Woman, 35, arrested after she ‘killed her mother and 23-year-old sister in their Virginia home and then staged the crime scene as a murder-suicide’
- Megan Hargan has since been charged with two counts of first-degree murder
- Her sister Helen Hargan and mom Pamela Hargan, 63, were found dead July 2017
- Pamela was surrounded by shell casings; Helen was found with a gun by her side
- Police initially thought Helen had killed her mother and then committed suicide
- But authorities said they realized very early on that the crime scene was staged
- Found out Hargan tried to make fraudulent money transfers from mom’s account
A Virginia woman has been arrested after she allegedly killed her 23-year-old sister and mother and then staged the crime scene so that it looked like a murder-suicide.
Megan Hargan, 35, was arrested 16 months after her mother Pamela Hargan, 63, and sister Helen Hargan were found dead in their home in McLean on July 14, 2017.
Authorities initially believed Helen had shot her mother dead and then committed suicide. But now it is Megan Hargan who is the prime suspect.
Hargan has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Megan Hargan, 35, (pictured) was arrested after she allegedly killed her 23-year-old sister and mother and then staged the crime scene so that it looked like a murder-suicide
Pamela Hargan, 63, (left) and Helen Hargan (right) were found dead in their home in McLean, Virginia on July 14, 2017
Authorities were first alerted to the shooting after Helen’s boyfriend, Carlos, called from Dallas.
Carlos told police that his girlfriend had called to tell him that her sister had killed her mother, according to WUSA9.
When authorities arrived on the scene, Pamela’s body was found in the laundry room. There were shell casings strewn about her body.
Helen’s body was found in the bedroom, a gun by her side. Both women had died of rifle wounds to the head.
Pamela’s death was immediately ruled a homicide, but Helen’s cause of death was undetermined.
Authorities initially believed Helen (right) had shot her mother dead and then committed suicide. But now it is Megan Hargan who is the prime suspect.
Police said they realized early on that the crime scene was staged.
‘It was made to look one way,’ Maj Ed O’Carroll said during a press conference on Friday.
‘Our detectives are smart and we realized that that necessarily wasn’t the case, and we followed up on every lead.’
O’Carroll said it was ‘not very long at all’ before detectives realized there was more to the story, but they kept quiet about their suspicions so as not to alert Hargan.
‘We always try to inform our community,’ he said. ‘But investigative strategy is of the utmost importance.’
Detectives reconstructed the crime scene and interviewed Hargan twice as they tried to crack the case.
When authorities arrived at the women’s home (pictured) Pamela’s body was surrounded by shell casings. Helen’s body was found in the bedroom, a gun by her side
That’s when they discovered that Hargan had attempted to make fraudulent money transfers from her mother’s account the day before and the day of the murders, O’Carroll said.
Hargan had access to her mother’s passwords and authorities found out that documents related to the wire transfers had disappeared from Pamela’s laptop a week after her death, according to the Washington Post.
Tammy North, Pamela’s sister, said Hagan was motivated by money and jealousy.
She said Pamela had just bought Helen a house that she was about to move into. Both daughters were living with Pamela before she was murdered.
‘There’s never been any question. I believed from day one that she did it,’ North said of Hagan.
Authorities later discovered that Hargan (pictured) had attempted to make fraudulent money transfers from her mother’s account the day before and the day of the murders
‘I’ve known that it was coming, and now it’s here. It was like it all blew up in your face.’
Hargan and her six-year-old daughter moved to West Virginia to live with her husband after her mother and sister’s deaths.
-
Judge orders Amazon to hand over Echo that may have recorded…
Oklahoma man, 22, is charged with murder after he ‘shot his…
Share this article
Hargan was arrested on Friday morning in West Virginia during a traffic stop after dropping her daughter off at school.
She will eventually be extradited to Virginia to face charges.
‘Tragedy struck in July 2017 here in our community,’ O’Carroll said. ‘Today, justice prevails.’
Source: Read Full Article