The woman who was found guilty of the 2017 murder of her mother and sister inside a McLean, Virginia, home received two consecutive life in prison sentences Friday.
The Office of the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney announced the punishment for now 41-year-old Megan Hargan, who prosecutors said staged the double murder to look like a murder-suicide.
“Megan Hargan’s actions in July 2017 go beyond what most of us can imagine. On a quiet Friday morning in her mother’s home, she made an irreversible decision — one that would devastate her family and tear the community apart,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said.
Hargan was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in 2022, but the conviction was tossed out later that year due to juror misconduct. Another jury convicted Hargan on the same charges in a retrial last year.
“This was a complicated case to prosecute, and we would not be here today without the detectives, witnesses and family members who persisted through two lengthy, emotional trials. I want to express my gratitude for their resolve in bringing this case to justice,” Descano said.
The double slaying happened the afternoon of July 14, 2017, inside the McLean home of Hargan’s 63-year-old mother, Pamela. Descano’s office said in a news release that Megan shot her younger sister, 24-year-old Helen Hargan, and her mother and staged it to look like a murder-suicide, saying Helen killed their mom before killing herself.
According to evidence presented at the retrial, Megan and her sister Helen were both looking for new houses, and Megan was upset that her mother was helping out Helen financially but not her.
The day before the killings, Megan tried to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars from her mother’s bank account to help close on a new house, according to prosecutors.
The transaction was flagged as fraud. The next day, prosecutors said Megan shot her mother with a .22 rifle, and then tried the wire transfer again.
Then, she took the rifle upstairs and shot her sister.
Megan was arrested near her home in Monongalia County, West Virginia, on Nov. 9, 2018. In addition to the two life sentences for the first-degree murder charges, Megan was sentenced Friday to an additional six years in prison on two weapons charges.
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