(Arkansas State Police)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas police have charged a 28-year-old schoolteacher in the stabbing deaths of a married couple who recently moved from South Dakota and were killed when they were hiking with two of their children at Devil’s Den State Park.
State Police arrested Andrew James McGann on Wednesday at a barbershop in Springdale not far from the park, according to Col. Stacie Rhoads, commander of the department’s criminal investigation division. McGann was charged with two counts of capital murder and is being held without bond Thursday in the Washington County jail.
Arkansas State Police Col. Mike Hagar said during a news conference Thursday that authorities are trying to determine a motive for the attack and have no reason to believe McGann knew the couple or their children.
Police have repeatedly declined to discuss a possible motive for the killings.
Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, were found dead on a walking trail at Devil’s Den on Saturday. Two of their three daughters who were with them at the time were not hurt and are being cared for by family members, authorities have said. They are are 7 and 9, officials said.
Officials said the husband was stabbed first, then the mother ushered her children to safety before returning to help her husband.
Springdale Public Schools said in a statement it had hired McGann as a teacher candidate for the upcoming year but that he had not yet had any contact with its families or students.
Springdale is about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Devil’s Den, where trails have remained closed since the killings on Saturday.
A lawyer couldn’t be located for McGann, and a message was left for a number listed for him. His first court appearance is scheduled for Friday.
“If you commit a violent, senseless act here in our state, our law enforcement will hunt you down and bring you to justice, because that’s what the people of Arkansas frankly deserve,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.
Police flooded with tips
In the days after the attack, police released a composite sketch and a photo of a person of interest that showed them only from behind. Authorities urged trailgoers who had been at the park on the same day to check their camera rolls for photos or video that could help point to a suspect.
Rhoads said the public’s help and video footage they received was instrumental in capturing McGann. Tips came in from as far away as Washington state, she said.
Suspect taught in other states before Arkansas job
McGann has active teaching licenses in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma, according to each respective government certification website. There are no infractions or suspensions noted on his public state licensures in any of those states. The Associated Press reached out to all three state education agencies on Thursday.
McGann was placed on administrative leave in spring 2023 while he was employed at Donald Elementary School in Flower Mound, Texas, “following concerns related to classroom management, professional judgment, and student favoritism,” according to a spokesperson for the Lewisville Independent School District.
Sierra Marcum, whose son was in McGann’s fourth grade class, said the teacher came across as standoffish, “pretty cold,” and “disinterested in his students.” Marcum said her son had come home from school upset and complaining about McGann, which she reported to the school’s principal.
McGann resigned from the Lewisville posting in May 2023, the district said in a statement.
McGann was also a teacher at a small Oklahoma school district starting in the summer of 2024 until May this year. He resigned to take a job in another state, according to a statement from Sand Springs Public Schools, which is near Tulsa. The district said McGann passed all background checks.
Law enforcement hasn’t contacted Sand Springs Public Schools regarding the investigation, according to district spokesperson Lissa Chidester.
McGann had not yet started his new job in Arkansas at Springdale Public Schools, said Jared Cleveland, the district superintendent. He said the district could not provide more information, citing the investigation.
“Our entire team extends our deepest condolences to the Brink family. Their children are especially in our thoughts and prayers,” Cleveland said.
Victims had recently moved to Arkansas
The Brinks had recently moved from South Dakota to the small city of Prairie Grove in northwest Arkansas. Their water was connected less than two weeks ago, Mayor David Faulk said.
Clinton Brink had been scheduled to start working as a milk delivery driver on Monday in the Fayetteville area, according to Hiland Dairy, his employer. Cristen Brink had been licensed as a nurse in Montana and South Dakota before moving to Arkansas.
The Brink family said the couple died “heroes protecting their little girls.”
“Our entire state is grieving for the tragic loss and senseless and horrific crime that’s taken place in this area,” Sanders said.
Devil’s Den is a 2,500-acre (1,000-hectare) state park near West Fork, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, the state capital. The park is known for its hiking trails and rock formations, and it is a short drive from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and Walmart’s Bentonville headquarters.
It has been a state park since the 1930s and its trails lead to the surrounding Ozark National Forest.
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