After years of delays, a Virginia woman is set to stand trial on accusations that she killed her mother and sister, then staged the deaths to look like a murder-suicide in order to cover a $400,000 theft.
Trial is scheduled to begin Monday for Megan Hargan, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.
When Pamela Hargan, 63, and her 23-year-old daughter, Helen Hargan, were found shot to death in their Fairfax County home in July 2017, police initially reported the deaths as a murder-suicide, saying Helen was to blame. Sixteen months later, police dropped a bombshell when they revealed that Megan Hargan, then 35, had been arrested in the case.
Authorities say Megan Hargan was motivated by greed, so much so that she was willing to kill her own mother to get what she wanted.
The day before the murders, Megan Hargan had allegedly tried to wire nearly $420,000 from her mother's bank account to a title company that was handling the purchase of her new home, The Washington Post reported. Pamela Hargan was notified about the fraudulent transfer and was able to cancel it before it went through.
The next day, Megan Hargan allegedly shot her mother and then transferred the money again. Shortly thereafter, officers responded to the family home after getting a 911 call from Helen Hargan's boyfriend, who said someone may have been killed there, PEOPLE reported.
Inside the home, officers found Pamela and Helen Hargan, both with gunshot wounds to the head. But investigators were suspicious of the crime scene, which appeared to be staged, according to Fairfax County Police Maj. Ed O'Carroll.
O'Carroll told The Post that police knew the crime wasn't a murder-suicide, but they didn't inform the media because they didn't want to tip off Megan Hargan that she was a target of the investigation.
Pamela's sister, Tamara North, 59, told PEOPLE that the Hargans had a "troubled" relationship for quite a while, adding that Megan and Pamela clashed often, and that "Megan hated Helen." North also told WUSA-TV that Megan was jealous of her younger sister because Pamela had purchased a new home for Helen.
After she was arrested, Megan Hargan allegedly told detectives she wanted to take blame for the killings, according to a prosecution filing obtained by The Post. If convicted as charged, she faces life in prison.
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