BARNWELL, S.C. (Court TV) — A South Carolina woman charged with murdering a pregnant teenager and leaving her body in a ditch will remain behind bars after a judge denied her motion for bond.
Jacqueline Reid appeared at a bond hearing on May 26, 2026. (Court TV)
Jacqueline Reid, 64, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and causing the death of an unborn child during a violent crime.
At Tuesday’s bond hearing, Solicitor Leigh Staggs told the Court that the victim, 17-year-old Maylashia Hogg, was last seen leaving a park and walking by the defendant’s house on Feb. 8, 2024. At the time, Hogg was 40 weeks pregnant and scheduled to be induced a few days later if her baby hadn’t arrived. Surveillance video from Feb. 8, 2024, showed Hogg leave her boyfriend’s house and walk by the park toward her own home, but she never arrived.
“It can best be described as a tragic end to what was a tragic life,” Staggs said. Hogg had lost her mother and was living with her grandfather and uncle when she was killed. The defendant was known to spend time at the house, and had an “ongoing beef” with the victim, Staggs said.
More than a week after Hogg disappeared, her family had grown increasingly concerned when she failed to arrive at her doctor’s appointment or the hospital to be induced. Investigators were able to track her AirPods to the defendant’s address. On Feb. 19, investigators searched the area behind Reid’s home and found Hogg’s body in a ditch, along with that of her unborn child. Staggs said that Hogg had been stabbed 50 times, with knife wounds to her head, neck, back and stomach. The child had stab wounds as well; Staggs said the infant died from stab wounds and as a result of Hogg’s death.
In interviews with police, Reid denied the victim ever set foot inside her home, but prosecutors said they have DNA from three locations inside the property matching the victim. Investigators who first went to Reid’s home to talk to her reported she had several rugs drying on her porch that smelled of bleach.
Investigators determined that Reid had been admitted to the hospital on Feb. 8 after nearly severing the pinky on her right hand. The finger had to be amputated; in a jail call with her boyfriend, Reid said that she cut her finger while cutting chicken. Her boyfriend questioned how she could have cut her right finger and why she would have been holding a knife in her left hand. On the calls, Reid also allegedly told her boyfriend she no longer wanted to stay in her home by herself. “She mentioned buzzards in the area,” Stagg said, adding that Reid suggested, “something must be dead out there.”
Stagg admitted that investigators don’t have a motive in the case. “We have no idea why,” she said. “But we know that this poor 17-year-old girl and her baby ended up in a ditch right behind the defendant’s home for several weeks before she was located.”
Reid’s defense attorney, Charles Hayes, said that his client has been behind bars for 695 days and was not receiving the necessary medical treatment for issues she has with her head and shoulders.
Judge Clyburn Pope denied the defense motion. “Given the nature of the alleged charges, I do think it is appropriate that bond remains denied at this time.” The judge did say the defense could renew their motion for bond if the trial hasn’t been held by 2027. Both sides indicated they felt they would be prepared for a trial date in the fall.
