Witness tried to stop suspect from burning Murrells Inlet bait shop, police say

An employee at Perry’s Bait and Tackle in Murrells Inlet tried to stop a man from setting it on fire shortly before the owner was discovered dead, police say.

Newly released arrest warrants and a police report outline some of the details that allegedly unfolded the day a 37-year-old mother of three was killed.

Eric Justin Perry, 35, who had been married to Jessica Lynn Hill, the shop’s owner, is charged with her murder and the arson of the longstanding bait shop, nestled along the Marshwalk on U.S. 17 Business, authorities say.

“Eric Perry, did pour a flammable liquid on (the) porch of the victim, Jessica Hill’s business ... while a witness attempted to stop him,” according to an arrest warrant.

A Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office police report states deputies were called out to the bait shop by Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire Department crews on Friday morning following the fire.

Police learned there were “suspicious circumstances” tied to the fire’s origins, according to the report, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division also responded to the scene to investigate.

A responding officer spoke with an employee who tried to stop Perry from allegedly setting the building ablaze, according to an arrest warrant. An officer said the employee “witnessed the actions of the Suspect that he believed to show the Suspect’s intent on setting the fire to cause damage to the business,” the police report states.

S.C. Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Coast Guard were called and a search was launched for the suspect. Perry was allegedly discovered Friday afternoon with Hill’s body on board a boat he was driving, according to previously released information from GCSO.

Hill’s cause of death was determined to be strangulation and head trauma, according to the Georgetown County Coroner’s Office.

“Eric Perry, did use personal weapons to assault the Victim, Jessica Hill, resulting in the death of the Victim,” an arrest warrant states.

Perry “was observed fleeing the scene after a witness was directed to the defendant’s boat where he saw a possible body under a blanket on the boat,” the warrant says, which also states, Hill’s body had “multiple traumatic injuries.”

Family and friends held a memorial for Hill Monday night in Murrells Inlet as family and friends gathered for a “last cast” along the water in her honor.

The shop was shuttered following the fire Friday, and mourners quickly began leaving teddy bears and other mementos outside the closed store.

A Facebook post from Perry’s Bait and Tackle stated the business may reopen on Friday of this week.

This story was originally published October 4, 2017 at 9:37 PM with the headline "Witness tried to stop suspect from burning Murrells Inlet bait shop, police say."