Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Obsessed Ex Shoots Young Mom as 6-Year-Old Son Watches

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

Jillian Angner, 24, was driving her six-year-old son to school in March 2023 when a man she had dated for four months shot her on a road in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Angner's son survived but she died five months later. John Patrick Shea was charged with the crime. In a surprise move, Shea pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial late last month. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CRIMEFIX at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: http://incogni.com/crimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Evan McKenna https://x.com/evanjmckenna Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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A man admits to shooting a mother to death in front of her six-year-old son as she drove him to school. I go through the disturbing details of the murder of Jillian Agner and how a man's sick obsession led him to commit an unforgivable crime. I'm Anjana Levy, and this is Crime Fixed. What Happened to Jillian Agner? Mommy is dead. Can I come live with you? That is what Jillian Agner's six-year-old son said

to his grandmother when she found him shortly after his mother had been shot. Can you imagine that? That precious little boy was riding in a jeep with his mother, Jillian, when a man she had dated for about four months shot her. That man, John Patrick Shea, has now admitted to the crime. John Shea was lying in wait to ambush Jillian while she was on her way to drop her son off at school forever altering that six-year-old boy's life. Can you imagine witnessing your mother's murder? Authorities say Shea, who's now 30, orchestrated the attack.

He planned it, and he shot Jillian on the morning of March 2nd, 2023. The two had dated briefly in the fall of 2022, and it didn't end well. In the months following their breakup, Shay was reportedly stalking and breaking into Jillian's home, and we're going to understand why he was doing that later. But this time, Shay took things too far, much farther,

deliberately shooting into Jillian's Jeep while her six-year-old son was in the backseat. Luckily, witnesses took note of a suspicious truck leaving around the same time as the shooting. Investigators canvassed the area and found the truck on surveillance footage which they were able to circulate to local agencies. Four days later, Beaufort County deputies were on patrol when they spotted a vehicle with the same characteristics. After confirming it was the same vehicle, police established probable cause and they obtained search warrants.

Shea was apprehended at his apartment complex on March 9th while he was loading suitcases into his car. Police seized his vehicle and they executed a search warrant, and what they find is absolutely shocking. Police wrote, a search of his residence uncovered several disturbing items, including defaced photographs of Anger, tarot cards, a voodoo doll, a makeshift shrine,

and literature related to Satanism and the occult. Investigators also found a letter from Shay's mother expressing concern about his violent behavior and substance abuse, citing a prior incident in which Shay allegedly threatened to kill his brother. Additional evidence showed that Shay had compiled a list of women he had romantic or physical contact with dating to 2008, along with notes about each encounter.

Text messages and actions taken the night before the shooting revealed he had carefully planned the attack attempting to establish an alibi by leaving his vehicle at a local bar. Detectives arrested Shay in connection to the March 2nd shooting and they bring him in for questioning. Following the interview he was charged with two counts of attempted murder, discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Jillian fought for her life for five months. She spent that time on life support in the hospital as her family prayed that she'd pull through. She passed away on August 5, 2023.

Following Jillian's death, the charges against Shay were upgraded to first-degree murder. Shay pleaded not guilty to the charges, and in June of this year, he went on trial. Prosecutors say Shay vowed to never give up Jillian, and it grew into an unhealthy obsession. But the defense tried to capitalize on the fact that the firearm that was used in the crime was never found, emphasizing a lack of physical evidence connecting him to the murder. But then, on the second day of trial, Chase stopped the proceedings and announced that he wanted to plead guilty. This has all been a complete and utter mistake.

The morning of March 2nd is the biggest regret of my life and will be the biggest regret of my life. I think about it all day long. I wish I could have gone back and changed things. I'm mentally sick. I had a psychotic break. I was so sick from what had happened between Jillian and I. And I can't bear this pain anymore. And I know that the family needs closure. I know that everyone needs closure. And that's why I'm doing this today. I don't want to hurt people anymore.

I want there to be closure. I want there to be closure. I want there to be solace for your family. And every day and every night, I pray for the peace of your family, every day. Shea admitted to murdering Jillian Angner in 2023, a beloved pharmacy technician, and attempting to murder her young son, as well as discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.

And he also pleaded guilty to a gun possession charge. Now, as I mentioned, Jillian was a beloved licensed pharmacy technician at the time of her murder. She was working at the Almer Family Pharmacy and Wellness Center. Those closest to her say she will be remembered for her hospitable spirit and bubbly personality. Jillian Anger's son, he's a little older now, but witnessing his mother's murder has been incredibly traumatic for him.

As Stanley talked about that during Shay's sentencing and how the sound of a smoke alarm will cause the boy to ball up in terror. It may have sounded like sirens. So our content really shows you how important personal safety is, and that's especially true when it comes to protecting your privacy online.

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without your permission. Incogni actually found more than 50 brokers with my information, and here's the kicker. These data brokers have to remove you from their database if you ask them to. Now you're probably thinking, Anjanette, who in the heck has time to contact a data broker?

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try. Right now, anyone who uses the code crimefix at incogni.com slash crimefix gets 60% off. That's code crimefix at incogni.com slash crimefix for 60% off an annual Incogni plan. I want to bring in somebody who's been covering this just terribly horrific sad case since the very beginning. He is Evan McKenna. He's a reporter at the Island Packet in South Carolina. Evan, thanks so much for coming on. You wrote, you said, the first story about this case when it happened back in 2023. So talk to me about how kind of scary this was back then, because you have a mom driving in her car. It sounds like you didn't know at first that there had been a child in the car,

but just driving down the road and she shot. Yeah, of course. Yeah, she was, and thank you for having me. So Jillian Eggner was actually driving her six-year-old child to school the morning of March 2nd, 2023, when her car was suddenly struck with bullets just out of nowhere. And so, one of the bullets actually goes through her neck, entirely pierces it, and comes out

the other side. She immediately goes unconscious, and the car drifts and hits a palm tree on the side of the road. And this is a very remote community in the Okiti area, which is an offshoot of Bluffton near Hilton Head. It branches out towards the river in the Intracoastal Waterway. So there's not much happening. Only a few dozen people live in this area total. And so the person that actually comes across them after this shooting is Jillian's mother, the boy's grandmother, who lives on the same street as them.

She heard the gunshots and didn't know what was happening. So she drives her car and eventually sees Jillian's jeep, which has crashed onto the side of the road. And she sees Aidan, who's her six-year-old son. He walks up to his grandmother, and the first thing he said was, mommy is dead. Can I come live with you? Which is just that moment where she just fighting.

Yeah, I believe she said that in her victim impact statement. Just totally sent shivers through my body and everyone else in the courtroom. And that's what a lot of the victim impact statements focused on is obviously the impact on the child on her six-year-old son, Aidan. That's horrific. So when this happened, some time passed

before a suspect was in custody. Did they immediately suspect that it was John Shea who had done this? Because it sounded like the prosecutor, the solicitor in her opening statement was saying, this was a guy who just couldn't let go. He was obsessed.

Yes, yeah. I do believe it was pretty clear from the beginning, or at least detectives and prosecutors had an idea from the beginning of who this was. I believe John and Jillian had dated for about four months prior to their breakup, and then there was another about five months after that between then and the attack. And I believe in the months preceding that, prosecutors described him becoming obsessive, engaging in some stalking behaviors. So I think from the beginning, it

was pretty clear to the investigators who their main suspect was. And obviously, we didn't get to see the defense's full argument and all of their witnesses and testimony because John ended up pleading guilty right before the second day of trial. But we kind of got a preview of what they would have been arguing in the defense's opening statement.

Shea's defense attorney was almost suggesting that the shooter could have been Jillian's ex-husband. That's who she had Aiden with, the six-year-old Aiden. So that was at least one of the arguments that the defense was trying to make. They were also trying to argue that in general, the police did a shoddy job at investigating. He was implying that the police didn't look far enough into the ex-husband, that they kind of zeroed in on John without looking into other avenues.

But yeah, that's kind of the preview we got. Obviously, it didn't get to play out because of those guilty pleas that were made, that were a complete shock to the courtroom. But that's what we saw. Interesting that they would point the finger at, you know, the father of her child when he was, you know, sitting right there. And, you know, what's interesting to me, Evan, is that, you know, they obviously you can get the wrong guy. That can happen in these

cases. But what's interesting is the fact that you've seen that, I mean, it just happens sometimes. Somebody pleads guilty in the middle of a trial or at the beginning of a trial, but this is after the first day of trial. So did you get a vibe or a feeling from just being in the courtroom that, A, this was going to happen and B, why it happened? Yeah, that's a really good question.

I would say after sitting through the first day of the trial, there was, I had not anticipated something like this happening. And I don't believe the family had either. So it was the beginning of the second day of the trial when, you know, instead of, you know, continuing to call the prosecution's witnesses, his defense attorney stands up and says, my client wants to say something to the judge. And you could feel the air inside the courtroom gets, you know, you feel like the air is being sucked out of everybody's lungs.

It kind of goes quiet. You could hear a pin drop as he's making his speech. I guess he makes the speech after he, you know, formally tells the judge he's like, he'd like to enter guilty please. But I think it came as a shock to everybody inside the courtroom except John Shea and his defense attorney. And in his speech, actually, he- Sorry to interrupt, but did it come as a shock to the solicitor?

I believe it was the defense attorney that said the decision to plead guilty came without consultation from the state, which seems like that means it's coming from him. And in Shea's own speech to the judge, he says, let me read this. One part of his quote was, I can't bear this pain anymore. And I know that the family needs closure. So he just, out of nowhere, just he doesn't even tell the solicitor. He just at the beginning of the day or something just stands up and says, his attorney says

that my client wants to say something to the judge and he's like, I can't do this anymore. Yeah, you got me. I'm guilty. If I had to guess, I would guess they probably consulted with the solicitors beforehand and said, hey, this is going to happen. He's going to enter guilty, please For everyone else in the courtroom, especially the family. It seemed like it cut came to came as a big surprise big shock What did you observe from the family when this happened? You're saying it came to you. It looked like they it came as a big shock I mean, I mean was there a visible reaction. Sure. Yeah

It's it almost felt like they were all holding their breaths kind of wanting to take in every word I mean, was there a physical reaction? Sure, yeah. It almost felt like they were all holding their breaths, kind of wanting to take in every word, but still looking at him with obviously kind of disgust in their eyes, very disapproving. One sentiment that was brought up a few times in their impact statements was, that's great. You can say you pleaded guilty now,

but why not have done this right after you got arrested? Why is this happening now? Which is obviously a question you were getting at and we may never know the answer to the question. It might have been, he might have been mulling it over during that first day of court and seeing all this play out and seeing how it affected the victim's family and that's when he thought, I just want to do this. But obviously, as the family described in their impact statements, that was coming way little too late. So let's take a look at some of what he said to the judge.

I mean, you obviously knew, I gotta get a clip of this, and you grabbed your cell phone. So let's take a look. I wish I could have gone back and changed things. I'm mentally sick. I had a psychotic break. I was so sick from what had happened between Jillian and I.

And I can't bear this pain anymore. And I know that bear this pain anymore. And I know that the family needs closure. I know that everyone needs closure. And that's why I'm doing this today. I am so sorry for what I have done. Please spare my life, Your Honor. Please spare my life.

I beg of you, please spare my life. I made a mistake. This was done in a period of time where I was mentally sick and mentally unstable. I was also intoxicated under the influence of drugs and alcohol. I made the biggest mistake of my life, and I am so sorry for what I have done to your family. I know I have destroyed your family as well as mine and I pray every day for Aidan, every day.

I loved him like he was my own son. Evan, he just enters a guilty plea to what he's charged with. There's no negotiated plea. I mean, he just straight up pleads guilty to murder and says he had a psychotic break or what have you. As you're sitting there watching this, what are you thinking? Yeah, that's a really great question. Obviously, there's going to be some some doubt from the family

about whether this psychotic break explanation is is valid or if it's kind of a hell Mary to get leniency on his plea. Just because of the stories I had heard of him you know engaging in the stalking behavior and becoming obsessive, it's not out of the question for me. Obviously the only person who can say that is John himself or maybe a psychologist. But even the judge kind of weighed in on that claim he made that he had had a psychotic break right before the judge handed down his sentencing.

He said something to the effect of, I actually have it right here. He said, the circumstances of you now telling me today that it was mental health issues, it's not really taking responsibility, as I understand. You're still attempting to tell me that it was someone else's fault,

that it wasn't your fault, that the system failed you. And the judge took 10 minutes to go to his quarters and think about it before he made that decision. So I do believe the John kind of, John using his mental health issues and the alleged psychotic break as an explanation really did not have a good impact on the judge and his sentencing. I believe the judge kind of saw through that.

But, you know, the solicitor said this was premeditated, that he was engaging in stalking behavior. So I don't know. I mean, did he even address that at all, as far as you could tell? I mean, it just seemed like this was a guy that it was almost like, if I couldn't have you, nobody else can. Yeah. I do believe that's a fair assessment.

He spent a lot of those four months after the breakup and right before the shooting, you know, engaging in those stalking behaviors, becoming very obsessive. And based on the circumstances of the shooting, it does seem like it was premeditated. There was actually another witness that was called by the prosecution. His name was Wyatt Norton, who claimed he had been tricked almost by Mr. Shea to drive the getaway car. He claimed that Mr. Shea had told him they were doing a drug run in this neighborhood.

They pulled onto the side of the road. Norton testified that he sees Shea pull the pistol out of his bag, open the window, and just opened fire on the car that was passing by. This comes to Norton, he says, as a complete surprise. He thought they were there for a simple, quick drug run. And so Shea points the gun at Norton, according to his testimony, and says, drive. And for a few days, actually, I don't know how long it took Norton to come clean to investigators. I believe it was around the time of his arrest, about a week later, the time of Shea's arrest,

when Norton came clean and said, hey, this happened. I was driving the car. But actually, after Shea confessed and gave his speech and entered the guilty pleas, he's now claiming that Norton knew about the plan the entire time, that he knew it wasn't a drug run, that he knew it was a plan to murder Jillian Agner. And he suggested to the judge that Norton also

be prosecuted for his involvement in the crime. And obviously, we don't know at this point whether that will happen. I'm pretty doubtful that it will. And doubtful even that that claim that he's making is true. But that's another element of the case that just complicates it even more, that there was a, there was someone else there that was driving the car, and it's debated whether

or not this person even knew about the plan to kill Jillian Aitner that morning. Wow. Yikes. I kind of wonder now if they will go back and look at that or if they've already determined that that wasn't the case, because that's something you would think that they would try to look into. determined that that wasn't the case, because that's something you would think that they would try to look into. Have you ever seen anything quite like this, Evan,

in your time covering cases in courts? I haven't, no. I was actually telling a few of my colleagues in the days and weeks after this. It stayed on my mind since. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. But I think undoubtedly, I've covered a lot of court cases, local court cases.

But this is the most emotionally charged court room I've ever been in and had a chance to cover. The impact statements from the family, I believe Jillian's sister spoke, her father, and hearing the stories about this six-year-old Aidan, how his grief and processing and trauma that came after the shooting. One story that was told by his father, I believe, was for six months after the shooting, he had to close his eyes every time they drove down that road, because his grandmother lives

on that same road. So obviously you have to pass the scene of the crime. So for six months doing that drive, he would close his eyes because he couldn't bear to see where it had happened. There was another story that was told about a thunderstorm that had happened the week before the trial. I think lightning struck behind the house, his father said, and the smoke alarms went off in the house.

And Aidan curled up in a ball and cried. And he was inconsolable until those smoke alarms were turned back off. So they really just described the immense trauma that this child has gone through. And it makes perfect sense. I mean, if you, hearing the experience that this child went after shots, you know, flew through his car and flew through his mom's

neck rendering her unconscious, prosecutors said that he had climbed out of one of the windows that was shattered from the gunshots and he ran down into the marsh. And this is a, you know, a very remote community by the river. So there is a lot of marsh kind of down by the road. So just scared, he ran out into the marsh. And then a few minutes later is when his grandmother came and he said that heart wrenching line, mommy is dead, can I come live with you?

That's absolutely horrific. Well, hopefully, I don't know how this child will be able to grow up having been in the same car where his mother was murdered, riding with his mother, and move forward past this. It will take, I think, a lot of therapy and a lot of love from his loved ones. But my God, I hope that some healing

can begin for this family. Evan McKenna of the Island Packet, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor. Thank you. John Shea began serving his life sentence for Jillian Angner's murder earlier this month.

Right now, he's at South Carolina's Kirkland Correctional Institution. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.