BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. — A Berkeley County man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a jury found him guilty of fatally shooting his girlfriend during a domestic argument—while already out on bond for a separate murder case.
Aubrey Dupree Tucker, 40, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Thursday for the June 2021 killing of Jessica Ancrum at a home in Goose Creek, where the couple lived with Tucker’s mother and stepfather, the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office announced.
According to testimony during the four-day trial, the incident unfolded on Old Back River Road while Tucker was on house arrest, wearing a GPS ankle monitor due to pending murder charges in Charleston County. He and Ancrum got into an argument as she was preparing to leave the house—then Tucker pulled a gun and shot her five times: twice in the chest, twice in the back, and once in the leg.
He fled the scene on foot, taking the weapon with him. His mother and stepfather, who witnessed the shooting, immediately called 911. In an emotional recording played for the jury, Tucker’s mother is heard sobbing and identifying her son as the shooter before her husband took over the call to relay the situation to dispatchers.
Deputies attempted to track Tucker using K9 units but came up empty. Authorities later worked with his bonding company to trace his ankle monitor, which showed he had traveled to North Charleston, where he cut it off. Two days later, he was caught in Columbia with help from the U.S. Marshals Task Force.
Tucker was also convicted of possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. His sentencing came swiftly after the verdict, delivered by Judge Dale Van Slambrook, who ordered life in prison with no chance of parole.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant Solicitor Wilton H. McNeely and Assistant Solicitor Olivia Lynch of the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office, with support from Investigator David Young.
At the time of the Goose Creek murder, Tucker was already awaiting trial in Charleston County for a separate murder and attempted murder—charges for which the Solicitor’s Office had strongly opposed bond.
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