The teacher accused of murdering a couple as they hiked with their two young daughters at Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas was “cold” and “disinterested” in his students before he was placed on administrative leave two years ago, parents recalled.
Andrew James McGann, 28 — who authorities say admitted to butchering Clinton David Brink, 43, and wife Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, on Saturday — was strange and standoffish in class, said Sierra Marcum, whose son was in McGann’s fourth-grade class.
“[He was] pretty cold. You could ask him a question, and he would give you a one-word response,” Marcum said. “Overall, just pretty disinterested in his students.”
He was the “most standoffish teacher” she had ever met, she said.
Marcum, whose son was in McGann’s class at Donald Elementary School in Flower Mound, Texas, in 2023, reported some of McGann‘s behavior to a principal after the boy came home from school upset, she said.
“Eventually he told me that he and some other classmates had noticed that Mr. McGann was very touchy and showed a lot of favoritism to certain girls in the class,” Marcum said, without elaborating.
“I guess [the murder allegations] did surprise me, because while I thought he was off, I never thought he was violent,” she told WFAA.
McGann was eventually placed on administrative leave from the school in spring 2023 “following concerns related to classroom management, professional judgment, and student favoritism,” according to a spokesperson for the Lewisville Independent School District.
An internal investigation found no evidence of “inappropriate behavior” with students, the school district said.
McGann is accused of ambushing the parents on the remote trail and stabbing them to death while their daughters, ages 9 and 7, fled to safety and were unharmed.
The frightening random attack sparked a five-day manhunt ending in McGann being tracked to a barbershop and arrested mid-haircut. He was charged Wednesday with capital murder.
He briefly appeared in court Friday, when he was assigned a public defender and ordered held without bail, according to 5newsonline.com
Washington County Prosecutor Brandon Carter said he planned to request a no-contact order for the family of the victims, if a bond for McGann is eventually set.
Investigators are still searching for a motive in the deadly attack.
With Post wires
