415: Anonymous Texts, Soundproof Bedrooms & The Affair Next Door | The Gregory Rice Case

if you could write a script isn't this perfect you have a body transport person a deputy coroner and at least one visit to a funeral home that night i felt it was kind of fishy she ended up putting in a missing persons report savannah says her parents relationship took a bad turn 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 serialously hello hello hello and welcome back to an all-new episode of serialously 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 uh 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 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 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's 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 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 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woman named donna sue souls was out at the pd river in 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 and they were very experienced out on the water 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 left the pd river we were going to go to the pd river and we were going to go to the pd river 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 is 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 palettes when there's like furniture or you know like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're 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 the city 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 hillary 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 who are living in myrtle beach and i'm sure greg call it home and really it was the perfect place for him he loved doing anything that involved being outside and 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 benjamin they were neighbors they were friends a kind of a mix-up and they were really close to each other and they were really 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 hard to do and it was a lot of work and it was a lot of work and it was pretty demanding it didn't matter if it was 4 a.m 6 p.m 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 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 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 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 nine to five where you can just like clock out and go home for the night and like mentally tune out and check out. You're on call basically 24 seven. 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. So she was like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. 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, 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 was also another layer on top of that. Homicides. And to make things even creepier, Myrtle Beach also has a pretty significant 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. And so, I mean, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. 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 Murrell'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 19th, 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 better was that she already knew her new next-door neighbors. They were Chris Dontell, 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 in to help. 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 that was kind of their exchange. That's how they got each other 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 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, uh, 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. So according to Chris, Megan then climbed over the center console, got on top of him, and started kissing him. However, he claims that he stopped her, that he told her he was not going to do it. Now, even though that exact moment wasn't technically the start to their full-blown affair, it kind of was. Because Chris later said that for days afterward, Megan kept bringing it up and teasing him about it in like a flirtatious way, saying things like, you're the only guy I know who would turn down that offer, or hey, remember what happened in my car? And he said, no, no, I haven't. And eventually, I guess Chris 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's wife Erica had absolutely no idea. She thought that Megan was someone who was going to do it. And so, 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 Erica's friends had caught Chris and Megan in the ass. 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 sent, 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. 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, he didn't. 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 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 thinking about it. But, you know, I don't know. I don't know. 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 2nd, 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. 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 he 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. 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 at this point, she didn't know him. She didn't know him. She didn't know him. Even after the separation, 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. 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 a huge blow to the investigation. And so, in the end, the investigators found nothing. So that alone, coupled with Ryan's statement, was incredibly important, right? 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. 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. What do you think could have happened? What were your thoughts at first? She had something to do with it. What gave you this? 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. 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. How we got your name was Megan. Said that you guys had gone out to eat on Friday night. And then, with Greg going missing sometime around that time frame, we're trying to gather what happened on Friday. We went to, I believe, Abuela's that night. What'd you do immediately after you got done eating? We both got in my car. Okay. Now it's the uncomfortable part, right? Yep. So, y'all were in your car? Yeah. Okay. Did y'all have sex in your car? Possibly. Okay. I mean. It's not possible. You had adult relations? That's good. Okay. Yes. What's the relationship with you and Megan? Um, if I'm being honest, it's something I would get divorced over. Okay. So, you think his intentions are to leave his wife? No. Or y'all play it on the start or something? Oh, hell no. I'm never moving a man back in my house ever again. So, this is just fun. Um, I don't know what we are. Your wife doesn't know. She knows a little bit, but not the full extent of it. I just don't want to wreck, you know, his. He's got kids. I know. Again, that's not my. Oh, my God. Well, that'd be correct. Do you want me to answer it? No. Just. He'll be okay. He can wait. 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 was a real affair. 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. Did you ever go to his apartment that Friday night? No. Had you ever been in Greg's apartment? No. I never went there. 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 7th, 2020, just over one month after Greg vanished. And that is when Donna Sue Soles, 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 cinderblock. 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 6:15 p.m. 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 Abuelos, where things start getting even more messy. Because after dinner, cell phone data showed that they made their way to the 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 10 p.m., 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 who 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? 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 Chris in, 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. Did you ever go to Greg's house? No. Then can you explain why? The van you were driving that night hits on a license plate reader going into Arrowhead. Well, it shouldn't have. I have pictures of it. I mean, that's fine, but it shouldn't have. But it did. Okay, but I can't explain it. Because you were driving the van. Well, I can't explain it. 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 Arrowhead. Do you remember anywhere you would have gone? And I'll be totally honest with you, because I'm sure you know already, she was giving me a while I was driving the car. 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 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 would have helped me. And I'm not trying to give anybody any ideas. And if investigators had presented me with that kind of evidence, that evidence would have helped me. And 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 blowjob 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 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 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. 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. 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 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 a live. 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, 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, hmm, 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 personally 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. 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. 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 room, 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 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 bars, who was a bartender at one of these local bars, was a bartender at one of the local spots that Megan went to often. They later spoke with investigators, and they had something absolutely chilling to say. Normal conversation, like, what do you do? They explained, well, he explained that he was a coroner, and she transports bodies. And he was like, that's got to be a weird job. Small talk like that. Later on, it got into conversations about their families. She started going into great details about how much she hates her kids, how she never wanted them. She said, I think about killing them all the time. 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 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' arrest, Megan and Greg 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 this, I was like, oh, my God. I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. I'm not 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 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, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't 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. She said, I need to go see Greg. So she leaves. I stayed at Myrtle Beach Funeral Home. I did not leave. She said, we have to go. I said, is Greg here? She said, no, but we have to go. She was shaking. I never saw Greg. That night, we left. After how she knows he's dead, she said, why? 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 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. 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. 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. 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 how ever you want. So Chris' 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' 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 think about that. Chris' trial had already started. 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. 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 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 he stopped walking and 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. What happened next? She opened the door and shot him. How many shots did you hear? A lot. What did you do? I froze. Did the defendant say anything to you at that point? 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. What did you do? 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. 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. 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. I'm sorry. Megan went straight to the shower and I sat on the couch with Savannah. I'm sorry, Savannah. Okay, you just have to answer my question. I'm sorry. I sat on the couch with her and we tried to make small talk. Like I hadn't just watched her mother kill her father. I'm sorry, what was the question? 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. We, the jury, by unanimous consent, find this defendant guilty. Son by four-person jeopardy. Robbers dated June 17, 2025. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, if this is your verdict, please so signify by raising your right hand. 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. The sentence of the court is that you be committed to the Department of Corrections for the remainder of your life. You will get credit for your intent, sir. Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you. 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. My name is Erica Montel. I'm Christopher Montel's wife. On June 12, 2025, Chris and I spent our 10th wedding anniversary testifying 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, I've been a victim of murder. Undercharge, 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 that has been presented to you in this courtroom over the last few years is not the man I chose to marry and build a 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. The totality of the horrible and unimaginable events that have gotten us here today only took a matter of months. Chris was not simply caught up in a workplace affair, but instead, Megan Jackson infiltrated 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 Curis 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 and I had never met Greg, and from her stories, we felt we never wanted to. I believe everything she told us was true. What she told us was a tactical move to allow her plan to move forward without a hitch. Megan sold both Chris and I on the idea that we were all friends, and she was willing 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' 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 his role and the damage his decisions have caused, but it is 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. Would 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, like, 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 didn't. 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 whores 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 there is for her to do that. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what kind of 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. 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&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. Bye.