SC - John Ferrell, 51, slain over child custody, Simpsonville, 24 Jan 2015

Police say they have charged an estranged wife, her parents and her brother with killing a man as part of a custody dispute.

Simpsonville Police Chief Keith Grounsell said at a news conference that the family lured 51-year-old John Ferrell to their Simpsonville home by saying he could see his children late Saturday night, then attacked him with a hammer and fatally shot him as he tried to run away...

The chief says homeowner John Hughes is charged with murder along with his wife Margaret, his daughter Jane and son Jacob.

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A forensics team later found blood in the kitchen that had been cleaned up when officers arrived, authorities said.

Greenville County Coroner Parks Evans said autopsy results showed that Ferrell suffered from blunt force trauma to the body as well as multiple gunshot wounds. The manner of death was ruled a homicide, Evans said.

Ferrell attempted to escape by climbing out the kitchen window, but he was then shot in the front yard, police said.

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The wife's brother, Jacob Hughes, 29, started the plan in motion by inviting John Michael Ferrell, 51, for drinks at a bar Saturday night, and he then offered to bring the man back to the house to see his children for the first time in a while, according to a police news conference late 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 got caught on a nail or people inside pulled them down trying to prevent him from escaping, police said. "He was hindered by his pants that were down around his ankles, preventing him from fleeing"...

John Hughes, the wife's father, then took aim and fired at Ferrell, who was found dead 12 feet from the kitchen window, Grounsell said... 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.

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The Simpsonville Police Department has charged five people in the shooting death of a South Carolina dad Saturday night...

The five people in the home were arrested for allegedly conspiring to kill Ferrell, according to police. The five people included the victim's father-in-law (John Michael Hughes), the mother-in-law (Margaret Hughes), the brother-in-law (Jacob Colby Hughes), the estranged wife (Jane Hughes), and the estranged wife's new boyfriend (Andrew Martin).

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Talk to John Ferrell for just a few minutes, his friends say, and he would start talking about his children. The young boy and girl were his everything — and stuck in the middle of a contentious child custody battle outlined in family court documents. The dispute simmered for years between Ferrell and his estranged wife's family and then boiled over Saturday night in what police described as a brutal and premeditated slaying...

Ferrell, originally from California, and Jane Hughes, 33, met when she was a teenager, more than 15 years ago in South Carolina. They wed in July 2008 in California and had their first child, a girl, in March 2009. Ferrell said they were largely a happy couple until 2010. He came home from work one day in April 2010 and they were gone. He filed a missing persons report but later learned Hughes had moved out and taken their daughter to South Carolina...

Their second child, a boy, was born in December 2011. By May 2012, they had split again, and Hughes took the two children with her to South Carolina. He moved back to South Carolina to work it out, but the arrangement crumbled in September 2013.

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John Michael Hughes, 60, was convicted of murder, conspiracy and possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime in the shooting John Ferrell at his home in Simpsonville on Jan., 24, 2015, according to Solicitor Walt Wilkins.

Charges are pending against Ferrell's estranged wife and inlaws who are also in custody in connection to the murder, Wilkins said.

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A Greenville brother and sister were convicted by a Greenville County jury on April 4 of charges related to the murder of John Ferrell in 2015, according to the Solicitor's Office.

Jane Katherine Hughes, 36, and Jacob Cody Hughes, 32, were each convicted for conspiracy to commit murder. Jane Hughes was also convicted of murder and was sentenced to 30 years with no opportunity for parole.

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Jacob Hughes was found not guilty of murder but convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison.

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The siblings' father, John Hughes, is currently serving a 40 year prison sentence after being convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in December 2017.

Margaret Hughes and Andrew Martin are also charged with murder in connection with Ferrell's death.

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