she was like all for it. So Megan stuck with the job. But as positive as that might sound, it immediately started putting a strain on her relationship with Greg, A strain that they had never really dealt with before. Because suddenly now with her leaving at all hours of the night and having this independence, so to speak, it felt like she was just constantly gone. And remember, this wasn't a normal 9 to 5 where you can just like clock out and go home for the night and like mentally tune out and check out even you're on call basically 24 7. So I can imagine that that was probably difficult For Greg, he never really had the opportunity to plan anything ahead of time or selfishly do things for himself because at any moment Megan would receive a phone call and she would need somebody to come be with the kids while she went off. And it was just this constant, you know, not chaos, but like you, you just very unpredictable. And beyond just the unpredictability of it, unfortunately, Megan was pretty busy because of this. Now, for those of you who aren't super familiar with the Myrtle beach area, it's, yes, beautiful, great fun for like outdoor activities, but it also has a pretty dark side to it. During the day it's touristy, it's family focused. Every block has seafood restaurants, mini golf courses, gift shops, attractions, all of that. But at night, things change. The crime rate there is actually pretty high, all the way to the point where it's earned a nickname like Dirty Myrtle or Murder Beach. So while, yeah, there are of course the everyday type deaths, whether it's old age, natural causes, sickness, car accidents, things like that, there is also another layer on top of homicides. And to make things even creepier, Myrtle beach also has a pretty significant alligator population along with multiple alligator farms nearby. And there have always been rumors that when somebody goes missing and is never found, it's likely because their body was fed to the gators. Now, of course those are just rumors, nothing confirmed by law enforcement or anything like that, but still, I mean, the idea itself, it isn't all that far fetched. So needless to say, Megan was working a lot, constantly out on runs. Chuck had warned her ahead of time that this job was in fact demanding, but she didn't seem to mind. However, Greg, he definitely did. And it became a major point of tension in their relationship. Now, I'll be honest, I don't know whether there were already issues happening behind closed doors and so that something had already been brewing under the surface and this just kind of escalated that, I don't know, maybe things had been rocky for a while and then this new added stress became the final straw that just was going to bulldoze the relationship completely. I don't know. But the point is it eventually did break this relationship. By November 2019, Greg and Megan had officially separated. And from what I can tell, it definitely was not simple. I mean, remember they had been together for 15 years at this point and four children together. That's a long time to build a life with somebody thinking you're going to be together forever, only for things to then suddenly fall apart. And Greg, he loved his kids. He never wanted to Break up their family. But things had gotten to the point where it probably felt better for everyone to just separate instead of forcing a relationship where everybody was unhappy. And of course, the truth is, I mean, when you share four kids together, you're never going to actually be fully separated. You will be connected one way or another, even if it's just through co parenting. So at that point, they started trying to navigate life separately. Greg moved into an apartment nearby while Megan was still trying to figure out her next steps. And her plan was to sell the house that she owned in Merle's Inlet, which is about 30 minutes south of Myrtle Beach. Then her mom was supposedly going to co sign on a new house that she had been looking at. So on November 19, 2019, Megan sold the house. But before she and her mom could finalize anything else and get Megan and the kids settled somewhere new, her mom, unfortunately, unexpectedly passed away. And this all happened at the same time. And I'm not talking within weeks of each other or even within days of each other. Her house sold, and her mother died on the exact same day. I mean, talk about horrible timing. So now suddenly, Megan was dealing with not only being single for the first time in 15 years, but also raising her four children, grieving her mother, and not even really knowing where she was going to end up living. The good news was, eventually things did start looking up for her. She received some inheritance money. She was able to buy a really nice home. It was a pretty big house, too. Definitely enough space for her and the kids. And what made this situation even was that she already knew her new next door neighbors. They were Chris Dantel, who was the deputy coroner, and his wife Erica. Now, because Megan transported bodies to the coroner's office regularly, she already knew Chris pretty well through work, right? And now living next door to him and to his wife, she became really close friends with Erica. Now, also during this time is when Covid hit. So these neighbors and Megan, they really started leaning on each other a lot, spending a lot of time together during the shutdown. Now, even though Greg and Megan were co parenting, if for any reason, she got called out to go pick up a body and she needed somebody to come watch the kids, it wasn't always that easy for her to just call Greg and have him show up. So a lot of the time, she started leaning on her neighbor Erica, because Erica was willing. She was next door, she was able. It was easy. In fact, Erica had been working at a nearby daycare, but that had closed indefinitely because of COVID So with that, she had free time and certainly didn't mind stepping into help.
- [17:02]
Investigator
Help.
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Annie Elise
And there was also a positive side to all of this as well. Erica was pregnant at the time. And because of that, she was understandably terrified of going out in public because she didn't want to contract Covid. She didn't want to risk getting sick or possibly even getting her baby sick. So in exchange for Erica watching the kids, Megan would help her out by basically running any errands that she needed. Grocery runs, pharmacy trips, anything that maybe would have exposed Erica to potential sickness, Megan went ahead and took on. So that they. That was kind of their exchange. That's how they got each other back. Back. But Megan's generosity didn't just stop there. She had become really close with both Chris and Erica. And because of that, she knew that they were struggling financially during this shutdown. And unlike them, Megan was actually doing okay. She still had a job, plus she had that inheritance money from her mother. So as a thank you for everything that Chris and Erica had done to help Megan, she decided to surprise them one day with a full blown nursery setup, Baby clothes, diapers, wipes, toys, I mean, the works, you name it. And honestly, even though some parts of their relationship might sound transactional, which I totally understand, it didn't really seem that way. They had just become such close friends and they were just in their little quarantine bubble together. And not only was Megan super swamped because again, Covid, unfortunately, lots of deaths, but Chris also was incredibly busy. According to Chuck, the old neighbor and older man who had hired Megan, a lot of the funeral homes at the time didn't even want to handle body pickups or transports because of everything that was going on, Especially when the calls involved hospitals or facilities that were flooded with COVID patients. So that responsibility, it largely fell onto people like Megan and Chris. So as much as Megan was bonding with Erica over motherhood and everyday life, she was also spending an incredible amount of time with Chris. And when you're around somebody constantly at work, especially during stressful situations, you know, it's not hard to eventually start talking about your personal life. And Chris started opening up. He started sharing about the financial stress that he and his family were under. He was talking about some nerves he was having for the upcoming baby. Megan Talked about her 15 year relationship with Greg and how it had completely just fallen apart. And now they were stuck in this weird place of trying to co parent and. And they started getting close because of that. You spend so many hours a day together that it just happens. It Kind of just evolves into that naturally. But what Erica didn't know was that Chris and Megan's relationship had already gone far beyond friendship and co workers. And apparently he and Megan had already been close well before COVID even happened. This was before Megan even moved into the neighborhood. So when they were only seeing each other at work, which yeah, was still a lot, but nowhere near as much as it was going to become, especially with her moving next door. And I guess the way it all went down is that after long days of working, Chris would often stop at this bar and restaurant in Myrtle beach called Bricks. According to him, he was there so often that the staff knew him by name. And one night when Chris showed up there, he saw Megan sitting there at the bar alone. She was drinking, what is it? Amaretto sours. And according to Chris, he walked over to speak with her and she was already pretty extremely drunk. The two of them started talking and eventually Megan told him that she needed to talk to him about something. However, she said she didn't want to talk about it there at the restaurant. So after they finished their drinks and paid, they walked out to Megan's car. However, according to Chris, even once they got inside Megan's car, Megan still didn't want to talk in the parking lot. So she ended up driving them to a nearby service road somewhere isolated, a dead end road with no traffic. Then Megan parked the car, she looked over at Chris and she asked him very directly, have you ever cheated on your wife? Which that caught Chris completely off guard. And he said, no, no I haven't. And apparently that's when Megan looked at him again directly in the eye and said, well you're about to. I don't know why, call it age, calling, getting more responsible, whatever, but I've been learning a lot more about the importance of dental health. Because a ton of what you eat and drink, like coffee, tea, acidic foods, diet Coke can really do long term damage to your teeth. And I recently discovered Laurenco. And let me just tell you about this like routine that will help you but also that's like so easy because hello, who doesn't love to chew gum, but basically Lorinco is a better for you chewing gum that uses the same mineral that your teeth are made of to support daily enamel health. Not only does it help strengthen your enamel, but also repairs damage. It comes in a ton of flavors including mint, cinnamon, bubblegum, berry. They also have a really great fluoride free toothpaste too. So they sent me a bunch of gum to try. And let me tell you it tastes good. I like the flavors. My mouth feels fresh, you know, less sensitive with hot or cold things. And it's easy to just throw in your mouth if you're driving, if you're running errands, you know, whatever it is you're doing. And I feel like it's so great because it's a totally effortless way to make sure that you're taking the best care of your teeth as possible. So you should try it too. Right now, Lauren Co is offering our listeners up to 50 off at bylorine.com ae that's by Lorene L-A-R-I-N-E.com a e for up to 50 off. While we're on the topic of feeling older and trying to be more responsible, I've had a lot more like, focus on just wanting to make sure that my kids and my husband are taken care of if, God forbid, something ever happened to me. And one of the things that I felt like I overlooked for so long was life insurance. But then I started thinking like, well, what would happen to my family if I don't have it? Like, what do I need to do to protect myself? Not to make it so my husband has a reason to get rid of me, but, you know, like, what do I do to make sure that my family is taken care of? Now with that, it can be very overwhelming. But let me tell you about Ethos, because Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy. It's 100% online and you can get a quote within seconds, apply in minutes and get same day coverage. There's no medical exam. 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And eventually, I guess, Kris did stop turning it down. The affair became very, very real very fast. And all of those long hours that they were supposedly working together, they were busy. Yeah, with work, I'm sure. But they also had plenty of time together as well. For months, the affair continued at work, after work, at home. Meanwhile, Chris wife, Erica had absolutely no idea. She thought that Megan was someone who genuinely cared about their family, when in reality, Megan, she just had her eyes on Chris the entire time. And not to mention, Erica was very pregnant. She had a lot going on emotionally, physically, mentally. And like, you layer on the shutdown on top of that. It's a lot. She certainly wasn't sitting there wondering whether or not her husband was lying and cheating on her behind the scenes. That is, of course, until somebody told her. However, it wasn't like one of Erica's friends had caught Chris and Megan in the act or anything like that. Instead, this warning came in a much stranger way. Erica and Chris were together one day when randomly, Erica's phone started buzzing. She thought that it was a friend or a family member, but instead it was multiple text messages from a number that she didn't recognize. And what those messages said would completely change her life. According to the text messages, Chris had gotten another woman pregnant, and that woman was Megan Jackson. The anonymous sender said that they thought that Erica deserved to know the truth. That's why they were sending these messages, which I honestly can't even imagine how Erica must have felt reading that. Because no matter how much you trust your spouse, if you get a message like that, your brain immediately starts replaying almost every interaction, every excuse, every late night. You're just trying to calibrate everything in your mind. She probably started thinking about all the times that Chris was with Megan, the long work days, the constant calls, I mean, her neighbor, for Christ's sake, every little thing. But instead of immediately panicking, Erica stayed surprisingly calm. She showed Chris the messages, and she actually allowed him the opportunity to explain himself, hoping that maybe there was some misunderstanding in all of this. And apparently Chris just completely denied it. He said that none of it was true and that he had no idea who sent these messages and no clue why anyone would say something like this. He denied everything, and Erica chose to believe him, or at least she tried to. But honestly, I don't know how you fully even move on from something like that, because even if you want to believe your spouse, those kinds of accusations, they don't just disappear from your mind overnight. Meanwhile, Chris told Megan about these messages, and they were desperate to figure out who had sent them. Because the truth was, everything in these messages was true. Not just the affair, but also the pregnancy. They thought that they had been being careful, but they figured, okay, somebody must have seen us. Somebody must have, like, seen us leave together, what? Something along the way. And now whoever caught on is trying to actively destroy his marriage, his life, their relationship, if you can even call it that. And they wanted to get to the bottom of it. And every time the two of them talked about it, Megan seemed very convinced that she knew exactly who was responsible. She believed that without question it was Greg, her ex boyfriend, ex former longtime partner, the father of her children. Which honestly confused me a little bit at first as I was digging into this case. Because my immediate thought was, how the hell would Greg even know? He lived like 30 minutes away. He and Megan weren't even together anymore. And from everything that I could tell, their relationship at that point was mostly just revolving around co parenting. They texted about the kids, coordinated drop offs, saw each other during exchanges, but that was about it. And whoever had sent those messages, they had to at least have been smart enough to cover their tracks. Use an anonymous number, a phone that couldn't easily be traced back to them. So everybody in their own little silo was trying to figure out who it was, even though Megan thought that it was Greg. Erica herself, though, had no idea who had sent the messages. However, she knew that it was somebody who must have known Megan very well, very close. And the reason why is because this person spelled Megan's name exactly right. See, Megan isn't spelled in the traditional sense of M, E, G a N. Instead, it's M, E a G a N. And this texter, they spelled it exactly right. So eventually, Chris and Erica ended up talking with Megan directly about this whole situation. But Megan reassured Erica, no, it's total bullshit. This isn't true. You have nothing to worry about. And she also kind of doubled down on the idea that Greg must have been the one behind it, although her reasoning for that was a bit convoluted. According to Megan, her breakup with Greg hadn't simply happened because of the stress from her new job, but rather, she explained the relationship as being extremely toxic, abusive. She also claimed that Greg struggled heavily with drugs. Now, I do want to be clear here. That was Megan's version of events. There is no confirmed proof publicly showing that to be true at all. That simply is what she told people around her. And Megan claimed that anytime she got close to anybody, male or female, Greg would supposedly try to sabotage the relationship however he could. Which, honestly, it might have been easier to believe if that anonymous text message, you know, rapid fire messaging, had actually been false. But obviously they weren't. Still, though, hearing that explanation, it did give Erica some comfort. Maybe this was just a bitter ex trying to ruin Megan's life and drag everyone else down with her. But the truth was, it didn't really matter. Because what all of this meant was one thing for sure. Chris and Megan had to become even sneakier than before. They didn't end this affair. After seeing how hurt and distraught Erica was, they didn't stop realizing how messy this had all become and how out of control it was. Instead, they just got better at hiding it. So that brings us to October 2, 2020. It was a Saturday, and it happened to be Greg's weekend with the kids. So Megan packed them up and she drove over to Greg's apartment so that she could drop them off. Now, this was already a little unusual because normally Greg would come and pick the kids up himself. Their oldest daughter was also old enough at that point to decide whether she wanted to stay or go with Greg. And most of the time, she chose to stay with her mom, Megan. It wasn't anything against Greg. She just preferred being with her mom. So usually when Greg would go pick up the younger kids, he would come inside for a little bit. He'd hang with his oldest daughter as well, say hello. But for whatever reason, on that day, things were reversed. When Megan got to Greg's apartment, she knocked on the door like she normally did. A few knocks, then silence while she waited for him to answer. A few more knocks, but then the silence just kept going. It didn't sound like he was getting dressed or cleaning something up really quick or yelling like, hey, hold on, I'll be right there. Like, just a second. It was just completely quiet inside. So she knocked again, louder this time. Maybe he was in the shower. Maybe he was on a phone call. Who knows? But he knew that the kids were coming, so why wasn't he answering the door? And no matter how many times Megan knocked, Greg never came to the door, which this immediately felt off. Greg was apparently very responsible when it came to the kids and the time that he got with them, so the chances of him simply forgetting that they were coming seemed really slim. Not to mention, Megan had talked to him the night before, and she confirmed that everything was still on track. Still on schedule. So it really didn't make sense.
- [32:18]
Investigator
And you talked to Greg on the phone at about 9:58. You said yes?
- [32:23]
Chris Dontel
I told him that I was still gonna. I was so good for taking the kids to your house in the morning. And he said yes. And, I mean, everything was fine.
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Investigator
That was the last time you spoke?
- [32:39]
Chris Dontel
Yes.
- [32:40]
Annie Elise
So eventually, Megan had no other choice but to go back home. But then days passed, and when Greg still wasn't answering phone calls or text messages or knocks at his front door three days later. Well, at this point, Megan finally contacted investigators and reported him missing. And even though the two of them weren't together anymore, she knew Greg. They had been together for 15 years. She knew him well. Even after the separation, she. She knew the people in his life, and he was very active, responsible, involved. This was unlike him. So the investigators asked her directly, like, hey, does this seem normal to you, or are you genuinely concerned here? And while Megan didn't exactly say that it was normal, she also didn't seem overly alarmed either. Instead, she heavily focused on Greg's alleged drug use, suggesting that because he lived so close to the water, maybe he had wandered off and overdosed somewhere.
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Investigator
What kind of drugs would you do?
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Chris Dontel
Like oxy?
- [33:36]
Investigator
He was.
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Chris Dontel
Roxy, I can't remember what he hurt or anything.
- [33:40]
Investigator
Is that why I started taking them or just he started taking them.
- [33:44]
Annie Elise
After speaking with Megan, the investigators went to Greg's apartment themselves. And she had at least been right about one thing. Greg definitely wasn't there. But there were also a lot of major red flags. Greg's car was still parked outside, his wallet and keys still inside the apartment, too. Really, the only things that were missing were Greg and his phone. Other than that, though, everything looked relatively normal. Nothing appeared overturned or damaged. His clothes were still there. It didn't look like someone who had just packed up and then voluntarily left town. So the investigators started speaking with the neighbors, which they didn't really provide a whole lot of answers. Nobody had seen anything suspicious, and everybody had really good things to say about Greg. However, that. That didn't really line up with the way Megan had described him. According to neighbors, Greg was friendly, and whenever they saw him outside, he would wave or he would even stop to say hello. They knew that he wasn't home all that often, though, because he was usually working or out golfing. But other than that, they described him as the perfect neighbor. Just quiet and kept to himself. So next, the investigators began interviewing Greg's close friends. Now, since Greg didn't have a wife or a Girlfriend at the time, his friends were the people who knew him best. And one of those friends was his best friend, Ryan. Now, Ryan, he had a lot to say, and spoiler alert, it painted a very different picture than the one Megan had been providing to the investigators. The topic of drugs and alcohol came up, and Ryan just immediately pushed back on it. He admitted that, yeah, Greg drank sometimes, but according to him, it was normal. Greg wasn't somebody who ever even got sloppy drunk or started fights or anything like that. But more importantly, Ryan completely shut down the idea that Greg was involved in any sort of drug use. He said that he had never known Greg to use drugs. He had never seen him doing drugs, had no reason to believe that he was secretly struggling with drugs either, and like doing it behind closed doors. And what's interesting is that when the investigators searched Greg's apartment, that was one of the first things that they were looking for. They wanted evidence of drug use to see if that could help them build a timeline. Signs of drug activity, something maybe drugs still sitting out, maybe paraphernalia, anything that would support the theory that Greg possibly overdosed somewhere. But investigators found nothing. No signs of drug use at all. So that alone, coupled with Ryan's statement, was incredibly important. Right.
- [36:11]
Investigator
Greg mentioned to me that if something was to happen to him, he didn't offer himself. He had a feeling that he was being followed by a silver unmarked car.
- [36:23]
Annie Elise
Apparently, Greg had been feeling uneasy for a while, uneasy enough that he had actually brought it up to Ryan before disappearing. Even to the point where Greg reportedly had made comments to him about never hurting himself. Basically telling Ryan that if anything ever happened to him, it wouldn't be by self harm, which, honestly, that's a pretty chilling thing to hear in hindsight. People don't just say that. And when they do, obviously it's a pretty alarming statement, right? But then Ryan dropped an even bigger bombshell on the investigators. When investigators asked him directly what he personally believed happened to Greg, Ryan's answer completely caught them off guard.
- [37:01]
Investigator
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. She always made the comments that. That she knew people. Do you think she. She would be capable of doing something?
- [37:18]
Annie Elise
Not by herself, that she was? Megan, the same person who had first reported Greg is missing, the same person who had seemingly downplayed his disappearance. The same person who may or may not have been lying about Greg's alleged drug use.
- [37:36]
Investigator
Foreign.
- [37:42]
Annie Elise
Is changing the way that people bank because they offer the most rewarding fee free banking. And they're not like traditional old banks that like charge you overdraft fees, monthly fees. They also have thousands of fee free ATMs which hello, why don't more people do that? Because like why are we paying to get our own money? So Chime is built for you and me, not the 1%. Chime members can benefit from up to $1,150 in annual rewards too. Fee free direct deposit unlocks the most rewarding way to bank at Chime as well. And chime is rated 5 stars by USA Today for customer service. Real humans 247 I mean my younger self would have definitely benefited from this because I never thought overdraft fees were a big deal. But then like I would see them stacking and stacking and stacking and it's like it's so difficult to crawl out from that. They also have Spot Me which lets you overdraft up to $200 fee free. So I don't know. Chime is not just smarter banking, it is the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee free today. Head to chime.com serial lessly. That's chime.com seriously. It only takes a few minutes to sign up and check it out. Chime is a fintech, not bank banking services for MyPay and Chime Card provided by Chimes Bank Partners. Optional products and services may have fees or charges, stated annual percentage yield and cash back for Chime prime only. No minimum balance required. Checking account ranking based on a J.D. power survey published October 20, 2025. For more information on APY rates, my pay Spot me and travel perks go to chime.com disclosures Today's episode is sponsored by Better Help Now. I feel like going into summer, it's everybody's favorite season for, you know, travel, hanging out with the kids, beach days. But also it comes with a lot of like stress because juggling all of that can be tough. It can lead to overwhelm, counting down the minutes until, you know, the kids are back in school, until you have a little bit of peace and zen. I don't know, I feel like sometimes people feel like they're wasting away the days of the sunshine and the good weather. And I personally sometimes get overwhelmed myself. Not just with like the long days, the busy schedules, but I try to get ahead of it and make sure that I'm regularly checking in with myself to make sure that like I feel good supported, like just having everything in Check. And that's where therapy comes in. Now, Better Help is amazing because they have over 30, 000 therapists, and they are the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 6 million people globally. And they also have an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. They also help match you with a therapist super quickly. A short questionnaire, it just like, identifies your needs, your preferences, and they lead you to a match therapist. But for any reason, if you're not happy, you can switch therapists at any time and they'll give you a tailored recommendation. So just check in with yourself. Make sure that you're feeling supported going into one of the most hectic seasons of the year and you don't have to to say yes to everything. This summer, find support and therapy. Sign up and get 10% off@betterhelp.com Ae that's better.hp.com Ae. Like investigators themselves pointed out, could Megan realistically have pulled something like this off? I mean, you've seen photos of the two of them. If you're watching the video version of this, Greg was a tall, athletic guy, while Megan was much smaller physically. Now, granted, she wasn't helpless. I told you, too, she was pretty strong. She could load these bodies into a truck by herself, you know, with her. I mean, that talking about what she did for a living, if you remember. So could she really carry out something like this? Well, during one of Megan's initial interviews, she casually mentioned that the night before Greg disappeared, she had gone out to dinner with her co worker, Chris. And somehow investigators had already started hearing rumors that Megan and Chris were having an affair. Yet at that point, they didn't have any confirmation, that is, until they brought both of them in for questioning.
- [41:39]
Investigator
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. That time frame, trying to gather what happened on Friday. We went to, I believe, Abuela's that night. What'd you do immediately after you got done eating?
- [42:05]
Chris Dontel
We both got in my car.
- [42:07]
Investigator
Okay.
- [42:08]
Chris Dontel
That's the uncomfortable part, right?
- [42:11]
Investigator
Yep. So y' all were in your car?
- [42:16]
Chris Dontel
Yeah.
- [42:16]
Investigator
Okay. Drive sex in your car?
- [42:20]
Chris Dontel
Possibly.
- [42:21]
Investigator
Okay. I mean, it's not possible you got adult relations. Okay.
- [42:25]
Chris Dontel
Yeah.
- [42:26]
Investigator
What's the relationship with you and Megan? If I'm being honest, it's something I
- [42:32]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
would get divorced over.
- [42:34]
Investigator
So you think his intentions are to leave his wife? And are y' all Planning on starting something?
- [42:40]
Chris Dontel
Oh, hell, no. I'm never moving a man back in my house ever again.
- [42:43]
Investigator
So this is just the fun.
- [42:47]
Chris Dontel
I don't know what we are.
- [42:48]
Investigator
Your wife doesn't know?
- [42:49]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
She knows a little bit, but not the full extent.
- [42:52]
Chris Dontel
I just don't want to wreck, you know, his. He's got kids. I know.
- [42:56]
Investigator
Again, that's my mind.
- [43:00]
Chris Dontel
What about the curse? Do you want me to answer it?
- [43:03]
Investigator
No, just. He'll be okay. He can wait.
- [43:06]
Annie Elise
Very quickly, investigators got the confirmation that they needed. Megan and Chris were absolutely having an affair. Now, Megan, she did try to downplay it a little bit, saying how she would never let a man move back into her house again. Trying to make it sound like this relationship wasn't serious or emotional. It was just physical. While Chris, on the other hand, he didn't really elaborate much on his feelings. He mostly admitted that he knew that the affair would probably end in divorce once everything came out. And in terms of an alibi, apparently, according to Chris and Megan, on the day that Greg disappeared, they had gone to dinner together at a restaurant called Abuelo's. Afterward, they went back to Megan's car. The two of them had sex like they did so often. But according to them, that was it. They both specifically claimed that they never went anywhere else that night. They also completely denied either one of them going to Greg's apartment.
- [43:59]
Investigator
Did you ever go to his apartment that Friday night?
- [44:03]
Chris Dontel
No.
- [44:03]
Investigator
Have you ever been to Greg's apartment? I never wanted.
- [44:07]
Annie Elise
Over the next month, there were search parties. People were looking near bodies of water. Investigators kept digging behind the scenes, but for a while, things were pretty quiet. That is, until November 7, 2020, just over one month after Greg vanished. And that is when Donna Sue Souls, the woman I mentioned at the beginning, went catfishing with her family. And they spotted that tarp floating in the water. And remember, it was a tarp wrapped around a human body that had been tied to a cinder block. There was no mistaking what they had found. Donna later described the moment by saying, I dropped the paddle. It scared me, and I started crying. I was like, this can't be true. The body was quickly identified as Greg's, and it was immediately obvious that this was a homicide. Greg had been shot five separate times, and whoever killed him had clearly tried to make sure that his body would never be found. So now the investigators had a murder victim. But the truth was, they had still been investigating Greg's disappearance behind the scenes. And before Greg's body was ever even found, they had already caught Megan And Chris in a major lie. See, the night that Greg disappeared, surveillance cameras did place them at Abuelos, the dinner spot, as they said, just like they claimed. But cameras also captured them somewhere else entirely. Cameras in the neighborhood where they lived caught Megan leaving around 6:15pm in a silver van, the same van that she used for work to transport bodies. Around that same time, Chris was also seen leaving in a separate vehicle. Then, just a few minutes later, both vehicles were captured driving to a nearby nature preserve. The two vehicles parked there for several minutes before eventually leaving and then heading toward Abuelos, which wasn't too far away. After Megan and Chris got to Abuelos in their separate vehicles, they were then seen on multiple cameras walking in. They come in, sit at the bar together, have a meal. Nothing too out of the ordinary. And that part matched exactly what they said they had been doing. But it's what happened after they left Abuelo's where things start getting even more messy. Because after dinner, cell phone data showed that they made their way toward Greg's apartment. And remember, both of them had specifically said they never went there that night. Now, to be fair, we know cell phone data can sometimes be a little bit off, right? Sometimes it pings on a nearby tower, but you're not even really, like, next to that tower. It just happens to be the closest one near you. I know that kind of was confusing, but hopefully you understand what I'm saying. So the investigators decided they were going to go back to Greg's apartment complex and start looking around for anything that could help confirm whether or not Chris and Megan had been there. Cameras, recordings, anything. And that's when they noticed a license plate reader at the front entrance of the complex. And that license plate reader showed that at 10pm Megan's transport vehicle drove right into Greg's community. And then just six minutes later, the van was seen leaving. Now, six minutes is not a lot of time, not at all. And to be clear, Greg's apartment, it did not look like a crime scene. There wasn't blood everywhere. There weren't obvious signs of a struggle. It certainly didn't look like somebody had been shot five times. But that license plate reader, it proved one very important thing. Megan had lied to the police. And that immediately raised the question of, okay, why'd you lie? If you didn't do anything to Greg, why would you lie to us about where you were that night? Because if she was innocent and had just gone over there to drop something off or perhaps even talk to Greg for a minute, why not just Tell the investigators that. Why deny being there at all? Now what's crazy is that from the moment that Greg was reported missing, investigators kept bringing Megan and Kristen, confronting them with evidence, questioning their timeline, their version of events. But every single time they denied everything. Even things that you can't really deny. Like a license plate reader showing Megan's van going inside Greg's complex that night.
- [48:13]
Investigator
Did you ever go to Greg's house?
- [48:15]
Chris Dontel
No.
- [48:16]
Investigator
Then can you explain why the van you were driving that night hits on a license plate reader going in the arrowhead?
- [48:26]
Chris Dontel
Well, it shouldn't have.
- [48:27]
Investigator
I have pictures of it.
- [48:29]
Chris Dontel
I mean, that's fine, but it shouldn't have.
- [48:35]
Investigator
But it did.
- [48:37]
Chris Dontel
Okay, but I can't explain explain it cuz I.
- [48:40]
Investigator
You were driving the van.
- [48:42]
Chris Dontel
Well, I can't explain it.
- [48:44]
Investigator
You and Megan were together the whole night. Megan's van drives into arrowhead at 10 o' clock that night. We could have been by arrow. Do you remember anywhere you would have gone?
- [48:55]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
And I'll be totally honest with you if I'm sure you know already she's
- [48:57]
Investigator
giving me a while I was driving the car.
- [48:59]
Annie Elise
Now let's just go over that clip for a second that I just played for you. And a reminder for those of you listening to the audio version, you can watch the actual visual of these clips clips over on YouTube. But I have a lot of thoughts on this. I'm not pretending to be the perfect criminal and I'm not trying to give anybody any ideas, but if investigators had presented me with that kind of evidence, that evidence that directly contradicted what I had been saying the entire time, I think that I would probably at least come up with some sort of explanation instead of basically saying like, well, I don't have an explanation. It shouldn't have been there. I mean, obviously it shouldn't have been there. Even the detective kind of laughed because it doesn't matter if you say it shouldn't have been there. It was there. And don't even get me started on Chris's excuse for not remembering where he drove that night. I mean, come on, Megan was giving him a blow job while he was driving the van. I mean, come on, give me a break. I mean, in fairness, I guess at least they came up with something. But that still doesn't explain why they drove her to her ex's apartment and then lied about it. Make it make sense. It doesn't. And the trail didn't end at Greg's apartment complex. After Megan's transport van left the complex, she and Chris arrived at Myrtle Beach Funeral Home. Unfortunately, though, the cameras there weren't working. However, the investigators now had to wonder, could Greg have already have been dead by then? Were they transporting his body to the funeral home so they could figure out how to get rid of it? They were even able to check the crematorium and confirm if the incinerator had been turned on or used recently. Because, remember, at this point in the investigation, this was all ahead of finding Greg. This was all their own police work before Greg's body was even discovered. So they knew that his body had to be somewhere, and they were checking everything. During that month, investigators also made it very clear that Megan and Chris were their only suspects. And they said that straight to their faces. This was never something that they were keeping quiet in hopes of secretly catching them in more lies. I mean, their lies were crumbling all on their own.
- [50:59]
Investigator
When we're giving you every opportunity to. To get yourself out of the situation,
- [51:05]
Chris Dontel
there's nothing for me to get. I don't know where he is.
- [51:09]
Investigator
I feel like I'm being investigated for something, investigated for something that I didn't do. Chris, you are being investigated. You are absolutely. A thousand percent. 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 gonna tell you this. If someone asked me to put a bet on it, I would say that you did.
- [51:31]
Annie Elise
So at this point, they had just needed to find Greg or Greg's body. And as we know, they eventually did. So now that the investigators had Greg's body, the case became much stronger. They already had evidence showing Megan and Chris were likely in the area of Greg's apartment that night. So now they just needed something connecting them to Greg's body, and it didn't take them long. And to find exactly that. Investigators discovered that that specific tarp that Greg's body had been wrapped in, it came from the hardware store or the home improvement store called Lowe's. Thankfully, the nearby Lowe's had working security cameras. So investigators started going back through all of the footage around the time that Greg disappeared, day by day, watching everyone who walked in that store, everybody walking out, and they were just looking for the two familiar faces, Megan and Chris. And finally, they saw it. Chris walked into Lowe's with a shopping cart and a mission. He grabbed a tarp. Then he grabbed multiple cement cinder blocks, zip ties, ratchet straps, all of it. And it was all caught on camera. October 3rd, the day after Greg was Last known to be alive the same day that Megan had supposedly gone to Greg's apartment to drop off the kids. Every single thing that they had used. The wrap, the weigh down, the tarp, the everything to hide Greg's body. It was right there, sitting in Chris's shopping cart. And honestly, anytime we do one of these cases and we see someone casually just buying supplies to hide, dismember, or conceal a body, you know, it makes me never want to go to the hardware store again. But it also makes me wonder, like, is there a way to intervene where, like, somebody at the checkout stand who notices all of these purchases is maybe, like, this feels weird. Let me call in a tip right now to my local law enforcement. Hey, some guy just came in and bought X, Y, and Z. Maybe you want to jot the name down so that if in a month from now, someone connected to him goes missing. You have this? I don't know. Just a thought. That's something I would probably do, or I would like not to waste the police's time. Maybe I would, like, have my own little log, personal only of things like that. I don't know. But the most eerie part in all of this is on the footage, Chris looked so normal, so casual. Everyone passing him in the store probably didn't even give him a second glance. He probably just looked like a guy who had gotten off of work, needed supplies for, I don't know, maybe a landscaping project or something, and was going on about his day. Now, as damning as that evidence was, detectives were also able to track Chris and his work vehicle directly to the area where Greg's body was dumped. Because once again, like these idiots are, it was all caught on camera. So eventually, Chris and Megan were both brought back into the station. And this time, investigators did not beat around the bush. They told both of them that they were being arrested for Greg's murder, and whether they wanted to cooperate or not, it really didn't even matter.
- [54:30]
Investigator
I'm not gonna ask you any questions. What I do want to do, though, because I'll leave these here with some shopping at Lowe's. There's the body you threw over the bridge. As well. You understand? You're not leaving the building today. You're going to be going to county jail here shortly. Okay?
- [54:54]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
What am I under arrest for right now? That I'm.
- [54:56]
Investigator
Murder. Murder. At what point can I speak with my lawyer?
- [55:02]
Annie Elise
Now, unfortunately, Greg's murder in all of this, it was far from the end of this case, because Megan's alleged crimes didn't Stop there. All right, listen up, fellas. Cough, cough. You, Jeremiah. I know you're listening. Summer cooking is officially in session. Steaks on a random Tuesday. Burgers for, you know, the kids, the boys, watching the big game, whatever it is you're doing. Those nights when at one friend stops by, suddenly you're like cooking for the whole crew. And everyone loves to talk about the grill, but your pans are doing a lot of the heavy lifting. If your cookware sticks, burns, heats unevenly, or turns cleanup into a full contact sport, it isn't making you a better cook. It's making your life harder. And that's where Hexclad comes in. Hexclad completely is changing the game by combining the performance of stainless steel with the convenience of non stick all in one pan. Old nonstick pans, they scratch, peel, they wear out fast. Heat distribution is terrible. But Hexclad gives you a proper sear, great heat control and cleanup that doesn't turn into a whole second job after dinner. They are fantastic. They are great. They are so highly recommended. And they're metal utensil safe, dishwasher safe, super easy to wipe down, oven safe up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. So with over a million customers and over 50,000 five star reviews, the secret is out. And there's a reason Gordon Ramsay uses Hexclad too. Okay. Hexclad's 12 piece set is the ultimate all in one cookware upgrade. They've got versatile pans, three of them. They've got two saucepans, a family size stock pot. They all have their own lids. So you'll have every single tool that you need, whether you're trying to, like, cook for your loved one again, me, Jeremiah, or a whole crowd of people. And built with Hexclad's patent hybrid technology and backed by a lifetime warranty, it's a set that is designed to be the last cookware that you will ever need. Don't go through another summer with cookware that makes every meal harder than it needs to be. For a limited time only, our listeners get 10% off your order with our exclusive link. Just head to hexclad.com ae and support our show. Check them out at hexclad H-E-X C-L-A-.com ae and make sure to let them know that we sent you. After Megan and Chris were arrested, investigators executed a search warrant at Megan's house. And once they got inside, things became incredibly disturbing. I'm sure that they were looking for evidence Connected to Greg's murder. Right. I mean, the murder weapon, clothing, anything that could help connect Megan to what happened. But as the investigators started moving room to room, it became very clear that something else had been going on inside that house. At first, there was one room that the investigators described on the body cam footage as a doomsday room. They said that because there was a lock on the outside of the door. But once they got inside, they realized it was actually just this huge room, pantry full of food. Then they got to the kids bedrooms. The windows were padlocked, and there was spray foam insulation that had been placed all around the windows, Almost like it was done to help soundproof them. Electronic locks had also been installed on the outside of the bedroom doors. There were alarms on the bedroom doors, too, so that if one of the kids somehow got through the electronic locks, a loud beeping sound would just go off, alerting someone that they had, you know, gotten out or tried to get out. And as for the inside of the rooms, they barely looked like bedrooms at all, let alone kids rooms. There were just mats on the floor with no sheets, no toys, no pictures on the walls. Nothing warm or comforting or normal. A true house of horrors. Investigators even found jars of urine that the children had apparently been forced to use when they needed to go to the bathroom. So the truth now was out there. Megan had been abusing her and Greg's four children, and that abuse was painfully apparent. She had food completely locked away from them in a separate, isolated bedroom. Their bedrooms looked like jail cells. They were soundproof. They were locked. It was all awful. So while Megan was out there telling anyone who would listen that Greg was this abusive drug addict, somebody that she was afraid of, behind closed doors, the children were the ones being tormented and trapped inside her home, not by her ex. And what makes it even more horrifying is that a bartender at one of these local spots that Megan went to often, they later spoke with investigators, and they had something absolutely chilling to say.
- [59:42]
Chris Dontel
Normal conversation, like, what do you do? They explain. Well, he explained that he was a corner, and she transports bodies, and he's 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 details about how much she hates her kids, how she never wanted them. She said, I think about killing them all the time.
- [60:04]
Annie Elise
Can you imagine that? Just vocalizing so frequently and confidently how much you hate your children and how you never wanted them. It's awful. Now, separate from the abuse, authorities discovered something else. Incriminating. Inside Megan's house, something that was more directly related to Greg's murder. Megan was a gun owner. She had multiple guns in her home, but none of the guns that the investigators found matched the murder weapon. However, they did find an empty gun box that matched the type of gun that was used to kill Greg. So while the gun itself was gone, the box showed that Megan had at one point been in possession of that kind of weapon. So where was it? Why isn't it here? Who knows? I mean, maybe it's at the bottom of a body of water like Greg was supposed to be. Ultimately, Megan and Chris were both charged with two murder charges, two counts of criminal conspiracy, four counts of neglect of children or a helpless person, one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and one count of accessory after the fact. Now, what's especially shocking is they were both released on bail while they waited for trial. At first, they were both placed on house arrest, and they weren't allowed to leave unless it was for something pre approved, something like a doctor's appointment or a court hearing. Though Chris's house arrest, it was later lifted. However, their biggest condition was that they were not allowed to talk with each other or see each other. But, of course, did they actually follow that? No. They were caught talking on the phone. And after Chris's house arrest was lifted, he even went to visit Megan at her house, which, how stupid can you be? But I've said it before, I love to see these stupid criminals. So they were both sent right back to jail. I mean, personally, I would have been on my absolute best behavior just so I could sleep in my own bed every night until trial. But these two dingbats, I mean, apparently, I don't know, the sex was too good. They, like, couldn't resist each other. Who the hell knows? Now, what's also interesting about this case is that investigators didn't have a super clear motive. I mean, you can make assumptions, obviously, but it wasn't as obvious as it felt like it might have been in some other cases, because Megan and Greg weren't even together anymore. They hadn't been together for almost a full year at this point. So it's not like this was a case where Megan wanted out of the relationship and she recruited her lover Chris to help make that happen. There's also the fact that Megan and Greg were never even married. So legally, financially, there was nothing that, like, tied them together in ways that would be a motivator for murder. Which, I will say this. When I first heard about Megan's mom, Dying, and then Megan receiving a pretty significant inheritance. My mind went to money. I was like, oh, she doesn't want Greg getting some part of that somehow. But again, they weren't married, so that inheritance wasn't going to Greg anyway. And then there was everything that people said about Greg himself. By all accounts, Greg was a good guy, someone who loved his kids, loved being outdoors, loved spending time with friends. Now, sure, as we always know, we don't know the full truth. There could have been things happening behind closed doors that nobody else knew about. Anything is possible. But publicly, there's never been any evidence proving, you know, truth to any of the allegations that Megan made against him. At least nothing beyond her own claims. And honestly, given everything else that's come out, I mean, I don't know that I would jump at believing what Megan is saying. There's also, of course, the issue of those anonymous text messages that were sent to Erica. Did Greg send them? Is that why they killed him? Which I'll come back to that in a second here. So after these arrests, Chris started panicking, which honestly happens a lot in cases where there are co defendants. Eventually, one person starts talking in an effort to save themselves. So Chris and his attorneys sat down with the investigators, and Chris decided he was going to finally tell them everything, or at least his version of everything. According to Chris, on the night that Greg was killed, he and Megan had gone to dinner together, which, remember, we know is true. Then afterward, he claimed that they both went to Myrtle Beach Funeral Home, where they were supposedly working on something. Chris said that at some point, Megan abruptly told him that she needed to go and see Greg. And according to Chris, he stayed behind at the funeral home and never actually saw Greg that night. It was just Megan. Then when Megan eventually came back, Chris claimed that she looked visibly shaken and told him that they needed to leave immediately. According to Chris, it wasn't even until the following day that Megan called him asking for help to hide Greg's body, which, to be clear, Chris admitted he absolutely did help with that. He said he went to Lowe's, he bought the supplies, and he helped dispose of Greg's body. But Chris claimed he didn't know how Greg was killed, when Greg was killed, or even why he was killed.
- [64:44]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
She said, I need to go see
- [64:46]
Investigator
Greg, so she leaves.
- [64:48]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
I stayed at Myrtle Beach Community.
- [64:50]
Investigator
I did not leave.
- [64:51]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
She said, we have to go. I said, is Greg here?
- [64:54]
Investigator
She said, no, but we have to go. She was shaking.
- [64:59]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
I never saw Greg that night we left. I asked her how she knows he's dead. She said, why doesn't matter.
- [65:09]
Annie Elise
So according to Chris, Megan was the real mastermind here. She planned it, she carried it out. And according to him, he was just this. This clueless guy who got dragged into helping clean up after the fact. Now, do I personally buy that? Not entirely, but possibly. And I'll share why in a little bit here. So, eventually, Megan also decided to give investigators her version of events. And honestly, her story could not have been more different from Chris's. Although, ironically, both of them were trying to do the exact same thing. Make each other look more guilty. Flip on one another. According to Megan, it was actually Chris's idea to lure Greg to the Myrtle beach funeral home that night. Supposedly, Chris wanted to confront Greg about something.
- [65:52]
Chris Dontel
This is the part that I didn't tell the truth on. I went to pick up Greg. He got out of the car, went into Myrtle beach funeral home, and I gave him a couple 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.
- [66:17]
Annie Elise
Megan claimed that Greg willingly showed up and left with Chris on his own. Then, according to her, sometime later, Chris suddenly called her back in, and he showed her Greg's dead body, telling her he now needed help making sure that nobody ever found out what happened.
- [66:32]
Investigator
When did you learn that Greg was dead?
- [66:37]
Chris Dontel
After you showed me the body.
- [66:39]
Investigator
So Chris never told you.
- [66:41]
Annie Elise
Now, what's interesting about both of their stories is that even though they completely contradict each other, they still follow the same pattern. In both versions, one person supposedly had no idea that a murder was going to happen and only learned about it after the fact. They had no idea how the other person killed Greg, why, but they just then offered to help cover it up. Basically, both of them were trying to reduce themselves from murderer to accessory after the fact. And unfortunately, because the funeral home cameras weren't working that night, there was no way to definitively prove who was telling the truth, assuming either one of them were telling the truth at all, which seems pretty unlikely. So Megan eventually agreed to take a polygraph test, and to no surprise, she failed it. Chris, however, refused to take one altogether, which, you know, say that. Think of that however you want. So Chris's trial actually started before Megan's did. And at first, everything stayed pretty much the same. Finger pointing, blame shifting, both sides accusing the other. But then something major happened. After Chris's trial had already started, literally, during opening statements, his attorney just suddenly stood up and announced that Chris wanted to Plead guilty, which is huge. That almost never happens in the middle of a trial. But here's the important detail to that. Chris only pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact, not murder itself. So, honestly, it seemed like Chris realized that things were not going to go the way that he had hoped, and he probably didn't want to risk being convicted outright of murder. Now, part of this plea deal, though, it of course included testifying against Megan, and that's exactly what he did during Megan's trial in 2025. And honestly, I'm really curious to know what you guys think about Chris's testimony, because I am going to play for you some of these clips in a second here. But his entire demeanor changes during his original interviews. He was cold, unemotional, barely even cooperative. But once he took the stand, completely different person. He finally admitted that the original story that he told the investigators just wasn't true.
- [68:51]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
She told me that she makes him meet her outside because she's uncomfortable going to his apartment. So he meets her outside of the apartment complex. So we were driving down Arrowhead Road, and I saw Greg on the left side of the road walking towards us just outside of the apartment complex. And I said, is that him? She said, yeah. So as we approached him, I started to slow down, and she said, make a U turn. So I kind of passed him, made a U turn. And as I pulled up alongside him, she said, because I was going to. He stopped walking. He kind of turned to face our van, and I was stopping right next to him. And she said, pull up. Don't be awkward. So I said, pull up? She said, yeah, pull up. So I pulled up so that we had passed him.
- [69:53]
Annie Elise
What happened next?
- [69:57]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
She opened the door and shot her.
- [70:02]
Annie Elise
How many shots did you hear?
- [70:03]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
A lot.
- [70:05]
Investigator
What did you do?
- [70:10]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
I froze.
- [70:15]
Annie Elise
Did the defendant say anything to you at that point?
- [70:19]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
Yeah. She said, what are you doing? Help me. Help me. Cursing at me. Help me. So what did you do? I got out of the van and walked towards the back of the van. Greg was laying right at the back of the van on the side of the road.
- [70:39]
Investigator
What did you do?
- [70:42]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
She said, put him in the back of the van. So I opened the back of the van, and we started treating him just as we would treat any other body.
- [70:51]
Annie Elise
As his testimony continued, Chris also started talking about how Megan had threatened him. He talked about wanting Greg and Megan's children to finally get answers and the justice that they deserved. Almost like he was some sort of savior in this.
- [71:05]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
On the way to get The Explorer. She told me that if I ever told anybody what happened, she would kill me. Her daughter Savannah. Was watching TV in the living room. I just remember thinking how normal it looked in the house. I had to pretend that this hadn't just happened. Sorry, May. You went straight to the shower. And I sat on the couch with Savannah. I'm sorry, Savannah.
- [72:06]
Annie Elise
Okay, you just have to answer my questions.
- [72:10]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
Sat on the couch with her. And I tried to make small talk like I hadn't just watched her mother kill her father. I'm sorry, what was the question?
- [72:48]
Annie Elise
Honestly, after hearing so many different versions of events and so many lies throughout this case, it becomes really difficult to know what the full truth actually is. Maybe Chris finally told the truth. Maybe he told pieces of the truth mixed in with lies that made him look less involved. Who really knows? But in the end, Megan's lies finally caught up with her.
- [73:09]
Erica Dontel
With a jury by unanimous consent, find this defendant guilty. Signed by foreperson Jeffrey Roberts, dated June 17, 2025.
- [73:18]
Chris Dontel
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, if
- [73:20]
Annie Elise
this is your verdict, please so signify by raising your right hand.
- [73:24]
Investigator
All right, Ms. Jackson, you have been found guilty of murder by a jury of your peers. The sentence of the court. I agree with the state sentence of the court is that you be committed to the department of Corrections for the remainder of your life. Life you'll be pray for any time, sir. All right.
- [73:43]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
Thank you.
- [73:44]
Investigator
Thank you.
- [73:45]
Annie Elise
As for Chris, he was ultimately sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison. And surprisingly, through all of this, his wife Erica stayed by his side. She even prepared a statement to read to the judge during sentencing.
- [73:58]
Erica Dontel
My name is Erica Dontel. I'm Christopher donel's wife. On June 12, 2025, Chris and I spent our 10th wedding anniversary test fighting against his co defendant, Megan Jackson. For nearly five years, I've made the choice each and every day to stay married to Chris. Despite the murder charge, affair selling, though it felt more like losing my dream home. Severe depression and anxiety, financial hardship and all while solo parenting and homeschooling our two kids in hopes of getting them the most normal life possible. I've stayed and I would like you to understand why the Chris has been presented to you in this courtroom over the last few years is not the man I chose to marry and go to life with. While Chris and I have been married for 10 years. We've been together for nearly 15. Just about half of my life. While Chris and I. Oh, sorry. The totality of the horrible and unimaginable events that have gotten us here Today only took a matter of months. Chris has not simply caught up in a workplace affair, but instead, Megan Jackson infiltrated our all areas of our lives and became the literal Antichrist to our family. Within eight short months, Megan Jackson moved into our neighborhood and set her plan in motion with two goals in mind. End Chris and mine's marriage and rid herself of Greg Rice. Only one of which she succeeded at. From day one of knowing Megan, she had perfectly curated a narrative to gain compassion from both Charis and myself. At the time, it was our understanding that Greg Rice was an abusive, drug addictive pervert. And Megan sold that story to us every chance she got. Chris nor I had never met Gray, and from her stories, we felt we never wanted to. I believe everything she told us was a tactical move to allow her plan to move forward without a damage page. Megan sold both and Chris.
- [75:51]
Chris Dontel (Testimony)
I'm sorry.
- [75:52]
Erica Dontel
Megan sold both Chris and I on the idea that we were all friends and she was willing to and ready to solve all of our problems. She used the economic crash caused by Covid to shower us with expensive gifts, food, and promises of my dream come true. A summer camp for kids here in the county. Life was going to be perfect and she was going to be to thank for it. Until it wasn't. Through her manipulation and a full stop of pricey alcohol. Megan used some challenges in our marriage that I had confided in her to present Chris with an escape from reality of the stresses of home and work. I'm not making excuses for Chris's behavior, but I feel the backstory is important to understand how we got here. Chris made choices that he's expressed to me that he deeply regrets and has been paying for ever since. I will not overlook him, his role, and the damage his decisions have caused. But it's with every fiber of my being that I say if Covid shutdowns had never happened, Chris would not be involved in this case at all. I do, however, believe Megan still would have found a way to do what she did to Greg.
- [76:55]
Annie Elise
You know, and while we're talking about Chris and Erica's marriage, I do want to circle back to those anonymous text messages for a second, because to this day, nobody actually knows who sent them. Megan always believed that Greg sent the text. But again, how would Greg have known about the affair and the pregnancy? They weren't really, you know, talking on that level. But could Greg have found out somehow and then sent them? Possibly. If he did, could that have been Megan's motive? Possibly. But there's also another possibility. I Just said possibility like five times. There's another possibility in all of this too. Greg and Megan's oldest daughter, Savannah, eventually became aware of this affair. So maybe she felt guilty knowing Erica personally, so she told her dad, Greg, or even sent the messages herself. Which honestly, part of me also wonders if Megan herself could have sent these messages as a way to try to force them apart, even though she said she didn't want to get married again, like, or not again get married, period. Like, could she have been trying to create a wedge between Erica and Chris? Maybe. I mean, it feels a little wild at first, but I don't know. We've seen crazier. The pregnancy itself was real too. Megan eventually gave birth and the baby was ultimately placed with a family friend. Megan told Chris that the child was his and Chris apparently never requested a paternity test or challenged it publicly. So there you have it. But speaking of children, Greg and Megan's four kids were absolutely some of the biggest victims in all of this. Because honestly, if Megan hated the kids and Greg so much, there were so many other options. Greg clearly loved those kids. She could have let them live with him. She could have moved on with her life however she wanted. But instead she made her kids lives a living hell and then selfishly took Greg's life, not to mention leaving her children full of trauma and with a lack of parental figures in their lives. Today, Greg and Megan's four children are reportedly being raised by Greg's oldest child, their half brother. And honestly, I can't even begin to imagine the pain that that family has gone through, which I just hope that somehow, in their own separate ways, they are finally starting to find some peace. But part of me also wonders. And tell me what you think. As the children were getting older, Greg and Megan were only separated for about a year at that point, right? From everything we know, Greg was very active in the kids lives. He loved them, he would go pick them up, he would talk with them. Part of me wonders if this house of horrors thing was like a new revelation. Like, I wonder how long that had been going on and if that's why she didn't want Greg coming to the house that day, or if that's why, if she was nervous that the kids were going to tell Greg what she had been doing and that was the motivation for killing him because she didn't want to get caught hurting her children. I also go back to the fact that, remember how she said sometimes the oldest daughter just preferred to stay home and stay with her mom and not go with Greg. Was that because that was her preference or was she being forced to stay home because Megan was scared that she was old enough that she would, you know, spill the beans and tell him? I just don't really see what other motivation it was. Unless, again, there was motivation because of the anonymous text messages. But in my gut, I kind of feel like that was from Megan herself. I think that she orchestrated that entire thing. I don't know. It's a roller coaster. And I'm curious to know what you guys think. And I guess that's my biggest call to action right now. For what I want you to leave in the comment section on YouTube or in the review section on Apple or in the Q and A section on Spotify. Whatever method you're able to leave, you know, feedback, what do you think the motive was? Let me know. All right, thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode with me. I'll be back on the mic with you very soon. Don't forget, follow the podcast, subscribe on YouTube so that you don't miss future episodes. And until the next one, be nice, don't kill people, don't have affairs, and don't get better at hiding your crimes because I love when these criminals are so stupid. So thank you for that. Okay, bye. Summer adventures are better with Minky Couture. From road trips to ball games, beach nights to backyard movies, Minky has you covered. Don't miss the Everywear blanket. Water resistant, ultra soft and made for life on the go, wherever summer takes you, bring comfort along. 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- [82:24]
Erica Dontel
Com.