Man Charged with Murder After Remains Found Under Garage Floor

Human remains believed to be those of Jill Kloppenburg, a 47-year-old woman from Lowell, Massachusetts, who vanished more than a year ago, were discovered buried under the floor of a garage in Tyngsborough on Sunday. Shawn Sullivan, the 40-year-old resident of the home on Audrey Avenue, faces charges of murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, and improper disposal of a human body. He was arrested Monday and held without bail following the discovery.

Prosecutors from the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, led by Marian Ryan, announced the charges during a news conference Monday. The breakthrough came after a friend of Sullivan contacted police in Nashua, New Hampshire, on March 10, reporting that Sullivan had confessed to shooting and killing a woman named Jill around January 2025 before burying her body under his garage floor. Investigators linked the description to Kloppenburg, who was reported missing by friends on February 26, 2025, after last being seen leaving her temporary home in Lowell on January 2. Her cellphone activity ceased on January 14.

Authorities determined that Sullivan and Kloppenburg knew each other as friends and...