The Devils Den Killer

[00:00:17] Speaker A: The Combing through the Crime with Lori and Ashley, where true crime meets the beauty industry. [00:00:22] Speaker B: We're pulling back the salon cape to uncover the real stories of fraud, theft, scandal, and sometimes even worse, all happening behind the scenes of salons, spas, and beauty businesses. [00:00:35] Speaker A: These are true stories reported in public articles, news outlets, and police reports. We didn't make them up, and they're definitely not our opinions. [00:00:44] Speaker B: We're just here to share the facts, ask the questions, and reveal what really happens behind the chair. [00:00:50] Speaker A: Now let's comb through the crime. [00:01:09] Speaker B: Ah, I can't wait to dive in. [00:01:12] Speaker A: Okay, so this one is, like, fresh, right? Like, this one is. People are probably hearing about it, but it's unusual because I didn't hear about this until you shared this the other day. So it's not hitting my news yet. But the big thing about this is that this guy was arrested in the salon. And we'll get to that. But I want to just talk about this person first a second, because this family was out hiking a trail in what's called Devil's Den State park in Arkansas. The family, mom, dad, and two daughters that are seven and nine years old, right? So young, but still, like, conscious, aware of their surroundings, ages. And this just happened July 26th. And what appears to be completely random. I've been trying to find, like, motive for anything, and there's, like, nothing so completely random out on this trail. This family's out for a walk or hike and were attacked by this man. [00:02:24] Speaker B: Who. [00:02:25] Speaker A: His name is Andrew James McGann. Okay, so he was on the trail, he went out and he attacked the family. And first he attacked the dad, and then the mother took the kids, got them into safety somewhere, shelter, hid them somewhere, and then went back for her husband. And then he also attacked and stabbed her, and they both died. So a completely different, like, hiker that was out in the. In the trails found the two girls, called in the police, brought them in, found the girls, got them into true safety, and then found the two parents. And first of all, my first thought when I saw that was like, would you go back? Do you go back for your man, or do you, like, stay with your kids? Right? Like, what do you do? Because you're like, I don't want to and have something happen to them. Okay, so. [00:03:25] Speaker B: Okay, so what? Like, I do have a lot of questions. Do you think that or do you know, did this man just come out of nowhere, started attacking the husband, and she just decided, let me grab the kids and run? Or, like, so does she know he's being attacked, like, or did it already occur and he's like, coming after her. [00:03:54] Speaker A: Yeah. It doesn't truly say. And I wonder if some of that story will, because Andrew McGann did confess to it, but although yesterday he pled not guilty. So he was in court yesterday, literally yesterday. So August 14th. And he did put in a plea of not guilty, but he did admit to it. And there is, like, DNA and all the stuff, but it doesn't say yet, like, hey, he popped out of the tree or like, he chased them down or whatnot. I also was really looking for, like, his childhood, and I couldn't see, you know, I couldn't see, like, past childhood friends or people that he was close with of, like, you know, these things go back to mental health disorders or childhood traumas or things like that. Something obviously, yeah, feels completely random. You know, sometimes it pairs with something like that. And I also could not find anything, like, from his childhood, like, the city he grew up in in by, like, Oak Park, Illinois. And they were saying, like, it was a quiet town, everybody was really nice, he was fine. And so nothing really popped up from there. And he wasn't. Was a school teacher, so. [00:05:06] Speaker B: He was a school teacher. [00:05:08] Speaker A: He was a school teacher. And he recently took a new job in Arkansas. So he hasn't met any of his students yet. So he hasn't met any of his students, but he did accept a new job. So he doesn't know, like, nobody knew who he was yet in Arkansas when this had happened. So he never officially started. But I did see some things, like, people are finding some parts of his past of him as a teacher, saying that he had some favoritism towards some of the girls or just like, some things that he would say were a little off. Like he was like, I would marry you if you were older kind of thing. [00:05:49] Speaker B: Okay. [00:05:50] Speaker A: Bizarre. But also, I wonder, like, are people just. Are we just trying to pull something? Like, are we just trying to find something bad about him? [00:05:57] Speaker B: You know, I think so, because I feel like, personally, I feel like not. Not having a motive. This act coming out of nowhere. That doesn't make any sense. There's no link to these people. It's just completely random. I think not having those things is worse than having the motive and. And a link to these people. And so I feel like, like, you and I, the. The. Like normal. I don't want to call us. You know what I mean? [00:06:33] Speaker A: Like, the. [00:06:34] Speaker B: The normal brain thinks, like, I had. There has to be some. Something or something that you should have saw or And I agree with that, though, because I don't think just one day you wake up and you're like, oh, I'm just gonna go on the hiking trail and murder two people, like, with a night. Like, I just don't think that happens unless you have these things that lead up to it, because I think one doesn't make sense without the other. [00:07:08] Speaker A: No. Nobody in their right mind wakes up one day and says, I think I'm gonna go kill somebody on a trail because I had a bad night. [00:07:16] Speaker B: Feel like it? Yeah. Like, it just sounds so. It just sounds so sad. I mean, I can't even imagine being that mom. You know what I mean? And, like, I. To answer your question, I don't think I would go back. Yeah, actually, I know I wouldn't go back as much. And everyone listening right now knows how much I love my husband. Like, love. So that speaks volumes. But I think I won't. I wouldn't go back because I know that I wouldn't be able to help. Like, I guess. I guess I would be looking for help, not. Not going back for myself to help. You know what I mean? Like, for me to put myself back in that situation, I feel like I would be doing more harm than good. Rather than let me get my kids somewhere, let me call 911 or something like that is most likely what I have, what I would have done now. And I feel like I don't want to dis. You know, like, I don't want to diss on what she did or the choice that she made, because nobody really knows what they would do in that situation. [00:08:29] Speaker A: Yeah, correct. So according to the report, it's saying that. So this is the Brink family. First of all, it's Clinton and Kristen Brink were the parents that were attacked. And apparently Clinton was attacked first. And so the mom, Kristen, saw that happen, ran with the kids, took them up, got them safe, and then she went back. So it was after she saw him getting attacked. Like, he was stabbed. So she saw that happen. So in her mindset, and we don't know and never will, did she think that this person was already gone? [00:09:10] Speaker B: Yeah, okay, I can see that. [00:09:13] Speaker A: But to your point, do you just go and get help first? Like, do you call the police? Do you find somebody where you can get actual help instead? Yeah, I guess you don't know what you would do in that situation. Like, in my head, maybe she just. [00:09:28] Speaker B: Wanted to go back and check. I totally get that. I just don't foresee myself doing it alone. [00:09:40] Speaker A: Yes. [00:09:43] Speaker B: For the mere fact Of I don't really think I would be of any, like, sort of help, like, in that situation unless I had a weapon on me or something like that. Wow. Like. [00:09:58] Speaker A: I know. So then it took five days for. They did, like, a manhunt. They were looking out for this person. It took days to go hunt down this person. They did have blood, so they did have some DNA. They did find the killer, Andrew James McGann, at the salon. So he decided to go out to get his hair cut. And, I mean, we just stopped there. [00:10:35] Speaker B: Could you imagine, like, just doing someone's hair? And all of the sudden you're being like, the. The FBI is there at your salon, like, knocking down the door. [00:10:46] Speaker A: What? Yeah. Yeah. So he. Apparently at the salon, it's called Lupita's Beauty Salon and Barbershop. It's in Springdale, Arkansas, and it's about 30 miles away from Devil's Den State park, where this whole thing had happened. And there they did have a wait list in the salon. So they had initially asked him to sign the wait list, but I guess he just had, like, a really weird, like, look on his face. He, like, he just looked through the people, I guess. And. And so they just said, adriana Avalos, which is the hairstylist and slot owner, and she took him back, and she said, I can cut your hair. Come sit down my chair. But she did describe his demeanor as being very quiet and reserved and that he had really sunken eyes and his hair was really matted and, like, dry. Dry. But this is five days later. So, like, did he not take a shower for five days or wash his hair? [00:11:41] Speaker B: Yeah, he must have been, like, in the woods, like, roaming around for five days. I can't. I just don't even understand people. Like, they were just like, I just need to go get a haircut now. [00:11:51] Speaker A: Like, yeah. [00:11:52] Speaker B: What? [00:11:53] Speaker A: Yeah. So also, apparently there were other salons in the area where he was trying to go in and get his hair cut, but he refused to sign in, like, on a wait list. He refused to give them his name or document his name anywhere. And so he was turned away. So he's been turned away by multiple salons in the area. And this one, he still didn't, like, sign in or add himself to the wait list. But they did. She did take him back, and she had started cutting his hair. When she said that there were regular clothed police officers that came in, asked, started asking questions. And then when they did realize that it was him sitting in the chair, they pulled him up, they arrested him, took the cape off of him. And Adriana did say that his haircut was, like, mid cut, so he left. He didn't quite get the fade that he was looking for. But he did ask her to, like, leave the top long so that it covered his eyes still so that he was, like, disguised somehow. But obviously we know that you can still tell he's the same, you know, person. But how. And. And I did. So she's been. Adriana Avalos, the stylist. She has been doing some interviews, and then just a couple weeks ago, she had a post to her Facebook. Really just asking to, like, stay away from the interviews. Kind of let her be. She. She's really shaken up by the whole thing as well as the other people that were in this Juan. She's been doing a ton of interviews, and she's just trying to get back to, like, work and some sense of normalcy. She did set up a GoFundMe page for the parents to help out, but how bizarre. She. She literally. On July 30, she posted to her Facebook page and how she said, so I'm cutting a guy's hair and I'm shaking because now there's cops and detectives told them I haven't swept up the hair in case they needed it, and 100% said that they did. I'm shaking mostly because it's starting to look like it could be the man that they're looking for, but I'm not sure yet. So she, you know, obviously something is. [00:14:02] Speaker B: Starting to click for her. Yeah. [00:14:04] Speaker A: And they did smart. [00:14:05] Speaker B: She would. She was like, take the hair. Like, that's really smart. [00:14:11] Speaker A: And they did have cameras. And we've talked about this before, about the importance of having cameras in your business of, you know, one for like, this. That definitely could have helped, but for all sorts of reasons. But, yeah, then she said it possibly was him. I could have possibly been cutting the Devil's Den killer hair. She said he did leave effed up, though, because I barely started the fade, so didn't get a good haircut. And, you know. [00:14:40] Speaker B: Dang. [00:14:42] Speaker A: So, okay. [00:14:43] Speaker B: So she did not realize that it was him. The FBI cops, like, they kind of were. They must have been following him. [00:14:52] Speaker A: Yeah. So they got some identification from the girls. So the girls were able to give some kind of. By his car. They were just driving, looking for this person. And when they did find the car at the salon, they walked in. [00:15:24] Speaker B: Got it, Got it. Oh, man. [00:15:32] Speaker A: They are saying that they're. They're investigating this person, Andrew, to another murder that potentially happened In Vermont. So they're not 100 kind of scenario. [00:15:46] Speaker B: Like a park type of. [00:15:50] Speaker A: So there was. I don't know all of the details on that one, but they are trying to see if it is more coincidental or if there's some actual things that line up there. [00:16:06] Speaker B: Crazy. [00:16:09] Speaker A: I mean those poor kids. [00:16:12] Speaker B: Yeah. I feel really bad. The whole situation just is absolutely terrible. You're out one day with your family, just having a nice hike and your whole life is completely turned upside down. It's just really insane. And for what? Like for. For no reason. [00:16:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:30] Speaker B: And that's the really sad part about it. Like it just seems so weird, like so out of character. Like, I don't know. And it's amazing to me that he's a teacher. [00:16:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:45] Speaker B: Really creepy, scary type of thing. Like so I wonder like, was he a teacher at the kids school? Like was it. [00:16:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:55] Speaker B: I don't know. So crazy. [00:16:58] Speaker A: I mean they're saying that it was completely unrelated. Like he didn't know them. There was no record of him. Yeah. No connections between them at all. And especially since he hadn't started the new job yet at this new school. [00:17:18] Speaker B: Right. [00:17:19] Speaker A: Could have potentially been a future teacher, but not yet. So there was no way to say that he was their teacher. [00:17:27] Speaker B: Wow. Was anything like were did the parents come, did his parents come out and say anything like. [00:17:35] Speaker A: No. [00:17:36] Speaker B: It's so crazy. [00:17:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Like there's going to be people from his past or people that he knows, neighbors somewhere that are gonna come forward. I have seen some parents of the teach, parents of the students that he has taught in other areas that have commented and said he's a little strange or that he would make comments or showed favoritism towards the girls. But again, are, are people just speculating things to try to, you know, find something bad about him? Because it is so odd that this would just be totally random. [00:18:13] Speaker B: Yeah. So yeah, I mean, I think again, like going back to it, I just think people just want to know why and it's hard to know. To know why. So it's. Yeah. [00:18:27] Speaker A: He has no prior criminal record history either. Like there's nothing, nothing on his record at all. And the prosecuting attorney's office is trying to seek the death penalty for him also right now. [00:18:43] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Well, maybe that's why he pled not guilty. [00:18:47] Speaker A: Yeah. Because he admitted to it when they arrested him. Apparently he admitted that he did it and then as of yesterday he pled not guilty. So obviously he got a lawyer and they're, you know, telling him what to do. [00:19:03] Speaker B: But yeah. Oh, my God. [00:19:07] Speaker A: So also, the hair stylist, Adriana Avalos, she reported to somebody also, she just had a really eerie feeling, and she had chills when he came into the salon and sat down in the chair and just saying again that his eyes were sunken in, but that he looked kind of soulless and unlike a normal person. That could also just be, like, inside. You know, how he was feeling inside. Just sort of empty after that whole thing. [00:19:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my God. [00:19:43] Speaker A: And he did not resist any arrest or anything when he. When they came in. They came in, initially, inquired about the car that was parked outside, which was his black Kia car that he was driving, and he just went off. And he didn't resist or anything. He just went. Went with them. [00:20:02] Speaker B: Wow. Yeah, it seemed like he was pretty cooperative. It didn't seem as though he was, you know. [00:20:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:20:13] Speaker B: Giving up a fight, but it's crazy. [00:20:16] Speaker A: So the girls, the two daughters, are being taken care of right now by family, so that I. I just feel so terrible for them. And the same thing. Adriana, the hairstylist, that was what she kept saying, too, is just. She feels so badly for the. The two daughters of what had happened, and she can't kind of get past that, which is why she's looking to stop doing interviews, and she just wants to try to get back to, you know, her normal life and kind of move past it. But how do you recognize somebody, like, when you're sitting in the salon? You know, we talk about this all the time of, like, yeah, so many different types of people come into the salon, and for so many different reasons. And we also know that change can be attached to emotion, too. Right. Like a breakup to get a haircut. You're getting engaged to get your hair done. You, you know, have pictures. You do whatever. So he also. He did the same thing that all clients do. Emotionally attached, you know, to your image. He went into the salon, and although he wasn't trying to get a massive change, he wasn't, like, trying to cover himself up, but he was trying to still keep his eyes covered, you know, and she recognized that something felt off about him, but still didn't address it, didn't kick him out. I mean, there was no reason to kick him out. Right. Or to turn him away. She didn't truly have a reason other than he didn't want to sign in on the wait list. But I'm sure we, you know, we probably see that in salons frequently with other people. [00:21:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I do keep. I do keep coming back to that because I mean, he could have clearly just said somebody else's name. I don't. [00:21:53] Speaker A: Yes. [00:21:54] Speaker B: Yeah. So, like, I'm not really sure, like, why he's like hanging his hat on this thing. Like, we can put in, you know, in our software systems, we can put in whatever, you know, whatever name, whatever, whatever, you know, it doesn't matter. Maybe a phone, you know, maybe you needed to put in a phone number. Okay. I don't know. It just seems so strange to me that that's what was freaking him out. [00:22:26] Speaker A: Doesn't it also make you think though, too, that this was not, like maybe he did plan it or it was premeditated or he knew that day he was gonna do it, but he didn't think it through far enough. Yeah, through that part. Right. Because somebody that had a well thought out plan would have. Would have thought of something. Right. Or like put a fake name on here instead of drawing attention to yourself. I'm saying, like refusing it because that, that is what kind of. [00:22:51] Speaker B: I think that's. Yeah, that's even more of a red flag. Like, that's just strange to me. If someone. That should be a red flag for everyone. Honestly. If you're walking into the salon, I don't have an appointment. It's a walk in location. Okay, let me take your name and number and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And if someone's saying, no, well, like, I can't put you in the system, then I mean, legally, right from this, every state requires you to have that documentation. I don't know if everybody knows this, but like, you have to have the name of the person that you're doing in, in your book. So I think, I think that should be definitely a red flag. I mean, kudos to the. The ones that like turned him away. But also it's so great that she took him in at that location because he was then able to be caught, detained. Yeah. So, you know, good for the other people. Red flags were there. Red flags were there for her too, but, you know, it's just definitely something to think about. It's not. Not an everyday occurrence, that's for sure, but definitely something. [00:24:02] Speaker A: I definitely. You're going to give her credit for handling the situation, especially recognizing that things were off or that he was a little disturbed with things or didn't want to. [00:24:13] Speaker B: 1,000%. Yeah. I don't want to downplay anything like that, but I think she was super brave for being. [00:24:21] Speaker A: If he was capable of doing that to two random people that he does not have any connection to, had she have you know, thrown. You know, him. [00:24:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Like his strength. Yeah, yeah. [00:24:35] Speaker A: Made him upset. You just. You don't know what people are capable of, especially after they do something like this. And you don't. You're not even aware, you know, you have no idea what he could have done. So she definitely did kept, you know, kept her composure again and handled it in the right way. And to your point, he was detained for it. So otherwise, had she turned him away and he left and done something else, you know, how long. How much longer would it have taken to find him? [00:25:01] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:25:01] Speaker A: They would have found him yet. [00:25:03] Speaker B: So true. Absolutely true. [00:25:06] Speaker A: Yeah, this is definitely a. This is definitely a sad one. Definitely a sad story. Sad for the family. Those girls. Thank God they have family that can help out and look after them. Yeah, this is definitely something to follow through the. You know. [00:25:24] Speaker B: Yeah. This is the end of this. [00:25:26] Speaker A: Yeah, it's gonna go for a while. And I. I definitely am curious to see what comes out about him. [00:25:34] Speaker B: Right, exactly. Like what. Who and who comes out about him, because I'm sure there's people that have, you know, encountered him and have had some strange encounters or relationships or, you know, like, maybe someone's dated him and it's gotten strange. So. Yeah, I think that the whole thing will be very interesting as it unfolds. [00:25:56] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm curious to. To see or hear other people's stories of. In the salon of clients that they have had that just gave them a really strange feeling. Because sometimes it's that intuition that you can just feel something really off about somebody. And I. I'm curious of other people's stories. I'm, like, not necessarily who the person was, but, like, you know, what made you feel sort of off about somebody or. Or people's behaviors and how we're picking up on those intuitions. [00:26:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree with you because I. If. If someone's got that intuition, it's definitely a hairstylist. [00:26:30] Speaker A: Yeah. For sure. So many people. Every day. [00:26:33] Speaker B: So many people. And you're like, oh, yeah, this is a good vibe. No, can't wait to get you out of my chair. Correct. [00:26:41] Speaker A: Yeah. So good. We'll see. We'll see what happens to him and maybe come back to the story. [00:26:48] Speaker B: For sure.