The wife who was killed in the double homicide at Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas went back to “help her husband” before the couple was both stabbed to death, authorities said Thursday.
Officials said Clinton David Brink, 43, was the first to be attacked. His wife, Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, guided their two children to safety before returning in an attempt to help her husband, authorities said during a news conference.
“The mother did not return all the way to the car with the kids,” Maj. Stacie Rhoads with the Arizona State Police Criminal Investigation Division said. “We believe that the mother took them to safety and then returned to help her husband.” The children were found about a half mile into the park.
The couple was hiking with their two daughters, ages 7 and 9, when they were attacked, state police said. Their daughters were not hurt and are being cared for by family members. The couple has a third daughter who was not on the hiking trip.
Arkansas police have charged Andrew James McGann, a 28-year-old former schoolteacher, with two counts of capital murder. He was taken into police custody at a barbershop in Springdale following a five-day search and more than 500 tips from the public.
Officials said Thursday that McGann indicated he did kill the couple. Rhoads said she “would call it an admission.”
Arkansas State Police Col. Mike Hagar said police have no reason to believe McGann knew the couple or their children. He said the motive for the attack is not yet known.
McGann appeared in court for the first time on Thursday. He was charged with two counts of capital murder, the Associated Press reported. The judge ordered that he be held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center and assigned him a public defender. McGann’s arraignment was set for Aug. 25.
Police said McGann’s DNA was a positive match to the DNA that was suspected to belong to him at the scene, Hagar said. McGann suffered an injury during the attack that resulted in blood loss, which allowed police to establish a DNA profile, Hager said.
Authorities also executed a search warrant at McGann’s house in Springdale, roughly 30 miles north of the state’s remote Devil’s Den park, where articles were found “that are consistent with being involved in this particular crime,” Hager said.
McGann was a teacher in a small Oklahoma school district until May of this year, and then he resigned to take a job in another state. Officials said McGann had no criminal history and no known mental illness history.
The couple was found dead on Saturday at Devil’s Den State Park in Washington County, about 140 miles northwest of Little Rock, the state capital.
The Brink family said the couple died “heroes protecting their little girls.”
Kierra Frazier is a news editor for CBS News & Stations.
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