Virginia woman who fatally shot sister and mom before faking murder-suicide gets life in prison

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

MCLEAN, VIRGINIA; The 41-year-old woman found guilty in a retrial after orchestrating the shooting deaths of her mother and sister and making it appear as a murder-suicide. Megan Hargan has been sentenced to life in prison. 

As per Law&Crime, Megan, the accused, resided with the victims, her sister Helen Hargan, 23, at their mother Pamela Hargan's home, who was 63 years old.

Megan received the verdict on Friday, with the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney stating that she was mandated to serve two consecutive life sentences for first-degree murder, along with an additional six years for two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Megan Hargan killed her sister and mother over ‘financial feud’

Motivated by a 'financial feud,' Megan Hargan took the lives of her sister and mother. Megan's anger stemmed from her mother, Pamela, financially assisting her sister, Helen, in purchasing a house while not extending the same support to Megan. 

On July 13, 2017, Megan tried to transfer up to $400,000 from her mother's bank account, but the transaction was flagged as fraud. 

The following day, using her husband's .22 rifle, she fatally shot Pamela and Helen Hargan in their home, with Megan's own daughter, then 8 years old, present. At the time of the incident, Helen was upstairs. 

Distraught and in tears, she called her fiance, who was in Texas, during the first trial. He urged her to leave, but she expressed concern for Megan Hargan's daughter. 

Subsequently, the fiancé received unusual texts from Helen's phone, suggesting everything was fine. 

One text stated, "I'm not mad at Megan," leading the fiance to believe that Megan was impersonating Helen.

Megan Hargan staged 'murder-suicide'

According to authorities, Megan Hargan attempted to stage the crime scene to make it appear as if Helen had killed Pamela before taking her own life. 

In the initial trial, defendant Hargan was convicted, but her attorney successfully persuaded a judge to overturn the verdict due to a juror allegedly experimenting to determine if Helen could have used the .22 rifle for suicide. 

An affidavit from a defense investigator reported that the juror expressed difficulty imagining how Helen Hargan could have committed suicide with the .22 caliber rifle due to its length and weight. 

Prosecutors were required to once again establish Megan Hargan's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and they succeeded in convincing a second jury last year that she carried out the killings.

Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano remarked on Friday, stating, "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.”

He concluded, “First-degree murder is the most serious offense you can be convicted of in Virginia, and today’s sentence reflects the gravity of the defendant’s crimes."