Police: S.C man killed in custody conflict

SIMPSONVILLE, S.C. — A woman and her family lured her estranged husband to their home by offering to let him see his children, then beat him in the head with a hammer and fatally shot him as he tried to run away, a scheme concocted because they were upset about a child custody dispute, according to police in South Carolina.

The wife’s brother, Jacob Hughes, 29, invited John Michael Ferrell, 51, for drinks at a bar Saturday, then offered to bring the Ferrell back to the house to see his children for the first time in a while, police said Wednesday. But not long after Ferrell entered the home, he was attacked with a hammer, police said. He tried to climb out a 6-foot-high kitchen window, but either his pants snagged on a nail or people inside pulled them down to prevent him from escaping, police said.

Ferrell’s father-in-law John Hughes then fired a .45-caliber handgun at Ferrell, who was found dead 12 feet from the kitchen window, said Keith Grounsell, police chief in Simpsonville, a suburb of about 20,000 people just south of Greenville. Ferrell was hit five times, according to arrest warrants.

John Hughes, 57; his wife, Margaret, 55; their son, Jacob; their daughter and Ferrell’s estranged wife, Jane Hughes, 33; and her boyfriend, Andrew Martin, 37, are charged with murder. The suspects had requested public attorneys, but they hadn’t been assigned yet, police said Thursday.

Before his arrest, John Hughes told WYFF-TV that Ferrell was trying to break in through the window and that he feared for their lives.

“I killed my son-in-law. That’s horrible enough. But the fact I have to somehow tell my grandchildren that I killed their father … that might be more than I can take,” Hughes said.

Grounsell said investigators found evidence of blood in the kitchen, which was cleaned before police arrived Saturday, and no one in the family mentioned a fight in that room.

No one answered a knock on the Hughes family’s door Thursday.

Dave Valente lives across the street from the Hughes’ home in a small subdivision with an entrance across the street from the Simpsonville Police Department.

Police say less than 25 minutes elapsed between when Ferrell arrived at the house and the time police were called.

WHNS-TV reported that it reviewed court records showing that Jane Hughes and Ferrell were going through a contentious divorce and child custody dispute. Ferrell had told officials that John Hughes had told him that taking his granddaughter would be the last thing he ever did, according to the records. John Hughes told the court his son-in-law abused the children, the record showed. A judge had issued a restraining order between the Hugheses and Ferrell, according to WHNS-TV’s review of the records.