Criminal Defense Lawyer in Georgetown, SC

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. (WBTW) — The Georgetown County Coroner’s Office has identified a 33-year-old woman found dead in the surf near Pawleys Island Pier on Wednesday.

Coroner Chase Ridgeway described the circumstances surrounding the death of Conway woman Meggan Jordan as “suspicious.” An autopsy was completed Thursday at the Medical University of South Carolina. Preliminary findings are pending.

“As with all death investigations, our primary responsibility is to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the death and rule out the possibility of homicide,” Ridgeway said. “While certain circumstances initially raised concerns, further investigation has provided us with a clearer understanding of those concerns.”

Ridgeway said the autopsy did not reveal any injuries that would have caused or contributed to Jordan’s death. Both the cause and manner of death will remain pending until all additional testing and examinations have been completed.

Mark Powell and Heather Jones said they had gone to their usual beach spot for a relaxing afternoon when Powell noticed the body nearby. From a distance, Powell said he initially thought it may have been an animal, as a crowd began to form.

As he walked closer to the pier, he realized it was a woman’s body. Responders were covering her as he approached, he told News13.

“It was quite a shock,” Powell said. “This time of year, you know, it’s typically quiet. It’s a great time for a local to go there; I didn’t expect to see anything like this.”

As the response unfolded, Jones said she thought about the victim’s family.

“It was just a sad day because I said to Mark, at some point somebody’s going to get a phone call they don’t want to get,” she said.

Count on News13 for updates.

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Jordan Titus is a multimedia journalist and producer at News13. She joined the team in April 2025. Jordan is from Morristown, New Jersey, and moved to the Myrtle Beach area in 2020 and attended Coastal Carolina University. You can read more of her work here.

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Caleb is the Digital Executive Producer at News13. He joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University and was named Digital Executive Producer in August 2026. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WCBD)— From the local track to the Olympic stage, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden is adding another honor to her long list of accomplishments.

The Georgetown-area native was presented with a Key to the City Wednesday, one of the city’s highest honors, during a special ceremony at Georgetown City Council chambers.

Dozens of people gathered to celebrate the multi-time Olympic medalist and hometown hero.

“It feels very surreal,” Jefferson-Wooden said. “It feels like I’m living in a simulation, but a good one. Good things just keep happening.”

Jefferson-Wooden, who grew up in the Dunbar community just outside Georgetown’s city limits, has become one of the fastest women in the world and has represented the United States on the Olympic stage. But Wednesday’s honor also made history.

Jefferson-Wooden is the first person to receive Georgetown’s Key to the City since 1999, when then-Mayor Lynn Wood Wilson presented a key to hip-hop legend LL Cool J.

More than 25 years later, the city is once again using the honor to recognize someone who has brought national and international attention to Georgetown.

Jefferson-Wooden said she has always focused on creating her own success but never fully considered the historical significance of her accomplishments.

“I’ve never really thought about the history part of it,” she said. “There has been a lot of things that I’ve been able to and blessed to accomplish, but I never thought about it until after the fact.”

Beyond the medals and records, Jefferson-Wooden said she wants to continue giving back to the community that helped shape her.

She is hosting her inaugural festival this weekend at Carvers Bay High School to support her nonprofit and encourage young people to dream big.

“I want to be able to bring in things that essentially create positive reinforcement for the children,” Jefferson-Wooden said. “They can accomplish anything they want to accomplish.”

The celebration will continue October 12, which is officially Melissa Jefferson-Wooden Day in Georgetown County following a proclamation made two years ago.

If you are a fan of live music, chances are good that you've seen guitarist and singer Skyler Whitfield in action – either solo or with his band, the Sky Whitfield Band – bringing his brand of Americana, rock, folk, outlaw country, Celtic and original music to venues across the Grand Strand and beyond.

Whitfield, now a Socastee resident, moved to the area from Greensboro, N.C., to study music at Coastal Carolina University – attending for two years.

"I had the choice of either taking out a loan and try to get this degree that really only helps when you’re teaching – or go to work and actually play the gigs," he said. "I decided to do that."

Whitfield said he took piano lessons as a kid, but the instrument he chose in elementary school for school band could seem unusual.

"I was a fourth grader lugging around a full-size concert tuba," he said. "It was probably bigger than me at the time."

Originally, Whitfield told the band teacher, Mike Love (same as the Beach Boys singer), that he wanted to play drums or percussion. Love told him that the band could use someone on the low brass section.

"I played tuba until the ninth grade. It wasn't exactly helping me out in the ladies' department, so I switched to guitar," Whitfield said.

It could be said that Whitfield’s first instrument was his voice. He sang in church and his mother is a theater director.

In high school, Whitfield was in a band called Sweet Relief – concentrating on high-voltage Southern rock.

"I was always influenced by bands like The Allman Brothers, Skynyrd, The Doobie Brothers. I’ve always loved Southern rock. That was an elemental part of my music choices growing up, he said, adding that 60s folk-era music was also influential – and he was also exposed to a good deal of country music, in large part because his father was born in southern Georgia and raised in southern Virginia.

When he became an adult, Whitfield said he got heavily into the blues.

"I wanted to discover who invented that sound first,” he said, citing musicians like R.L. Burnside, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Mississippi Fred McDowell and more.

From there, Whitfield became enamored with slide guitar.

"My fingers were a little too stupid to rip a solo just with my left hand – but I discovered the slide and always liked how that sounded, Whitfield said. "The guitar I play primarily is called a resonator. It’s sort of a mix between an acoustic and electric and a dobro (he plays dobro, too). It’s got the metal head, so it's resonant on its own – and then I set it up to where you can plug it in, and it’s just been my main thing ever since."

During his solo shows, you’ll hear the Southern rock influences – and his shows always start with a Steve Earle song, of whom Whitfield is a huge fan. He said he doesn’t play a ton of modern covers, but you will likely hear fare from Tyler Childers, Marcus King or Colter Wall. Whitfield employs a kick drum and alternates between his resonator, a traditional acoustic and lately his traditional dobro.

"I try to throw in at least one original every 20 minutes or so – and sort of introduce the song. I don’t like to weigh people down with stuff they’re not familiar with, but it’s fun to throw them in there,” Whitfield said.

In addition to his solo and band gigs – Whitfield frequently sits in with an outfit out of Cherry Grove called Root 65 Band.

"They’re all older guys from Guilford County (N.C.). I met them by happenstance. They do more traditional bluegrass and country – and I enjoy playing with them too. We have an ongoing joke about how I met them. I was delivering acid to the guitar/mandolin player – the sulfuric kind for his pool business."

Catch Whitfield solo at Wahoo’s Fish House in Murrells Inlet on Oct. 8 from 5:30-9 p.m.

For complete info, hit up www.skylerwhitfield.live.

Gullah culture, history and spirituality

On Oct. 2 (and again on Oct. 21), join Emmy-nominated performing artist, author and cultural interpreter Ron Daise at Brookgreen Gardens for a discussion about Gullah Geechee culture, history and spirituality – as depicted through characters and scenes in his book, "Raptors in the Ricelands" – his first historical novel.

Daise, also vice president for creative education at Brookgreen and creator of Nick Jr. TV’s "Gullah Gullah Island" (with wife Natalie Daise), will cover the family secrets and conflicts set in his novel, challenging cultural beliefs.

"Spiderwort, Root Medicine, and Spiritual Healing" takes place in the Jennewein Gallery from 1-2 p.m. Admission is free with registration for members. Non-members get in free with Gardens admission and registration. For more, visit www.brookgreen.org.

Literary luncheon in Pawleys

Thanks to your friends at Litchfield Books, you can rub elbows with award-winning author Scott Gould at Caffe Piccolo in Pawleys Island on Oct. 9 as he presents his latest offering, "Beneath a Fallen Sky."

Gould is the author of seven books and his honors include an Eric Hofer Award for fiction, a Memoir Prize for books, the Larry Brown Short Story Award, the S.C. Arts Commission Artist Fellowship in prose and more.

The event runs from 10:45 a.m. until 1 p.m. For $38, your ticket includes an intimate talk and Q&A with Gould, a top-notch lunch, author meet-and-greet and the opportunity to purchase the event book. For more, visit www.litchfieldbooks.com.

Fine feathered friends

On Oct. 9, explore the diverse habitats of Hobcaw Barony and the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center – both of which are homes to a jaw-dropping variety of coastal birds. "Birding Both Sides of the Bay" is a guided birding tour that will take you to a variety of locations – salt marshes, mature longleaf pine forests, brackish and freshwater managed wetlands and the grounds of Bellefield Plantation.

Expect to see shorebirds, wading birds, waterfowl, woodland species, woodpeckers (including the red-cockaded woodpecker), forest birds and more. The tour begins at Hobcaw Barony and runs from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Admission is $38. For complete details, visit www.hobcawbarony.org.

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WCIV) — Two of the most recognizable aircraft of World War II will be coming back to the Georgetown County Airport for a four-day tour stop on the first week of October. This opportunity will allow residents the chance to see, tour or even fly aboard the historic warbirds for the first time since April of 2024.

The B-29 Superfortress "DOC" and P-51 Mustang "Gunfighter" will be making a special appearance from Oct. 1 through 4th. Last time the planes visited Georgetown, organizers state that the tours attracted lines of visitors from young children to World War II veterans with some arriving in wheelchairs. Lines reportedly stretched outside the airport for days for this once in a lifetime opportunity.

"That was huge. That blew away the organizers," said Georgetown County Airport Director Jim Taylor. "It was incredible. I watched a parade of people for days out in front of my office.

Taylor said he's hoping for the same kind of turnout this time — and maybe more.

"My goal will be to keep building on these events," Taylor said. "I would like to do a full air show here in Georgetown. I believe the residents of Georgetown County want to support events like this.”

One of the planes, DOC, is one of only two Boeing B-29 Superfortresses still airworthy today, out of 1,644 built in Wichita, Kansas, during World War II. Meanwhile Gunfighter, a P-51D Mustang, is one of fewer than 150 of the roughly 15,000 P-51s built during the war still in existence. Gunfighter is owned and operated by the Commemorative Air Force.

Both aircraft will be open for ground and cockpit tours at the Georgetown County Airport main terminal from Thursday Oct. 1 through Saturday Oct. 3. Ride flights will then be available for both aircraft in the latter days of the visit.

The schedule is as follows:

Ramp and cockpit tour admission is $10 per person or $20 per family, available at the gate.

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – A new state park, Ramsey Grove State Park, is now open to the public as part of a limited soft opening, according to the SC Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism.

The department says during this initial phase, park grounds are open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except during scheduled South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR)-managed hunts.

The park is located near downtown Georgetown and is South Carolina’s 51st State Park to open to the public.

The property is a historic plantation and hunting preserve on the Black River, offering 2,650 acres of historic grounds, a grove of live oaks, serene forests, and seven miles of trails.

“We are thrilled to welcome visitors to Ramsey Grove State Park to experience the beauty and reverence of this special place,” said Duane Parrish, director of the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism. “As we continue to plan for additional facilities and features, the soft opening allows the public to explore the trails, discover rich history, and gain a deeper understanding of the region’s cultural heritage.”

The park will be closed during scheduled SCDNR hunts on October 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, and 29-31; November 5-7 and 12-14; and December 11. The department says additional hunt dates may be added throughout the season.

The department says that when hunts are scheduled, an alert will be added here and signage will be posted at the park entrance.

The park’s active waterfowl impoundment and vast loblolly pine forests support abundant wildlife, including migratory birds, whitetail deer, eastern wild turkey, red foxes, and alligators.

The park is located at 852 Ramsey Grove Rd., Georgetown, SC 29440. Park admission is $8 for adults, $5 for SC seniors, $4 for children, and free for children 5 and under. For more information about the park, click here.