A Maryland man with an alleged history of threatening his mother was arrested last week in her slaying, which took place outside a Catholic church.
Kevin Justin McGuigan, 21, of Rockville, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 49-year-old Jaclyn McGuigan, according to Montgomery County Police Department officials. Bethesda Magazine reported he is being held without bail.
McGuigan was also ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation, the magazine said.
Montgomery County police officers were called around 6 p.m. to St. Raphael Catholic Church and School, where they found Jaclyn McGuigan on the ground in front of the church suffering from knife wounds to the neck, authorities said. Witnesses, police officers and medics attempted to help the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
"Detectives spoke with witnesses at the scene who heard loud screaming and observed the victim laying on the ground in front of the church and the suspect standing over her," police officials said in a news release. "The suspect fled in a Honda sedan."
The Washington Post reported that one of the witnesses was able to write down the license plate number before the car sped away.
About 50 minutes later, officers found the Honda Accord, which was registered to Jaclyn McGuigan, abandoned in a nearby park, authorities said. According to the Post, the officers tried calling Kevin McGuigan's cellphone number.
They could see the phone ringing inside the car, according to court records obtained by the Post. The phone appeared to have blood on it.
Meanwhile, detectives went to Jaclyn McGuigan's home, where they notified her other children of her slaying. Her 18-year-old son "immediately asked if Kevin killed their mother," an arrest affidavit stated.
Kevin McGuigan was located at a Rockville gas station around 7 a.m. Saturday and taken into custody, police authorities said.
Jaclyn McGuigan’s family told detectives that Kevin McGuigan had a history of threatening her. His younger brother told them Kevin attacked their mother in 2016.
Court records show that Jaclyn McGuigan sought a court order in February 2016 to remove her son, who was at the time undergoing an emergency mental health evaluation in a hospital, from her home. He was living with her and at least one of his siblings, the Post reported.
"He has often accused me of knowing things about him and (said) if I don't answer, he will kill me," Jaclyn McGuigan wrote in her restraining order application, according to the Post.
She also alleged that Kevin McGuigan had gone into the bedroom of his brother, who was then 15 years old, and after asking him "what he knew," began violently punching the boy, the Post reported. She sought protection for herself, her younger son and her then-21-year-old daughter, the newspaper said.
Jaclyn McGuigan also requested that Kevin McGuigan be ordered to receive drug abuse counseling. She said his paranoia was brought on by illicit drug use.
A judge granted her a protective order for a year and ordered Kevin McGuigan to move out of her home, the Post reported. The newspaper found no indication that an extension of the order was requested when it expired in 2017.
It was unclear how much contact Kevin McGuigan had with his family between that time and the day of the homicide. The court records obtained by the Post indicated that Kevin McGuigan, whose current address is that of an apartment about 5 miles from his family's home, called his mother from his cellphone Friday and asked her to meet with him.
He arrived at the family's townhouse around 5:30 p.m., at which time his sister saw him drive off with Jaclyn McGuigan in her Honda, the Post reported. Her other children never saw her alive again.
It was not clear why the mother and son went to the campus of the church and school, where family members said Jaclyn McGuigan’s children had attended nursery school and completed their religious sacraments.
Jaclyn McGuigan’s niece, Nicky Everette, described her aunt as the “glue” of the family.
"She was pure sunshine, pure light," Everette told the Post.
Everette said her aunt was a breast cancer survivor who, in July, had celebrated the end of her radiation treatments. She told the Post there did not appear to be ongoing turmoil between Jaclyn and Kevin McGuigan prior to the stabbing.
"It's a huge loss to our family," Everette said following her cousin's bail hearing. "It's a huge loss to our community."
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