FAYETTEVILLE -- The man accused of stabbing to death two people who were hiking at Devil's Den State Park on July 26 was ordered held without bond and appointed an attorney at a brief first appearance hearing Aug. 1 at the Washington County Detention Center.
Andrew James McGann, 28, of Pinecrest Street in Springdale, was arrested by Arkansas State Police on July 30 in connection with two counts of capital murder. McGann is being held at the Washington County Detention Center.
Police say McGann killed Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, while they were hiking with their two daughters on a trail at the park near West Fork. The girls, aged 7 and 9, were not injured and are safe with their family members.
Prosecutors filed formal charges against McGann on Aug. 1. The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Joanna Taylor.
Arkansas State Police Col. Mike Hagar said July 31 there is no indication McGann knew the victims.
"It appears to be a completely random incident," Hagar said.
Police announced the arrest at a news conference the night of July 30, but have not discussed a motive.
McGann appeared Aug. 1 wearing jail attire in a tiny courtroom before District Judge Terra Stephenson. The judge advised McGann of the charges pending against him, ordered him held without bond, and appointed the Arkansas Public Defender Commission to defend him. The hearing lasted about five minutes.
McGann was scheduled for an August 25 arraignment date in Washington County Circuit Court, but Prosecuting Attorney Brandon Carter confirmed on August 1 that the arraignment will be moved up to 8 a.m. on August 14 at the county courthouse.
Capital murder, if convicted, is punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.
Carter said July 31 he plans to seek the death penalty in the case. He said the case has all the aggravating factors to warrant a jury deciding whether a death sentence is appropriate.
"By law, that's a given unless and until the state waives it," Gregg Parrish, executive director of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission, said July 31.
He said McGann was declared indigent, which allows him to appoint lawyers to defend the suspect.
"That's why I'm here, I'll have to appoint two death-qualified attorneys to represent him," Parrish said.
The brief Aug. 1 court appearance drew more media attention than is usually the case for a first appearance hearing. There were six television cameras, a sketch artist, and about a dozen assorted journalists watching the proceedings on a live feed outside the courtroom.
The attack happened about a half-mile down a trail at Devil's Den near West Fork, a place with spotty cellphone service and challenging terrain, Hagar said.
Clinton Brink was attacked with a knife first as Cristen Brink moved their daughters to safety, Hagar said. After getting the girls away from the attack, Cristen Brink returned to her husband and was attacked with a knife, Hagar said.
McGann, who has no criminal record, had been hired to work for the Springdale School District and had recently moved to Northwest Arkansas from Oklahoma.
The Brinks were recent transplants to Northwest Arkansas as well, moving to Prairie Grove in the past month after previously living in Montana, according to authorities.
FOUR DISTRICTS IN THREE YEARS
McGann worked at four school districts in Oklahoma and Texas over the past three years, according to reporting from the Associated Press and Democrat-Gazette.
He graduated in the spring of 2022 from Oklahoma State University in Tulsa with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education.
He passed background checks in two different Oklahoma school districts and had been expected to start a new job in Northwest Arkansas on Aug. 11.
McGann has active teaching licenses in Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, according to each respective government certification website. No infractions or suspensions are noted on his public state licensures in any of those states.
McGann was placed on administrative leave in spring 2023 while he was employed at Donald Elementary School in the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound, Texas, "following concerns related to classroom management, professional judgment, and student favoritism," according to a spokesperson for the Lewisville Independent School District.
McGann resigned from the Lewisville post in May 2023, the district said in a statement.
The following school year, he taught fifth grade at an elementary school in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow before leaving to take another job at a separate Tulsa-area district, Sand Springs, from the summer of 2024 until May of this year. Officials from both Oklahoma districts stated that McGann passed all background checks.
"There were no disciplinary actions taken against him during his time at Broken Arrow Public Schools, and nothing in his background or reference checks gave cause for concern during the interview process," Broken Arrow Public Schools spokesperson Tara Thompson wrote in an email to the AP.
Spokespeople from both Oklahoma districts stated that police have not contacted them regarding the investigation.
McGann had not yet started his new job in the Springdale School District, said Superintendent Jared Cleveland.
He said the district could not provide more information, citing the investigation.
Ron Wood can be reached by email at [email protected]. Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo and Safiyah Riddle contributed to this report.
McGann's First Appearance Video: nwaonline.com/82mcgann/
