On March 20th, 2023, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, Criminal Investigation Division, received information that a subject was potentially missing from the Ellenboro area.
Phillip Cullen Burr had reportedly not been heard from since November of 2021. Investigators contacted a family member of Burr and confirmed that he had not been seen or heard from since November of 2021. Investigators gathered information from family members and began an investigation into Burr’s disappearance.
Over the following months, the incident transitioned from a missing person case into a homicide investigation. Investigators developed Jacob Dewayne Hall, of Clover, South Carolina as a suspect in Burr’s murder.
On May 26th, 2023, with the assistance of York County Sheriff’s Office, the York County Coroner’s Office, Foothills Search and Rescue, and the University of South Carolina Anthropology Department investigators executed a search warrant at a property in Clover, South Carolina. During the search, investigators were able to recover Phillip Cullen Burr’s remains.
On August 10th,2023, the case was presented before a Grand Jury in Rutherford County and indictments were returned on Jacob Dewayne Hall for 1st Degree Murder. Hall is currently incarcerated in South Carolina on unrelated charges.
The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank each agency and organization that assisted in this investigation.