A Missouri woman has been charged with murder after authorities said she shot her husband in their bed before hiding the gun and pretending there had been a break-in.
Police in Kansas City said they responded to a home early Thursday morning in response to a shooting. When they arrived, they found 40-year-old Melanie Biggins attempting CPR on her dead husband, who was lying in a pool of his own blood in the couple’s bed.
Police said Biggins told them the sound of a gun shot had awakened her from sleep and she saw her husband, Etienne McEwan, had been shot. She said she did not see who fired the shot.
She told police she went downstairs, saw the front door was open and then got on the phone to call 911 before attempting CPR on her husband.
When police investigated the scene, they said they found a pillow and blanket on the floor with a bullet hole in them, as well as a bullet fragment.
They also said they found a handgun case in the closet and a purple and black .38 Special handgun underneath a bunk bed in the next room.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Biggins told police her husband’s rifle in the closet was the only gun in the house and didn’t have an explanation for the handgun when asked about it.
Court documents say Biggins had told investigators she and the victim were married, but “due to financial problems, she had been in an intimate relationship with another man for a year and a half.” She also said she wanted to get divorced from her husband, but that it was not an option due to their financial struggles, the documents say.
Detectives said they traced the handgun back to records which showed Biggins had bought the gun at a pawn shop in Independence, Missouri, in July.
The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office determined McEwan died from a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
Prosecutors charged Biggins with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. She is being held on a $50,000 bond.
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