Md. man ordered held for evaluation in death of his mother

Jaclyn McGuigan was remembered by her niece as being "full of life." (Courtesy Nicky Everette)

WASHINGTON — The Rockville, Maryland, man accused of stabbing his mother to death last week has been ordered held for a mental evaluation.

Police said his brother told them the suspect, Kevin Justin McGuigan, 21, had tried to kill him two years ago.

Jaclyn McGuigan was remembered by her niece as being “full of life.” (Courtesy Nicky Everette)

McGuigan was ordered held for evaluation until a bond review Jan. 7.

He was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Jaclyn McGuigan, 49, outside St. Raphael Catholic Church, on Dunster Road in Potomac, who died in the evening of Dec. 28.

In charging documents released Monday, the Montgomery County police said that when they told the suspect’s brother and sister, Jacob and Kaitlan McGuigan, that their mother had died, Jacob McGuigan immediately asked whether Kevin had killed her, adding that Kevin had tried to strangle him to death two years ago.

Kaitlan McGuigan told the police that Kevin had called their mother earlier in the day, asking her to meet with him, the charging documents said. They drove off together in her car at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

The police charged that Jaclyn McGuigan was attacked with a cutting weapon in front of the church. When witnesses came out of the church in response to screams, they found Kevin McGuigan standing over his mother.

He ran off and drove away in his mother’s car, which was found in Falls Grove Park about 45 minutes later. Kevin McGuigan was arrested Saturday morning at a gas station in Rockville.

Jaclyn McGuigan’s niece, Nicky Everette, described her aunt as “the most amazing woman,” and someone who was “full of life.” She said her aunt had survived breast cancer, getting her last treatment a couple of months ago, and said “she touched so many people.”

In February 2016, Jaclyn McGuigan took out a restraining order against her son Kevin, telling the police she wanted to keep him from the house where she lived with Jacob and Kaitlan. She said in the application that Kevin had punched his brother “violently” and had threatened to kill her. She said he had a drug problem and “drug-induced paranoia.”

In October 2017, Kevin McGuigan was charged with disorderly conduct; officers charged he walked away from his car, and them, during a traffic stop. The state declined to prosecute.

WTOP’s Mike Murillo and Hallie Mellendorf contributed to this report.

Rick Massimo

Rick Massimo came to WTOP, and to Washington, in 2013 after having lived in Providence, R.I., since he was a child. He's the author of "A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set" and "I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival."

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