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The educator accused of murdering an Arkansas couple during a hiking expedition with their two daughters entered a plea of not guilty to two charges of capital murder on Thursday.
Andrew James McGann, a 28-year-old teacher at an elementary school, was apprehended last month after being accused of stabbing Clinton David Brink, aged 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, aged 41. He faces two counts of capital murder.
McGann hardly spoke and showed little emotion during the arraignment, which lasted around 30 minutes, according to NBC affiliate KNWA-TV.
Authorities have stated that McGann confessed to the investigators about “committing these atrocious acts,” and his DNA was discovered at the scene of the crime.
In a concise declaration, the Washington County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced that “the state is still seeking the death penalty” in McGann’s legal proceedings.
McGann’s lawyers from the county public defender’s office declined to comment.
The Brinks were on a hike in Devil’s Den State Park, located in the northwestern area of Arkansas, with their two children, aged 7 and 9, according to authorities.
It is believed by the investigators that Clinton was attacked initially, while Cristen managed to lead the children to safety. Authorities mentioned she then “went back to assist her husband” before she was also attacked. The children were unharmed, and officials have stated they do not think the children were intended targets.
A motive for the attack remains unknown.
Arkansas State Police Director Mike Hagar said last month that officials “have no reason to believe that there was any known association between our suspect and our victims.”
McGann evaded authorities for several days after the Brinks were found dead. He was arrested in a Springdale, Arkansas, barbershop while getting his hair cut, roughly 30 miles from Devil’s Den.
Officials said McGann recently moved to Arkansas for a new job at an elementary school after teaching in various schools throughout Oklahoma. He was recently hired to teach within Springdale Public Schools in Arkansas, but had not started the new role, according to a district administrator.
McGann passed background checks for his employment by Oklahoma’s Education Department and for the two districts in the state where he taught.
Some parents of McGann’s former students said they raised concerns that he was not properly teaching their children. Others said they worried he was “grooming” female students.
“In early May, late April, other parents start telling me that he was having special lunches during the lunch break, where all the kids would go to the cafeteria, but then he would ask some of the special girls to stay in his classroom and have lunch with him, which was weird,” parent Lindsay Camp Polyak previously told NBC News. “Other moms alleged that he had encouraged some girls to sit in his lap.”
Polyak added that her son told her that McGann would give candy and other prizes to female students, and that he “loves to play tag. He plays tag at recess every day with the girls.”
The Lewisville Independent School District in Texas, one of the districts where McGann taught and where Polyak’s son is a student, said in a message to the school community that an internal investigation “did not find any evidence of inappropriate behavior with a student.”
