Two years before being arrested in the murders of two hikers of Arkansas, Andrew J. McGann was known by some parents in a primary school in Texas for their unpleasant behavior pattern with their children.
Lindsay Camp Polyak, whose son would spend a few days in the McGann classroom at Donald primary school in the city of Flower Mound, said she and other parents worried that he was not teaching their children properly and felt that they were staying academically. He also noticed what he characterized as the “preparation” of McGann girls in the classroom.
“My son returned home and said: ‘Mr. McGann loves playing the label. He plays on the label at recess every day with the girls’,” said Polyak, adding that his son told McGann giving special sweets and prizes, but only for girls.
In a group conversation with other fourth grade parents, Polyak said he learned that McGann organized “special lunches” where certain girls would remain in his classroom; Some parents alleged that McGann encouraged girls to sit in their lap.
The details about the background of McGann as a teacher arose after the authorities arrested him in the fatal stabbing of a couple in the Diable State Park of Arkansas on July 26. The officials believe that McGann, 28, fatally stabbed Clinton David Brink, 43, and his wife, Cristen Amanda Brink, 42, in front of his daughters 7 and 9 years old.
McGann’s reason is still a mystery. Arkansas state police director Mike Hagar told reporters on Thursday that officials “have no reason to believe that there was any known association between our suspect and our victims.” The Arkansas authorities do not believe that the young daughters of the Brinks were the planned objectives of what seems to have been a random attack.
Polyak learned of McGann’s arrest in a barbershop after a father sent a link to a news article. “I thought, Holy S —, this is McGann, this is the guy who was teaching my son,” he said. “I had no business near our children.”
Megan Perkins, another mother whose son attended Donald Elementary, described McGann as “strange.” She recalled that he was unnecessarily competitive with children during the athletics competitions of the Field Day. She said that other parents would chat about their strange behavior, although not all were necessarily alarmed and some believed that it was simply insecure as the new guy in the community.
In a statement, the Lewisville Independent School District said McGann was put on administrative license in the spring of 2023 following the concerns related to classroom management, the professional judgment and the favoritism of the students. “The school district said that” an internal investigation did not find evidence of inappropriate behavior with the students. “
The Texas Education Agency said it had no record of state research in McGann, but placed a flag in its teaching certificate on Thursday after its arrest.
McGann resigned from the school district in May 2023, said Lewisville ISD. Then he moved back to Oklahoma, where he got a job as a fifth grade teacher at Spring Creek Elementary School in Oklahoma City for the 2023-24 school year.
In an interview with NBC News, a woman whose son was in McGann’s class in Spring Creek said he was “quite quiet, but all the children loved him.”
The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the concerns about the possible harassment, said that her son admired her teacher and began using school poles “because this is how Mr. McGann dressed.” McGann expressed interest in wrestling, hiking and outdoor, and at one point began a career club for children.
He realized that McGann was frequently “uncomfortable around the parents” and “struggled to make visual contact during parents and teachers’ conferences.” He once joked saying that he taught elementary students because he was “afraid of adults,” he said.
In a statement, Broken Arrow’s public schools in Oklahoma said McGann “voluntarily resigned at the end of that year to follow employment elsewhere.”
The district said that “there were no disciplinary actions against him during his time in the public schools of Broken Arrow, and nothing in his background or reference controls gave a reason for concern during the interview process.”
The next McGann stop was the Northwoods Academy of Fine Arts in the Tulsa Sand Springs suburb, where he worked during the 2024-25 school year. Again he taught in fifth grade and again “he resigned from his position” at the end of an academic year, they confirmed the public schools of Sand Springs in a statement.
It is not clear why McGann decided to move to Arkansas. But he had aligned another teaching work there, this time with the public schools of Springdale.
On July 26, two weeks before the start of the school year, a hiker met with a spooky crime scene in the state park Devil’s Den. The hiker found two girls alone along the way, led them to a safe place and then met his parents, who had been stabbed to death, according to a preliminary report from the prosecutor’s office for the fourth judicial district of the State.
A man had been seen leaving the way with what seemed to be blood on his face before getting into a black sedan later determined to be a kia sting, according to the report.
The murders began a human hunt that lasted four days before the police tracked the Stinger to Springdale, where McGann was cutting his hair.
The barber, Adriana Guadalupe Ruiz Avalos, said he had a strange feeling about him almost immediately.
Ruiz Avalos said that it tends to read customers well to Lupita’s, unpretentious of a family beauty salon in the city of Springdale de Arkansas. That is why his guard increased when a tense bell in baggy caques entered the living room on Wednesday afternoon and Téntely asked for a large -phase haircut.
Ruiz Avalos, 28, began to escape but closely watched his client. She had been following news reports about the frantic search for the suspect in the murder of the devil Den. The man in front of her seemed shy, barely said a word and kept his head down.
Approximately five minutes after the haircut, an officer of the law entered. I was looking for the driver of the car parked outside, and he He had some questions for the quiet client of Ruiz Avalos.
In a short time, McGann was handcuffed and taken.
Ruiz Avalos, who observes many documentaries of true crimes, made a point to keep McGann hair cuts on the floor in case they can be useful for investigators seeking DNA evidence. In the hours after her arrest, she had trouble calming.
“I felt Nausea all night. I did not fall asleep until 6 in the morning, I was just thinking about them,” said Ruiz Avalos, referring to the Brinks.
The Brinks, like McGann, were recent transplants to Arkansas. They had moved to the State about three weeks ago, according to Clinton’s sister, Katrina Hutchins.
The family said Clinton and Cristen died “protecting their girls.”
“They deserve justice,” said the family in a brief statement.
McGann has been reserved for capital murder charges, as shown in prison records. The authorities said McGann’s DNA coincided with the one found in the scene. He made statements to the researchers “indicating that he had committed these atrocious acts.”
