Man to face murder charge after body found under garage floor
By Emily Maher
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TYNGSBOROUGH, Massachusetts (WCVB) — A man is expected to appear in court Tuesday after human remains were found underneath the floor of a garage at a Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, home during a homicide investigation.
Shawn Sullivan, 40, of Tyngsborough, has been charged with murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and improper disposal of human remains in connection with the alleged shooting of a victim whose identity has not yet been confirmed, officials said.
An investigation that led to the discovery 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.
Ryan said detectives from the Tyngsborough Police Department, Tewksbury Police Department and Massachusetts State Police executed a search warrant at the home Sunday and discovered what appeared to be a large patched section of the garage floor measuring about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide.
Investigators used ground-penetrating radar and confirmed something was located beneath the patched area before cutting through the concrete, Ryan said. They ultimately recovered a plastic bag containing human remains.
“They were here until nighttime, after the sun came down, though they stopped digging probably midday,” neighbor Ella White said.
Authorities believe the remains could be those of Jill Kloppenburg, a Lowell, Massachusetts, woman who was last seen in January 2025 and who was reported missing a month later, Ryan said.
Investigators said they believe that Kloppenburg and Sullivan knew each other and that she had visited his home.
Sullivan is currently being held on a murder charge connected to a “Jane Doe” because the remains are not yet positively identified.
“He seemed like a nice enough guy to me,” said neighbor Joseph McRell. “It’s not something I expected. He didn’t seem like a bad guy to me as far as I could tell. It’s a little frightening.”
Sullivan is scheduled to be arraigned in Lowell District Court.
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