The teacher accused of fatally stabbing an Arkansas couple as he walked with two of his daughters declared himself innocent of two capital murder positions on Thursday.
Andrew James McGann, a 28 -year -old elementary school teacher, was arrested last month, accused of stabbing Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, to death and accused of two positions of capital murder.
McGann barely spoke and showed little emotion during the reading of charges, which lasted about 30 minutes, according to NBC KNWA-TV affiliate
The authorities said that McGann made statements to the researchers “indicating that he had committed these atrocious acts” and that his DNA was found in the crime scene.
In a brief statement, the Washington County Prosecutor’s office said that “the State continues to pursue the death penalty” in the case of McGann.
McGann’s lawyers from the County Public Defensor Office declined to comment.
The Brinks were walking in the Den Diam Den State Park, which is located in the northwest corner of Arkansas, with their young children, who are 7 and 9, the authorities say.
The researchers believe that Clinton was attacked first, while Cristen took the children to a safe place. The authorities said later “returned to help her husband” before being attacked. The children were not injured in the attack, and the authorities said last month that they do not believe they were objectives.
A reason for the alleged attack is still 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.”
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 the authorities for several days after the binks were found dead. He was arrested in a Springdale barber, Arkansas, while cutting his hair, approximately 30 miles from Devil’s Den.
The authorities said McGann recently moved to Arkansas for a new job in a primary school after teaching in several Oklahoma schools. Recently he was hired to teach within the public schools of Springdale in Arkansas, but had not started the new role, according to a district administrator.
McGann approved background verifications for his employment in the Department of Education of Oklahoma and for the two districts he taught within the State.
Some parents of former McGann students said they expressed concern that he was not adequately teaching their children. Others said they were worried that he was “preparing” the students.
“In early May, at the end of April, other parents begin to tell me that I was taking special lunch during lunch, where all the children went to the cafeteria, but then asked some of the special girls to stay in their classroom and have lunch with him, which was strange,” said Polyak Polyak, Father Lindsay Camp Polyak. “Other mothers alleged that he had encouraged some girls to sit in his lap.”
Polyak added that his son told him that McGann would give sweets and other awards to the students, and that “he loves to play the label. He plays at recess every day with the girls.”
Lewisville’s independent school district in Texas, one of the districts where McGann taught and where Polyak’s son is a student, he told the school community that an internal investigation “did not find any evidence of inappropriate behavior with a student.”
