Nurse Verna McClain Allegedly Kills Texas Mother in “Adoption” Plot UPDATED

“A nurse has been charged with capital murder in the shooting of Texas mother whose newborn was snatched from her arms outside a pediatric hospital.

Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Lignon, speaking on ABC’s Good Morning America, says Verna McClain was charged early today in the killing of Kala Marie Golden.

The incident on Tuesday allegedly was part of a plot by McClain to find a child to adopt, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter.

The 3-day-old boy, Keegan Schuchardt, was recovered unharmed.

Update at 3:42 p.m. ET: McClain will be back in court Thursday morning. She had her first appearance today.

The news conference has ended.

Update at 3:36 p.m. ET: McClain, 30, has expressed remorse, a sheriff’s investigator says.

Update at 3:34 p.m. ET: A gun was recovered from McClain’s apartment. The autopsy has been completed, but authorities are still not sure how many times Golden was shot.

Update at 3:28 p.m. ET: A sheriff’s detective says McClain told investigators she had a miscarriage and needed to prove to her fiance and soon-to-be husband that she had given birth. She told the man the baby was hers.

She already has two children.

Update at 3:20 p.m. ET: Authorities say they believe that Verna McClain acted alone, despite witness reports Tuesday that a man was seen in the passenger seat of the Lexus getaway car.

Update at 3:17 p.m. ET: Law enforcement officials have begun a press conference.

Update at 8:47 a.m. ET: Ligon says McClain’s statement to investigators indicate the shooting was part of a wider plan to kidnap any child and that Golden was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“There were statements as indicated in the arrest record that were made by Ms. McClain that led us to believe that, in fact, this was an intentional act on her part,” Ligon says. “Not that Ms. Golden was targeted specifically, but that this was part of a plan to kidnap a child.”

Update at 8:35 a.m. ET: The Montgomery County Police Reporter says a SWAT team had descended on nearby apartment, where the car used in the shooting had been found, when McClain returned and asked to speak to detectives.

The newspaper says McClain, a registered nurse, allegedly told detectives that she had shot Golden and had taken the baby to another apartment in Harris County.

The newspaper reports that the 30-year-old McClain, who has with no prior criminal record, confessed to police that she shot Golden.

The newspaper reports that McClain had earlier told her sister that she would be adopting a child soon. After the shooting and abduction, the newspaper reports, McClain contacted her sister and told her she now had the child and would need to do the adoption.

Original post. Witnesses say Golden, 28, died Tuesday afternoon after a woman shot her outside a clinic in Spring, Texas, near Houston, grabbed her 3-day-old baby and drove off.

The district attorney says he does not think Golden was specifically targeted.

The baby, Keegan, was found unharmed Tuesday evening. Lignon says Child Protective Services are looking after Keegan but that they expect him to soon be reunited with his father.

Golden, of Spring, was shot several times after the unidentified woman began arguing with Golden as she got into her pickup truck.

Witnesses said Golden was screaming, “My baby! My baby!” as the suspect took the infant and his carrier and got into a Lexus parked next to the red Ford pickup, said Lt. Dan Norris of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman shot Golden up to seven times and snatched the baby from her arms before driving away in a blue or light green Lexus, according to witness accounts, the Associated Press reports

Texas nurse charged in deadly baby-snatching had miscarriage

[USA Today 4/18/12 by Douglas Stanglin]

“Verna McClain told her fiance she had given birth to their child. But after she suffered a miscarriage, authorities said, she went looking for another baby to present to him.

Now she’s accused of killing a young mother to take one by force.

Investigators say McClain waited outside a pediatrician’s office north of Houston and shot Kala Golden before taking her tiny newborn son, who was only 3 days old.

Little Keegan Golden was found unharmed hours later with McClain’s sister — who was told that her sister planned to adopt the boy. He is back with family members.

McClain is charged with capital murder and was being held Wednesday without bond. Authorities say she admitted attacking the woman Tuesday and stealing her baby from his mother’s pickup truck.

McClain, 30, who listed a Houston address, was separated from her husband, with whom she had raised three children.

“I don’t understand that, her taking a child,” her estranged husband, Theo McClain, of San Diego, told The Associated Press. “That doesn’t make sense. We have three kids. And then to shoot somebody? I’ve never known her to hurt anybody.”

McClain had told her fiancé she had given birth to their child. Instead, McClain had miscarried, said Capt. Bruce Zenor of the Montgomery County sheriff’s office.

Her fiancé, who was not identified Wednesday, is being interviewed by authorities.

Sheriff Tommy Gage said 28-year-old Kala Golden had placed Keegan into her pickup truck Tuesday afternoon after leaving Northwoods Pediatric Center in Spring, about 20 miles north of Houston. The suspected shooter was parked next to her, Gage said.

The woman repeatedly shot Golden, then snatched the child from her truck and drove away, according to witness accounts. The dying woman leaned into the vehicle and tried to take the boy back, screaming, “My baby!” but her attacker sped off.

Later Tuesday, two detectives spotted a vehicle outside a nearby apartment complex that matched witnesses’ descriptions, Gage said. Though McClain’s apartment was empty, she showed up and talked to authorities.

During an interview, detectives learned of a residence in Harris County where McClain’s sister lives and the child might be, Gage said.

McClain’s sister, Corina Jackson, told authorities that she had talked about needing to “do the adoption” soon after taking Keegan.

McClain was later arrested. Police say she admitted carrying out the attack. They do not believe anyone else was involved.

Investigators said McClain’s statements included information only the shooter would know and indicated Tuesday’s attack was part of a wider plan to kidnap any child. Golden was simply a convenient target, authorities said.

McClain’s children are with a family member in the county, authorities said.

The kidnapped baby has been returned to his family, according to his father, Keith Schuchardt, who said he had been married to Kala Golden for three years.

He told the Houston Chronicle that he learned of the shooting because as Golden lay dying, she asked another woman to call him and explain the attack.

Asked by reporters what he would tell his wife now, Schuchardt said, “I wish you were here with me to get me through this.”

Schuchardt, who also has a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, said officials were initially concerned about his criminal record, which includes felony convictions for possession of a controlled substance and burglary of a coin-operated machine.

Gwen Carter, a spokeswoman for Texas’ Department of Family and Protective Services, said Schuchardt could see his children as often as he wanted while authorities worked on the case.

McClain is a vocational nurse at a local staffing agency, a job that involves providing basic nursing services under the direction of registered nurses and doctors. She does not work at the pediatric center, according to a clinic receptionist, Jackie Longoria.

McClain, who has vocational nursing licenses in both California and Texas, has not faced disciplinary action in either state, according to licensing boards.

Golden’s mother, Linda Golden, told the AP that she had been baby-sitting when someone at the scene called her using her daughter’s cellphone. She rushed to the clinic but was unable to see her daughter because paramedics were trying to save her.

“I wanted to kiss her before they put her in the ambulance,” Linda Golden said.

Linda Golden said she had no idea what could have sparked the slaying and abduction.

“That’s the hardest she’s ever fought,” she said. “She died trying to save her baby.”

Nurse Accused in Baby Abduction Had Miscarried

[NBC Dallas-Fort Worth 4/18/12 by Michael Gracyzk and Juan Lozano/Associated Press]

Verna is black and Kala appears to be white from the photos on CBS.

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Sick!

 Update: Bond denied.

“Bloody jeans and a handgun believed to be the murder weapon were found in the apartment of a Texas woman accused of kidnapping a newborn boy after fatally shooting his mother, authorities said at a Monday hearing.

Verna McClain, who is accused of shooting Kala Golden outside a suburban Houston pediatric center last week and abducting her 3-day-old son, will remain jailed after a judge denied her bond at the hearing. The boy was later found safe. Investigators believe McClain was desperate for a baby after suffering a miscarriage, and her attorneys have said they planned to review her mental state.

“This was a cold calculated murder, not only meant to deprive Kala Golden of her life but to abduct her child,” Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said during the 1½ hour bond hearing.

A detective who testified at the hearing said McClain initially told investigators she had found the baby after it had been left on her doorstep. But authorities say she later confessed.

Defense attorney E. Tay Bond had asked for a bond of $100,000 or less for the 30-year-old nurse, arguing she has no prior criminal history and that witnesses have not positively identified her as being at the shooting scene.

“We of course disagree with (the judge’s ruling). We believe she has a constitutional right to a bond,” the attorney said after the hearing.

But state District Judge Fred Edwards ruled preliminary evidence supported authorities’ claims that McClain was responsible for “the violent death of a young mother” and justified her being held without bond.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Det. John Schmitt had testified that authorities found the jeans and handgun as well as a cell phone and a towel with blood on them in McClain’s apartment. The Lexus that witnesses said sped away from the shooting with the infant also was found in front of the apartment. Inside the vehicle, investigators recovered a shell casing similar to ones found at the shooting scene and blood was found on the driver’s side door.

McClain did not speak during the hearing. She kept looking down at the floor as she rocked back and forth in her chair and tapped her leg up and down. Bond said McClain continues to mumble and be visibly upset, as she was at a hearing last week.

Her “mental evaluations will be forthcoming,” he said.

McClain faces a capital murder charge, which could carry a death sentence. Ligon said his office hasn’t decided whether to seek the death penalty. Her attorneys have said she intends to plead not guilty.

The shooting happened last Tuesday outside the Northwoods Pediatric Center in Spring, about 25 miles north of Houston, where McClain had taken her three children for checkups. Investigators believe Golden was randomly targeted.

Authorities said 28-year-old Golden was placing her son, Keegan Schuchardt, into her pickup truck when McClain repeatedly shot her, snatched the child and sped off. Golden died at a hospital. But she was first able to give a description of who had shot her and taken her son, Schmitt testified.

After the Lexus was found at a nearby apartment complex, SWAT officers entered McClain’s apartment but found no one inside. Schmitt said McClain then approached investigators at the scene, telling them the Lexus was her sister’s and she had driven it earlier. McClain later became a suspect when her story kept changing after being asked if she knew where the infant was, Schmitt said.

The infant was found safe with McClain’s sister and after McClain was confronted with this, she told investigators that “after returning to the apartment with the Lexus (after running errands), she … located the baby on the front steps and took the baby” to her sister’s house, Schmitt said.

McClain’s sister told authorities that McClain informed her she planned to adopt the boy.

Investigators said McClain had told her fiance she’d given birth to their child.

McClain was a vocational nurse and had been working for Epic Health Services, a Dallas-based company that provides private duty nursing services for medically fragile children and adults facing chronic illness or catastrophic injuries.”

Bond denied for Texas nurse accused in baby theft

[Fox News 4/23/12 by Associated Press]