McLean, Virginia – A woman convicted of shooting her mother and sister to death before staging a murder-suicide has been sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, as well as an additional six years in prison for using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Megan Hargan, who shot her mother Pamela, 63, and sister Helen, 23, at their home outside Washington, D.C. in 2017, attempted to cover up the crime by staging the scene to look like a murder-suicide. Hargan was arrested in West Virginia in November 2018 and extradited back to Virginia to face murder and weapons charges.
The motive behind the killings was reported to be a financial dispute, specifically related to Hargan’s mother allegedly favoring her sister in helping her buy a house in contrast to not assisting Hargan with purchasing a house in West Virginia.
Investigators discovered that the day before the killings, Hargan attempted to transfer $400,000 from her mother’s bank account to pay for her new house, but the transaction was flagged as fraudulent. The following day, she shot her mother and then attempted the same wire transfer once again before shooting her sister who was upstairs at the time. The .22 rifle she used belonged to her husband.
After being convicted in November 2022 and having the conviction vacated due to juror misconduct, Hargan was convicted again in September 2023 on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. In addition to the life sentences, she was also sentenced to an extra six years in prison for the weapons charges.