James McGann: Teacher, 28, arrested after married couple killed while hiking with two young daughters at Ozark Mountains, Arkansas
A teacher has been arrested in connection with the deaths of a married couple attacked and killed while hiking with their two young daughters at Ozark Mountains in Arkansas.
James Andrew McGann, 28, was arrested Wednesday afternoon at a barbershop in Springdale, Arkansas, and faces two counts of capital murder, police said. The deaths of Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, are being investigated as a double homicide after their bodies were found Saturday on a walking trail in Devil’s Den State Park in northwest Arkansas, state police said.
A motive for the killings is still being determined, Arkansas State Police Major Stacie Rhoads said during a news conference after Wednesday’s arrest. McGann had recently moved to Arkansas from Oklahoma and secured a job at a local school, Rhoads said. Officials declined to provide specific details about what led to the arrest, citing the ongoing prosecution of the case.
The Brinks’ daughters, ages 7 and 9, weren’t harmed and are safe with relatives, police added. Law enforcement presence was increased at state parks across Arkansas in response to the killings.
“No news can heal the enormous harm done to the Brink family in last weekend’s crime, but this announcement is a comfort and reassurance for our State,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Wednesday. Since the weekend, state police had worked with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to track down the suspect and bring “justice to this family,” Arkansas State Police Col. Mike Hagar said.
The Brinks had recently moved from another state to Prairie Grove, a small town in northwest Arkansas near the Oklahoma border, according to police. Their family has asked for privacy.
The killings happened in a part of 2,500-acre Devil’s Den State Park with thick vegetation and no cell phone service, police said. The park is known for its rugged natural scenery, with waterfalls, caves and rock formations.