Bluffton man’s surprise confession to murder of ex-girlfriend: ‘I want there to be closure’
Before the second day of his murder trial was set to begin, a Bluffton man entered guilty pleas for the execution-style killing of his ex-girlfriend in March 2023, saying the shooting was prompted by a “psychotic break” as he apologized to the victim’s family Wednesday morning in an emotionally charged courtroom.
John Patrick Shea, 29, pleaded guilty to all four felonies related to the shooting, including the murder of 25-year-old Jillian Angner and the attempted murder of her 6-year-old son, who was in the backseat of his mother’s red Jeep when he targeted the car with gunfire the morning of March 2, 2023.
His pleas came “without recommendation or negotiation from the state,” Circuit Court Judge S. Bryan Doby said.
For the first time since the start of the trial, Shea turned toward Angner’s family and friends in the courtroom gallery as he admitted to the crime and asked for forgiveness.
“I can’t take this pain in my heart anymore,” Shea said. “I’m sorry, from the deepest reaches of my soul, for what has happened here.”
It was an unexpected turn in the high-profile murder proceedings that began with jury selection Monday in the Beaufort County Courthouse. In opening statements on Tuesday, Shea’s public defender argued police conducted a sloppy, unfinished investigation and should have also considered Angner’s ex-husband as a potential suspect.
After thanking and dismissing the jury, Doby said the court would reconvene at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday for Shea’s sentencing.
Angner was driving her 6-year-old son to school along Harrison Island Road around 7:45 a.m. on March 2, 2023, when a barrage of gunfire pierced through her car, with one bullet striking her in the neck. She lost consciousness and her car drifted into a palm tree on the wrong side of the road, prosecutors said, leaving her “terrified” son alone to crawl through a shattered car window and flee into the marsh bordering the remote Okatie neighborhood.
Family members chose to take Angner off life support about five months after the shooting.
A New Jersey native and a graduate of Bluffton High School, Angner was a pharmacy technician at the Ulmer Family Pharmacy and Wellness Center, where she found a “second family” among its staff, according to her obituary. Friends and family remembered Angner for her hospitable spirit, bright smile and bubbly personality.
Following the guilty pleas Wednesday morning, prosecutor Hunter Swanson of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office told the judge investigators had found drawings in Shea’s apartment that could be “indications of guilt.” One was a sketch of a truck and a gun, she said, written alongside the words, “If only I could be free.”
When Shea was arrested about a week after the shooting, Swanson added, he was leaving his apartment with a suitcase containing his passport and birth certificate.
Shea had no criminal record prior to the incident.
‘Please spare my life, your honor’
In his speech to the courtroom Wednesday, Shea said he was “under the influence of drugs and alcohol” the morning he targeted Angner’s car.
“I was so sick from what had happened to Jillian and I,” Shea said, “and I can’t bear this pain anymore. I know that the family needs closure, and that’s why I’m doing this today. I don’t want to hurt people anymore.”
Acknowledging that his violent act had “destroyed” both the Angner family and his own, Shea said he prays “every day” for Angner’s family and her 6-year-old son Aiden.
“I loved (Aiden) like he was my own son,” Shea said, his hands clasped behind his back as he addressed the victim’s family and friends in the courtroom gallery. “I loved that little boy so much ... and I pray every day that he grows up and lives a normal life and has a great, beautiful life ahead of him.”
Turning back toward the judge’s bench, Shea pleaded to Doby for a lenient sentence.
“Please, please spare my life, your honor. Please spare my life,” he said. “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.”
Details of the case
Prosecutors claimed Shea’s plot to kill Angner arose from their breakup in October 2022, after which he began stalking his ex-girlfriend as his obsession with her “turned deadly.”
On Tuesday, the prosecution called a key witness to the stand: Beaufort County man Wyatt Norton, who reportedly drove the dark-colored pickup truck from which Shea fired the pistol at Angner’s passing car. Norton testified he was not aware of Shea’s murder plot and thought the pair was in the remote Okatie neighborhood for a “drug run.”
Answering questions from his defense attorney after entering his pleas, Shea claimed Norton was aware of the plan to murder Angner. He told the judge he wished “that the case was investigated a little more thoroughly” and that Norton would be prosecuted for his involvement.
After the guilty plea, friends and family of Angner wiped away tears and exchanged long hugs in the courtroom gallery.
This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 10:59 AM.
