Bond hearing for former Horry County deputy coroner accused of murder to be rescheduled

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) – A bond reconsideration hearing for a former Horry County deputy coroner charged with murder will take place at a later time.

Christopher Dontell’s defense team filed a motion for bond reconsideration in February. The hearing was scheduled for Thursday but was canceled at the last minute because the defense attorney could not attend.

Dontell, along with Meagan Jackson, is charged with murder and criminal conspiracy in the death of Gregory Rice back in 2020.

Rice was first reported missing in October 2020. His body was found a month later along the Little Pee Dee River near Pitts Landing at the Horry/Marion County line.

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Jackson is the mother of Rice’s four children. Investigators believe Dontell and Jackson started a relationship when Jackson worked as a subcontractor for the Horry County Coroner’s Office.

Dontell was given a bond and released from jail in November 2020, but his bond was revoked in September 2021 after the solicitor’s office said he violated the terms of his bond.

One of his bond conditions was to not have contact with Jackson.

But a circuit court judge found that Dontell had violated the conditions of his bond on numerous occasions.

Jackson also reportedly violated the conditions of her bond in June 2021. Court documents showed she had been in contact with Dontell through phone and text messages, and visited locations where she was not allowed to be.

She was granted bond again in March 2022 and is currently on home detention.

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