Staging a Murder-Suicide: The Familial Murder of Pamela and Helen Hargan

Pamela Hargan and her daughter Helen were found dead in their home in McLean, Virginia, the victims of an apparent murder-suicide, in July 2017. Once police investigated further, they realized that the crime scene had been staged and this was a homicide that they were looking at. Eventually, police narrowed it down to one prime suspect - Pamela’s oldest daughter Megan.

In this episode of Body Bags, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan and Jackie Howard discuss how the police realized the crime scene was staged, the significance of where the gun was found, blood spatter patterns, how they came to suspect Pamela’s oldest daughter Megan, and much more.

Show Notes:

0:00 - Intro

1:32 - Background and overview of the case

3:35 - How did the police know that the crime scene had been staged?

7:05 - The significance of the location where the gun was found

10:08 - The forces of gravity and homicide v. suicide investigations

15:45 - Gunshot residue

19:30 - Blood spatter pattern

25:20 - After recreating the crime scene, what did they discover about Pamela’s death?

29:55 - What happens when someone is shot in the head?

34:30 - Pamela’s oldest daughter, Megan, is charged with the murder

38:35 - Megan’s phone call to her boyfriend

40:00 - After the police realized the crime scene was staged, how did they start investigating the case as a homicide?

44:25 - Wrapping up and final details of the case

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