Nurse Killed New Mother, Kidnapped Baby After Miscarriage
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Montgomery County D.A.(SPRING, Texas) — The nurse who killed a young Texas mother and kidnapped her 3-day-old baby told police she needed the infant to show to her fiance, whom she had misled into believing she had recently given birth to his child.
In a press conference Wednesday, police provided more details of the kidnapping and murder. They said that the suspect, Verna Deann McClain, 30, contacted them Tuesday afternoon as officers frantically searched for 3-day-old Keegan Schuchardt, who was kidnapped after his mother, Kala Golden, was gunned down outside of a pediatrician’s office. Police had put out an Amber Alert for the child, asking the public to report any sightings of McClain’s vehicle to authorities.
McClain contacted police to say she was affiliated with the vehicle being sought but had nothing to do with the crimes. Her story “fell apart” while investigators interviewed her, according to Montgomery County Sheriff Captain Bruce Zenor. McClain then confessed to killing Golden, 28, and snatching Schuchardt.
Golden, 28, was shot dead and then run over in the parking lot of the doctor’s office where she was taking Schuchardt for a check-up. Police said that they believe McClain acted alone, pulling up in a Lexus SUV next to Golden’s car before shooting her, putting the infant in her car, and then hitting Golden with the SUV on the way out of the parking lot.
McClain is charged with capital murder and is being held without bail in a solitary jail cell. She is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
Zenor said during a press conference Wednesday that McClain kidnapped the baby because she had told her fiance that she had given birth recently to his child, when in reality she had suffered a miscarriage. She was set to marry the man in May, and felt she needed a baby to show him, according to Zenor.
Police said they believe Golden was a random target, and that McClain had been familiar with the pediatrician’s office from taking her own children there. McClain has three children ages 16, 10 and 6.
Police said that from the moment witnesses called to report a woman shot in the parking lot in Spring, Texas, multiple law enforcement agencies raced to find Schuchardt. Two detectives spotted a vehicle matching the description of the one in the incident in a nearby apartment complex and entered McClain’s home, but found it empty.
McClain later showed up at her apartment, and told police that the baby was at the apartment of her sister, in a neighboring county. A SWAT team in that county found Schuchardt alive six hours after the kidnapping.
Police said McClain has expressed remorse for the killing.
Schuchardt is now with a relative, police said. They would not comment on why the child is not being released to his father.
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