The Beauty Shop Killer: The Jonathan Vick Case

A chilling true crime investigation into one of South Carolina’s most notorious murderers and the decade-long search for justice.

The Murder of Dana Satterfield

In the summer of 1995, Roebuck, South Carolina was the kind of place where people didn’t think twice about leaving their doors unlocked. A small community just outside Spartanburg, where neighbors knew each other by name, and local businesses served as gathering spots for gossip and friendship.

One of those businesses was a small beauty salon run by 27-year-old Dana Satterfield. Recently separated but amicable with her ex, Dana was building her own life while raising two young children. Her salon, housed in a modified mobile home just off Highway 221, was more than just a business – it was her dream, her fresh start.

The Final Hours: July 31, 1995

At 6:30 PM on July 31st, 1995, Shirley – a door-to-door cleaning product saleswoman – made what should have been a routine stop at Dana Satterfield’s salon. The two women chatted briefly as Dana purchased some cleaning fluid. It was a mundane interaction that would later become crucial to the investigation.

An hour and a half later, around 8:10 PM, Shirley passed by the salon again. Through the window, she saw Dana cleaning up, getting ready to close for the night. The two women exchanged friendly waves. Everything seemed normal.

But at 8:30 PM, as Shirley waited outside for her ride, something changed. She heard it first – several loud thumping sounds coming from inside the salon. Then the lights went out. What happened next would haunt Shirley for years to come.

A crash shattered the evening quiet. Shirley watched as a man came crashing through the salon’s window, landing on his knees before scrambling to his feet. In her police statement, Shirley would later describe a terrifying moment when she and this stranger came face to face. “He looked crazy,” she would repeat over and over to investigators. The man was white, with brown hair, wearing a light-colored T-shirt and jeans.

Discovery of the Crime

Deputy J.T. Burnett was the first law enforcement officer to arrive at the scene. What he discovered inside the salon’s bathroom would shock even veteran investigators. Dana Satterfield had been beaten, raped, and strangled with a strap from a burgundy cosmetics bag. Her body was hanging from a water heater, her clothes torn away, her face and hair covered in blood.

Mike Satterfield, Dana’s estranged husband, had spent the previous evening with Dana and their children – Brandon, age 6, and Ashley, age 8. They’d had dinner together and watched TV, maintaining an amicable relationship despite their separation. They’d even made plans to have dinner together the next night. Instead, Mike received a call from a church member telling him something was wrong at Dana’s salon.

When he arrived, deputies wouldn’t let him inside. They couldn’t tell him anything. Hours later, he would have to identify his children’s mother’s body.

The Investigation Goes Cold

The investigation into Dana Satterfield’s murder initially followed predictable paths. In small-town homicides, law enforcement typically looks first at those closest to the victim. Mike Satterfield, though separated from Dana, quickly came under scrutiny. But investigators soon hit a wall – Mike had a solid alibi, being home with their children at the time of the murder. Moreover, the brutal and sexually violent nature of the crime didn’t fit with what they knew of Mike or his relationship with Dana. Their separation had been amicable, and they were still co-parenting their children successfully.

Key Evidence

The evidence pointed elsewhere. A dark blue and white Ford Bronco had been spotted near the salon that evening. Multiple witnesses described seeing it, with its distinctive custom rims. This detail would prove crucial years later.

But the most significant evidence collected that night came from SLED DNA analyst Lilly Gallman. Using what was then cutting-edge technology – a fluorescent light – Gallman discovered semen on Dana’s body. She made a decision that would prove crucial to solving the case: when initial swabs showed no testable samples, she remembered what she had seen and went back to test a comb that had been run through the victim’s hair.

A Decade Without Answers

For ten years, the case went cold. Dana’s children, Brandon and Ashley, grew up without their mother. Her family marked birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries without answers. The composite sketch of the man seen fleeing through the window hung in the sheriff’s office, a constant reminder of justice denied.

Detectives took DNA samples from about 30 men, searching for a match to the semen found on Dana’s body. They investigated every lead, every rumor, every possibility. But none of them led to Dana’s killer.

As Solicitor Trey Gowdy would later say, “The longer it takes, the more that there’s a cottage industry of alternative theories that comes up. We can see that with some unsolved cases here — well, it was a Mafia hit, or it was this, or it was that — time doesn’t help there.”

The Disappearances: Heather Sellars & Michele Whitaker

Seven years after Dana’s murder, two more women would cross paths with the man investigators would eventually identify as her killer. Their stories – one of survival, one of tragic mystery – would add new layers to this already complex case.

Michele Whitaker’s Vanishing

In 2002, Michele Whitaker was working at a local Waffle House when her life began to unravel. Struggling with substance abuse, she had been arrested for drunk driving and public drunkenness. Her mother, Laura Andrews, tried “tough love,” hoping that court-ordered rehab would help her daughter turn her life around.

But before Michele could enter treatment, she vanished. Last seen at a truck stop trying to catch a ride, she simply disappeared. Her family was devastated. They knew Michele had her troubles, but she would always call. She would never abandon her beloved dog, Sophie. Something was wrong.

Heather Sellars Goes Missing

Just weeks after Michele’s disappearance, at the same Waffle House where Michele had worked, 20-year-old Heather Sellars finished her shift. Pretty and blonde, Heather had recently broken off her engagement to a local man named Jonathan Vick. That night, she was seen leaving with him to visit two local bars. It would be the last time anyone saw Heather alive.

What no one knew then was that Jonathan Vick had a connection to all three women. And he had a secret that went back to that summer night in 1995 – a secret that DNA evidence would finally reveal, though not before more lives would be forever changed.

Breaking the Case: DNA Evidence Reveals the Killer

Sometimes the smallest detail can crack open a decade-old case. For the Dana Satterfield murder, that detail came from a man named Michael Pace, who had been carrying a heavy burden for ten years.

The Crucial Witness Comes Forward

In 1995, Pace had been friends with Jonathan Vick, then just a teenager. On the afternoon of July 31st, the two sat at a bowling alley snack bar, watching girls walk by. That’s when Vick started talking about “a lady named Dana.” But this wasn’t just idle chat – Vick described graphic sexual acts he wanted to engage in with the hairdresser.

When Pace laughed at the idea of his teenage friend dating an older woman, Vick grew defensive. Later that evening, around 7 PM, Vick dropped Pace off at home, saying he was heading to the salon to get his hair cut.

By 9 PM, Dana Satterfield was dead.

Days after the murder, Vick made a chilling threat to his friend: “If I told anybody, he’d kill me,” Pace would later testify. The threat worked – at least partially. Over the next decade, Pace made three anonymous tips to law enforcement, but never told the full story. He thought officers had already cleared Vick. He was wrong.

A Chance Encounter and DNA Match

In 2005, a chance encounter changed everything. Pace was working at a local Express Lube when he commented to coworkers about a young woman in a red Honda who’d gotten two oil changes in one month. Another employee told him the woman was Ashley – Dana Satterfield’s daughter. The revelation hit Pace hard. He hadn’t known Satterfield had children.

“Being a father myself,” Pace would later say, “I knew I needed to do whatever it took at that time to get them the closure they needed.”

This time, Pace signed his name to his statement. The investigation exploded. Armed with his testimony, investigators obtained a court order for Vick’s DNA. The results were staggering – a match by a probability of 900 million to one to the semen found on Dana’s body.

The Arrest

On October 24, 2005, Sheriff Chuck Wright made the announcement: they had finally arrested Dana Satterfield’s killer. Jonathan Vick, now 27, was charged with murder, kidnapping, and criminal sexual conduct.

But as investigators dug deeper into Vick’s past, troubling connections emerged. His ex-girlfriend, Cora Kent, told officers that after Dana’s murder, Vick had once driven her by the salon and made a chilling statement. He told her that if she didn’t listen to him, she could end up like “that woman.”

Even more disturbing was Vick’s connection to Heather Sellars. Not only had they been engaged, but Vick was the last person to see her alive before she vanished. In 2006, investigators found an abandoned vehicle registered to Vick. Inside were bloodstains and blonde hair that they believed might belong to Heather.

And Michele Whitaker? She had worked at the same Waffle House as Heather, during the same time period that Vick was known to frequent the restaurant. Three women, one man, and a web of connections that seemed far too intricate to be coincidental.

Trial & Conviction of Jonathan Vick

November 2006. More than eleven years after Dana Satterfield’s murder, the Spartanburg County Courthouse was packed as Jonathan Vick’s trial began. For the Satterfield family, it had been an excruciating wait. Brandon and Ashley, Dana’s children, were now teenagers. They had lived more years without their mother than with her.

The Prosecution’s Case

The prosecution team, led by Solicitor Trey Gowdy, had built what appeared to be an ironclad case. But criminal trials are never certain, especially with decade-old evidence.

Mike Satterfield took the stand first. He described the last night of Dana’s life – a normal Sunday evening spent with their children, watching TV and having dinner together despite their separation. When asked if he saw Dana that fateful Monday night, he broke down, unable to speak. The judge called for a brief recess.

The prosecution’s case methodically unfolded. The DNA evidence was compelling – a 900 million to one match. But it was the human testimony that painted the full picture of Jonathan Vick’s guilt.

Michael Pace described his friend’s obsession with Dana and the threatening aftermath. Diane Harris, the door-to-door saleswoman, recounted the terrifying moment she came face-to-face with the killer fleeing through the window. Sharon Burnett, Dana’s friend and assistant, testified that Vick had been a customer at the salon, always requesting his hair cut short.

Damning Prison Testimony

Perhaps the most chilling testimony came from behind prison walls. Steve Vaughn, Vick’s former cellmate, told the jury about a conversation they’d had. When asked if there was any day in his life he would take back, Vick had answered “Yes” – the day he went to Mrs. Satterfield’s salon. Vick had told him he parked his Bronco across the street because Satterfield was married and he didn’t want her husband to see his vehicle.

Verdict and Sentencing

On November 30, 2006, after four days of testimony, the case went to the jury. The deliberation lasted just 25 minutes – one of the shortest in Spartanburg County history for a murder trial. The verdict: guilty on all counts.

As the verdict was read, Vick broke down in tears. But even then, facing life in prison, he maintained his innocence. “She did not get justice today,” he told Judge Derham Cole. “She will not, as long as I sit behind bars.”

The judge was unmoved. He sentenced Vick to life in prison for murder, plus two 30-year sentences for kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct. Because he was 17 at the time of the murder, Vick wasn’t eligible for the death penalty. He would have to serve at least 20 years before any possibility of parole.

The Unexpected Return of Michele Whitaker

August 2008. Laura Andrews received a phone call she never expected. For six years, she had been waiting for news about her daughter Michele Whitaker, fearing the worst. She had distributed flyers at truck stops, maintained a website, and never changed her phone number, hoping Michele would somehow find her way back.

A Shocking Discovery

The call came from the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office. Michele was alive.

In a twist that seemed almost too incredible to be true, a viewer watching a “Forensic Files” episode about Dana Satterfield’s murder had recognized Michele. The episode had mentioned her disappearance as a possible connection to Jonathan Vick. But Michele wasn’t another victim – she was living a new life in Oregon.

Sheriff Chuck Wright announced that Michele had been found “missing voluntarily.” She had been living under her own name, working as a nanny, apparently having conquered her substance abuse problems. She had no idea anyone was looking for her, that her disappearance had been linked to a murderer, or that her family had been grieving for six years.

“It didn’t click right away,” Laura Andrews would say about that phone call. “I was expecting the usual ‘touching base-type’ of thing. It was very unexpected and very joyful, and the tears I have are tears of joy and tears of anxiety, wanting to get in touch with her and see her.”

When law enforcement emailed Andrews a recent photograph of her daughter for identification, she was overcome with emotion. “She looks great,” Andrews said. “She looks wonderful. I just wish I could tell her that right now.”

Unanswered Questions: What Happened to Heather Sellars?

As one family celebrated an unexpected reunion, another continued to wait for answers. Heather Sellars’ family watched the news of Michele’s discovery with mixed emotions. Their own nightmare had no resolution.

A Family Still Searching

Lelia Sellars, Heather’s aunt, still keeps her favorite picture of her niece. “We just want some closure, we want to know what happened,” she says. The family knows that Heather broke off her engagement to Jonathan Vick just two weeks before she disappeared. They know she was last seen with him at local bars. They know she never picked up her final paycheck – just $81 – from the Waffle House.

The evidence in Heather’s case is haunting. In 2006, investigators found bloodstains and blonde hair in an abandoned vehicle registered to Vick. But while Vick remains a person of interest in Heather’s disappearance, Sheriff Wright is cautious: “Until I get solid evidence or find some piece of evidence that we need, I’m not going to make a charge on him.”

Vick Behind Bars

Meanwhile, Vick’s violent tendencies haven’t diminished behind bars. In 2010, he was placed in prison lockdown after attacking another inmate. He’s allowed out of his cell only one hour each day. Solicitor Trey Gowdy, who prosecuted the Satterfield case, remains vigilant about keeping Vick imprisoned.

“I would crawl to his parole hearing for a chance to tell a parole board why he should never be released,” Gowdy has said. “I don’t care what nursing home I’m in or what morgue I have to check myself out of, I will oppose him being granted parole if it’s the last thing I do.”

A Legacy of Change

The case changed how Spartanburg County handles cold cases. Sheriff Chuck Wright keeps a wall of photos in his office – victims whose cases remain unsolved. When he took down Dana’s picture after Vick’s arrest, it was a moment of bittersweet triumph. But Heather’s photo remains, along with others still waiting for justice.

The technological advances that helped solve Dana’s murder continue to evolve. In 1995, DNA testing could only provide a probability match of 1,000 to one. By 2005, that same evidence yielded a 900 million to one match. As Solicitor Trey Gowdy noted, “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”

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