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A man was in court Tuesday after the body of a woman who has been missing since January 2025 was found under the floor of a garage in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts.Shawn Sullivan, 40, was ordered held without bail on charges of murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and improper disposal of human remains in the death of Jill Kloppenburg. An investigation that led to Kloppenburg’s body began on March 10, when Nashua, New Hampshire, police received a call from someone who said a friend told him he had killed a woman named “Jill.” The suspect was later identified as Sullivan.The friend said that Sullivan “claimed that he had shot her and then buried her under the floor in a garage,” according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.According to prosecutors, Sullivan said he accidentally shot Kloppenburg when he was showing her a gun in his bedroom.After a few days, he allegedly buried her under the garage floor. “The defendant said he was with Jill and holding a firearm while falling asleep. At some point, he made a jerking motion, which caused him to pull the trigger, discharging a firearm and shooting Jill in the chest. He stated that Jill soon died and if there was a chance for her survival, he would have called for help. Instead, the defendant kept Jill’s body in his room for a couple of days. He then brought Jill’s body to the garage where he dug a hole in the concrete, placed her body in the hole and then filled the hole,” prosecutor Ceara Mahoney said. Ryan said detectives from the Tyngsborough Police Department, Tewksbury Police Department and Massachusetts State Police executed a search warrant at the home on Sunday and discovered what appeared to be a large patched section of the garage floor measuring about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide.Video below: DA announces murder chargesInvestigators used ground-penetrating radar and confirmed something was beneath the patched area before cutting through the concrete, Ryan said. They ultimately recovered a plastic bag containing human remains. The remains were identified as Kloppenburg, a Massachusetts woman who was last seen in January 2025 and who was reported missing a month later.Investigators said they believe that Kloppenburg and Sullivan knew each other and that she had visited his home. Sullivan’s attorney called his client’s actions “inexcusable,” saying he has been in a state of panic for the last year. The lawyer said that while this is a tragic accident, it doesn’t rise to murder and said he feels this is a case of involuntary manslaughter.”He’s been emotional in speaking to the police and speaking with me,” attorney Ryan P. Sullivan said. “This has been something that’s been greatly weighing on him. His decisions in the aftermath, although regretful, don’t equate to him having malice of committing any sort of act designed to do this. It’s a tragic, tragic accident.”Outside the court, Kloppenburg’s friends remembered her as smart and funny, and as someone who deserved better. “She didn’t deserve that, no. Absolutely not. She didn’t deserve that. Nobody does. Nobody. She’s a human. She’s a mother, a friend, a sister, a daughter,” friend Teresa Brink said. Sullivan will return to court on April 17 for a probable cause hearing.
A man was in court Tuesday after the body of a woman who has been missing since January 2025 was found under the floor of a garage in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts.
Shawn Sullivan, 40, was ordered held without bail on charges of murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and improper disposal of human remains in the death of Jill Kloppenburg.
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An investigation that led to Kloppenburg’s body began on March 10, when Nashua, New Hampshire, police received a call from someone who said a friend told him he had killed a woman named “Jill.” The suspect was later identified as Sullivan.
The friend said that Sullivan “claimed that he had shot her and then buried her under the floor in a garage,” according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.
According to prosecutors, Sullivan said he accidentally shot Kloppenburg when he was showing her a gun in his bedroom.
After a few days, he allegedly buried her under the garage floor.
“The defendant said he was with Jill and holding a firearm while falling asleep. At some point, he made a jerking motion, which caused him to pull the trigger, discharging a firearm and shooting Jill in the chest. He stated that Jill soon died and if there was a chance for her survival, he would have called for help. Instead, the defendant kept Jill’s body in his room for a couple of days. He then brought Jill’s body to the garage where he dug a hole in the concrete, placed her body in the hole and then filled the hole,” prosecutor Ceara Mahoney said.
Ryan said detectives from the Tyngsborough Police Department, Tewksbury Police Department and Massachusetts State Police executed a search warrant at the home on Sunday and discovered what appeared to be a large patched section of the garage floor measuring about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide.
Video below: DA announces murder charges
Investigators used ground-penetrating radar and confirmed something was beneath the patched area before cutting through the concrete, Ryan said. They ultimately recovered a plastic bag containing human remains.
The remains were identified as Kloppenburg, a Massachusetts woman who was last seen in January 2025 and who was reported missing a month later.
Investigators said they believe that Kloppenburg and Sullivan knew each other and that she had visited his home.
Sullivan’s attorney called his client’s actions “inexcusable,” saying he has been in a state of panic for the last year. The lawyer said that while this is a tragic accident, it doesn’t rise to murder and said he feels this is a case of involuntary manslaughter.
“He’s been emotional in speaking to the police and speaking with me,” attorney Ryan P. Sullivan said. “This has been something that’s been greatly weighing on him. His decisions in the aftermath, although regretful, don’t equate to him having malice of committing any sort of act designed to do this. It’s a tragic, tragic accident.”
Outside the court, Kloppenburg’s friends remembered her as smart and funny, and as someone who deserved better.
“She didn’t deserve that, no. Absolutely not. She didn’t deserve that. Nobody does. Nobody. She’s a human. She’s a mother, a friend, a sister, a daughter,” friend Teresa Brink said.
Sullivan will return to court on April 17 for a probable cause hearing.
