Cuffed Edward Holley claims innocence while being wheeled by troopers toward a vehicle (ABC 7/screengrab), Megan McDonald (New York State Police)
More than 20 years after a New York Police Department detective's college student daughter was found beaten to death in a field, cops say they've finally arrested the person suspected of murdering Megan McDonald. Edward V. Holley, 42, was flanked by state troopers, handcuffed and in a wheelchair Thursday when he proclaimed: "I'm definitely not guilty."
"I loved her with all my heart," Holley said, as a crowd of people including Megan McDonald's family members and at least two of the suspect's supporters looked on. "They're framing me like some monkey, but it's all good."
"I didn't do it. I loved Megan," the suspect also said to McDonald's family, NBC New York reported.
Megan McDonald's family members, including her sister Karen Whalen and brother-in-law James Whalen, clearly did not buy Holley's claims of innocence. Both referred to Holley as a "monster." James Whalen also said Holley is a "coward" and a "vile human being."
"Do not let his current appearance fool you," the choked-up in-law said, referring to the defendant's wheelchair.
In March 2021, New York State Police posted that they were still investigating the murder of 20-year-old Megan McDonald, a Wallkill resident and SUNY Orange County Community College student.
"McDonald's body was found on March 15, 2003, in a field off Bowser Road in the Town of Wallkill in Orange County. McDonald's 1991 white Mercury Sable was discovered two days later in the Kensington Manner apartment complex parking lot, in the Town of Wallkill," cops said. "The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma."
An autopsy said McDonald sustained multiple skull fractures and brain injuries.
According to a felony complaint from April 19 signed by New York State Police investigator Michael Corletta, Megan McDonald and Edward Holley were "involved in a romantic relationship, and she attempted to end the relationship days before the murder."
Over the last two decades, cops said, Holley was interviewed four times and each time he had a different story about an "argument" he had with McDonald days before she was killed.
"The interviews and evidence in this case show that Edward Holley and the victim were involved in an intimate partner relationship leading up to several days prior to the murder. In Holley's State Police interviews as well as controlled conversations with Witness#19, he advised that he had an argument with the victim several days prior to the homicide," the complaint said. "Although the reasoning for this argument changes in all his State Police interviews, Holley consistently advised that he and the victim were involved in an altercation several days prior to the homicide which Holley claimed was the last time that he saw the victim."
The defendant also "advised that he was the victim's main marijuana supplier and that they smoked marijuana every day," court documents said.
Cops said that on June 30, 2021, analysis of DNA evidence showed Holley's DNA on McDonald's cell phone and led investigators to conclude that the suspect "likely […] went through the victim's cell phone" and saw her outgoing call to an ex-boyfriend, "causing Holley to go into a rage."
"Evidence in this case reveals that the victim was murdered in the driver's seat of her vehicle," a 1991 Mercury Sable, cops said, before her body was discarded on a dirt path.
That cell phone was recovered from inside McDonald's vehicle, authorities said.
"Based on my training and experience, the blunt force trauma that the victim sustained was a result of 'expressive homicide'" and "explosive violence," the investigator said, noting that five days before the slaying McDonald received a "disturbing voicemail" from a man that multiple witnesses "positively identified" as Holley.
"Yo. I just drove by your crib and seen he was there. Holler back at me when you get this message … easy," the alleged voicemail said.
"Evidence shows," the complaint said, that Holley was "also involved in many other physical relationships with multiple women, but […] was infatuated with the victim."
Cops further suggested a possible financial angle to the slaying.
"Edward Holley owed the victim a substantial amount of money that was causing hostility between the two leading up to the homicide," the complaint said, citing a witness who said the money Holley owed was from McDonald's "deceased father's NYPD pension."
Notably, Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler claimed to be blindsided by the charges in the major case.
"Once a defendant is charged and held in custody, the grand jury must vote an indictment within no longer than six days from the date of the arrest or the defendant must be released. For that reason, complicated cases are normally at least partially presented to a grand jury before an arrest is made," the DA reportedly said. "The preferred practice is for police agencies to coordinate with prosecutors on serious cases. Grand jury presentations on 'cold' homicide cases involving complicated fact patterns can rarely be commenced and completed within six days, without prior coordination."
Typically, cops and prosecutors will work together closely on a case as complex and high-profile as this one before a formal accusation is made. As we have seen in New York, not doing so may be met with a refusal to prosecute.
State police said that Holley is charged with second-degree murder; the defendant remains in custody without bond following an arraignment, NBC reported.
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