Pamela Hargan, Megan Hargan and Helen Hargan.Photo: Fairfax County Police
A Virginia woman has been found guilty of killing her mother and sister inside their $1.3 million home in upscale McLean, Virginia, in 2017 and staging it to look like a murder-suicide.
On Monday, a jury in Fairfax County found Megan Hargan, 39, guilty of all counts including first-degree murder, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced in a statement.
Megan was also found guilty of two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of murder for the July 14, 2017, shooting deaths of her mother, Pamela Hargan, 63, and her sister, Helen Hargan, 23, Descano said in the statement.
Pamela’s sister, Tammy North, tells PEOPLE, “very difficult day. My heart hurts and is broken. It’s too painful right now.”
When the verdict was read, Megan leaned her head on her lawyer’s shoulder, according toNBC Washington, the first to report on the verdict.
Megan’s surviving sister, Ashley Hargan, who testified against her during the emotional trial, was crying when she learned her sister’s fate, the outlet reports.
Greed and jealousy drove Megan to kill her mother and sister, Descano said in his statement.
“Evidence submitted at trial revealed Megan Hargan was angry because she thought her mother favored her sister, Helen, and because Pamela did not make a $400,000 wire transfer to purchase a home for Megan,” he said.
At the time of their deaths, Pamela had bought Helen a home she was in the process of building, court records show.
At the time of the shootings, it looked like a murder-suicide had taken place at the Hargan’s home, Descano said.
“But as the investigation deepened, Megan Hargan became the primary suspect,” he said.
Descano will be seeking a “substantial sentence that reflects the seriousness of the crime,” he said.
“We in Fairfax County have no tolerance for such disregard for human life, and I am committed to addressing crimes of this magnitude with the seriousness they merit,” Descano said.
The crime came to light on July 14, 2017, when Pamela, a successful executive, and Helen, a recent graduate of Southern Methodist University in Texas, were found dead in their home in McLean.
Those who knew the two were shocked when authorities announced that they believed Helen had shot and killed her mother before turning the gun on herself.
That all changed when Megan was arrested in November 2018 and charged with killing them.
During the trial, jurors heard testimony from Helen’s boyfriend, Carlos Gutierrez, who was on the phone with Helen when she told him about the terror-filled scenario unfolding at home in McLean.
Gutierrez was in Dallas when he spoke to Helen for what would be the last time.
“She told me her sister had killed her mother,” Gutierrez told the court, NBC Washington reported.
“She sounded very frightened and scared. I could hear her mouth trembling, and she was sobbing.”
He told the prosecutor that Helen said she never saw her mother’s dead body, but said “the door was cracked and she could hear her mom gasping,” NBC Washington reported.
Gutierrez testified that Helen told him that Megan shot and killed their mother because she was afraid that her mother was going to take her 8-year-old daughter away from her, NBC Washington reported.
Helen Hargan’s dogs are up for adoption at Dancing Creek Farm in Cascade, Virginia.Facebook
Gutierrez said he begged Helen to get out of the house, he testified that she didn’t want to leave or call 911 because she feared for her niece, Megan’s 8-year-old daughter, who was somewhere in the house.
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“She was saying she didn’t know what to do,” he testified. She said the little girl “was in the house as well and she didn’t know how to get her out.”
At some point, Gutierrez lost contact with Helen and began calling her.
But she never answered.
Eventually, Megan answered the phone and told him that Helen and her mother were arguing — but refused to let him talk to Helen, he testified, NBC Washington reports.
Terrified for his girlfriend, Gutierriez called 911.
“I think this is life or death,” he said during the call. “I think someone might be dead.”
Megan’s lawyer did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment but said previously in court records that Megan was not home at the time of the murders.
“I am overwhelmed at how hard this is to deal with,” North previously told PEOPLE. “I feel sick every day.
North previously told PEOPLE she is still struggling with the deaths of her sister and niece at the hands of her other niece.
“The hardest thing for me is to wrap my head around Helen,” she says. “Her last moments must have been horrific.”
source: people.com
