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A Beaufort County, South Carolina murder trial ended abruptly on Wednesday (June 25, 2025) when a Bluffton man admitted to ambushing and murdering his former girlfriend, 25-year-old Jillian Angner.
John Patrick Shea, 30, pleaded guilty to the 2023 shooting of Angner as she drove her son to school on the morning of March 2, 2023. Prosecutors said Shea laid in wait near her Bluffton-area home and opened fire on her Jeep Cherokee in a calculated act of violence that also endangered her six-year-old child.
Angner was hit multiple times – including a gunshot wound to the neck. She was placed on life support following the shooting but never regained consciousness and died on August 5, 2023.
Angner’s young son, miraculously unharmed, managed to crawl out of the vehicle and hide in a nearby marsh. He later gave a forensic interview that corroborated key details of the investigation, according to a news release from the S.C. fourteenth circuit solicitor’s office.
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In addition to Angner’s murder, Shea pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Angner’s son, discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle and possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime. S.C. circuit court judge S. Bryan Doby imposed the maximum sentence on all of these charges — including life in prison for Angner’s murder.
In addition to being a devoted mother, Angner was remembered by her loved ones as “a bright light in every room.”
“She leaves behind so many heartbroken family members and friends,” her obituary noted.
“This was a calculated and deeply disturbing act of violence,” said assistant solicitor Hunter Swanson, who prosecuted the case. “Today’s conviction cannot restore Jillian’s life, but it brings some measure of justice to her friends, family and young son. I hope this helps them heal.”
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A PLANNED ATTACK
Jillian Angner was born in New Jersey and lived in Okatie, South Carolina at the time of her death. A graduate of Bluffton High School, she was a certified nursing assistant and licensed pharmacy technician. At the time of the shooting, she was working in the pharmaceutical field with her “loving second family” at Ulmer Family Pharmacy and Wellness Center.
Shea and Angner ended their relationship in the fall of 2022. In the months that followed, Angner reported multiple stalking incidents and break-ins at her home — acts allegedly committed by Shea.
The morning of the shooting, Shea enlisted a friend to drive him to Angner’s neighborhood under the false pretense of conducting a drug deal. As she departed her driveway, he opened fire. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots, and Ring camera footage captured a Ford F-150 in the area around the time of the shooting. The truck’s driver cooperated with law enforcement, providing a detailed account of the events and reenacting the scene for investigators.
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Shea was arrested a week later – loading suitcases into a car outside of his Bluffton apartment. Inside his home, investigators found a trove of disturbing items: defaced photographs of Angner, a voodoo doll, tarot cards, a makeshift shrine, satanic literature and a letter from Shea’s mother detailing past threats of violence and concerns about his mental health.
Shea also had a running list of women with whom he had engaged in romantic or physical contact – with notes about each encounter.
As part of his planning for Angner’s murder, Shea attempted to give himself an alibi by leaving his vehicle at a local bar.
“Text messages and actions taken the night before the shooting revealed he had carefully planned the attack,” prosecutors noted.
Shea’s case was prosecuted by Swanson, who leads the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office Special Victims Unit and is part of its Career Criminal Unit — which has secured convictions in more than 500 of the circuit’s most serious cases since 2009. Swanson called seven witnesses to the stand during the first day of the trial in Beaufort County. Testimony was about to resume on Wednesday morning when Shea entered his guilty plea.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
As a private investigator turned journalist, Jenn Wood brings a unique skill set to FITSNews as its research director. Known for her meticulous sourcing and victim-centered approach, she helps shape the newsroom’s most complex investigative stories while producing the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts. Jenn lives in South Carolina with her family, where her work continues to spotlight truth, accountability, and justice.
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1 comment
We should not be paying taxes for this 25 year- old man to live a life behind bars. He’ll probably live to be at least 75. I’d like to know why the prosecutor did not seek the death penalty for this clearly premeditated murder and attempted murder of a child. Help us out here, FITS – why no death penalty??? Is it because a deal was offered to him that stayed on the table after the trial started? Without knowing more, it sounds like a weak prosecutor/solicitor who may need to be replaced.