Beaufort County woman tied to machete-wielding murder suspect brawls with witness
A woman police say is linked to a suspect in a 2020 machete murder was charged Wednesday after being accused of getting into an altercation earlier this month with a witness in the case.
Jessica Ann Jacobs, 35, of Grays Hill, an unincorporated community in northern Beaufort County was charged Wednesday with a felony for intimidating court officials, jurors or witnesses.
At 2:30 p.m. on May 4, deputies were called out to Milledge Village Road after someone reported two women arguing before the fight began, said Maj. Angela Viens, a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson. The two women were identified as Jacobs and a witness in the 2020 murder case. Both women were still at the address when the deputies arrived. Police did not see a sign of injury on the murder witness, Viens said.
Jacobs was taken to the detention center in Beaufort around 5:22 p.m., jail records show. The witness’ name was not released by the sheriff’s office to protect the witness’ anonymity.
Per the South Carolina Code of Laws, intimidating a witness is a felony charge that, if convicted, carries a maximum of five years in prison and a fine that is decided upon by the court.
Jacobs is connected to Michael Goode, 46, of Beaufort who police accused in a machete attack that killed 66-year-old Rodney Watson, of Georgia. Viens did not know if the two were currently in a romantic relationship though did say they have a child together.
Details on the 2020 murder
On July 8, 2020, police were called out to Horton Drive in Burton after a fight broke out. When they got there, they saw a man, who they identified as Goode, wielding a machete and swinging it toward the ground. Goode then ran away and police found Watson, injured on the ground.
Watson later died at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. Several witnesses saw the attack and identified Goode as the man with the machete, police said in a press release at the time of the murder. Later that morning, Goode was found at the Horton Drive home and charged with murder and possession of a weapon in the commission of a violent crime. Police had also been looking for Goode on an unrelated second-degree assault and battery charge, according to previous reporting by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
Goode was released from jail in September 2020 on a $50,000 bond. In February 2022, he was returned to the detention center in Beaufort after his bond was revoked, court records show.
Denise Grainger Swope, Goode’s defense attorney, could not be reached. Attorney information for Jacobs was not immediately available.
As of Thursday, both Goode and Jacobs remained in custody at the Beaufort County Detention Center.
When we publish mugshots
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:
In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested
In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety
In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims
Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that don’t meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.
