The Horry County Police Department says a recently deceased man is responsible for killing a North Carolina woman and disposing her body in a wooded area.
Captain John Harrelson says in an email “Probable cause has been developed by the Horry County Police Department Criminal Investigations Division to establish that William Sneeringer of Myrtle Beach did kill Jennifer Dawn Fitchett and dispose of her body in a wooded area near Palmetto Pointe. The Horry County Police Department is unable to formally charge William Sneeringer as he is recently deceased. While we believe we have identified the person primarily responsible for her death, the investigation continues to have as complete a picture as possible of the circumstances that lead to Jennifer’s death.”
Harrelson also says Sneeringer died on Reef Road on July 6.
A police report indicates Sneeringer’s death may have been a suicide. The report says officers were called to a home on Reef Road for a possible suicide. Officers found Sneeringer in the backyard deceased with a shot gun beside him.
A police report says Horry County police were called to a wooded area near Palmetto Pointe Boulevard in the Myrtle Beach area on June 30 after a jogger discovered the woman’s body. Sergeant Danny Furr, with the Horry County Police Department, confirms the body was found in the woods near the intersection of Palmetto Pointe Boulevard and Palmetto Glen Drive.
Horry County Deputy Coroner Michelle McSpadden identified the woman as 41-year-old Jennifer Fitchett, who is originally from Middlesex, North Carolina.
It is unclear at this time how long Fitchett’s body was in the woods. McSpadden says the manner of death is homicide, but the cause of death is being withheld as an investigation is ongoing.
According to the coroner’s office, Fitchett’s family says she was a beloved daughter and mother of three. Her first grandchild is due in a few weeks.
