Woman Convicted Of Killing Mother, Sister At McLean Home In 2nd Trial

MCLEAN, VA — Megan Hargan was found guilty on Friday in the 2017 killings of her mother and younger sister at her mother’s McLean home after her case was heard by a jury for a second time, according to the Fairfax County Office of Commonwealth’s Attorney.

A jury convicted Hargan, 40, of West Virginia of first-degree murder in the two killings and two counts of using a firearm in commission of a felony.

On July 14, 2017, Hargan shot her mother Pamela, 63, and her sister Helen, 24, in Pamela Hargan's McLean home where the three were living at the time, along with Megan Hargan’s then-8-year-old daughter, prosecutors argued. Hargan then staged the house as a murder-suicide and claimed her younger Helen had killed their mom before killing herself, according to prosecutors.

Megan Hargan’s case originally went to trial in 2022, but her conviction in that trial was vacated due to juror misconduct. A judge threw out the verdict after a juror was found to have conducted outside research, which was not allowed. The juror said she used a rifle at home to determine if it was physically possible for Helen Hargan to have killed herself, NBC4 reported.

Megan Hargan has maintained her innocence through the two trials. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 26, 2024, and faces up to life in prison for the two murder charges, according to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.

“Pamela and Helen were loved by many, and their deaths in 2017 tore this community apart, with the added shock and horror of being killed in their own home by a family member,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement Friday.

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“Today’s guilty verdict has been a long time coming, and I hope the Pam and Helen’s loved ones will be able to take one step closer to healing,” Descano said.

Evidence presented at trial showed that a conflict stemmed from a financial dispute. Megan Hargan, who was buying a house for her family, resented that her mother wasn’t helping her financially but was at the same time helping her sister Helen to buy a house, according to prosecutors.

On July 13, 2017, the day before the killings, Megan Hargan attempted to transfer about $400,000 from her mother’s bank account to pay for her new house, which was closing that day, according to evidence. The transaction was flagged as fraud, and the next day, Megan Hargan shot her mother before attempting to make the same wire transfer again from her mother’s account, according to prosecutors. She then shot her sister Helen, who was upstairs, prosecutors said.

The two women were killed by a .22 rifle, which belonged to Megan Hargan’s husband and was being stored in the McLean house temporarily, according to prosecutors.

Megan Hargan was arrested near her home in Monongalia County, West Virginia on Nov. 9, 2018 in connection with the killings. A grand jury from multiple jurisdictions indicted Megan Hargan on two counts of first degree murder and two counts of using a firearm in committing a felony.

On July 14, 2017, police responded to a call that someone might have been killed in the 6700 block of Dean Drive in McLean. Upon entering the home, officers discovered the bodies of Helen Hargan and Pamela Hargan. Both had been shot.

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