Death Hits Home: The Hargan Killings | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] There were two bodies that were located inside of this home and that's really
all we knew. Is there a little adrenaline when you're pulling up? Always. Your blood starts to get pumping
a little bit and you start to think about how this is going to play out. What did you see as you entered this
home? Well, it's a very nice home in a great neighborhood. Fairfax County is located just outside
of Washington DC. It is an an affluent area of Northern Virginia. It was a million-dollar home.
As you walk through the kitchen, you encounter a mudroom that connects the kitchen to the garage.
In that mudroom, we discover Pamela Hargan. How was she positioned on the ground?
She was laying face down and she had a blanket laid over her like a quilt. Her cell phone is actually laying on top of
the quilt and there was a pool of blood coming from the area of her head onto the floor. What else do you find? We go
upstairs and then we encounter Helen Hargan inside of the bathroom that's in her bedroom. She appeared to have been
sitting on the toilet when she was shot. She was fully clothed. She has some kind
of trauma uh to her head. There's a rifle in between her legs. She's got a tremendous amount of uh blood in her
mouth. Finding two deceased persons with one with a gun on their body. Might have
been a murder suicide. Suicide possibly. What are we looking at here now? This is
the main room of the basement. that set of books. They're photo albums and I wanted to see what my victims may have
looked like in life. Pam Hargan was a woman in her 60s, an incredibly successful, business-minded
woman. She was generous with her money. This was a woman who built an $8 million
estate. She poured her life into her family. Helen, the youngest daughter, had returned home from college. Helen was
the kind of daughter I think that everybody would want. She was lovely. She had a number of friends. She had a
boyfriend. Helen never struck me as having a dark side. Mothers and daughters butt heads. I
mean, did Helen and her mother get along perfectly? I don't think so. You don't know what goes on behind closed doors.
Maybe Helen had murdered her mother and then shot herself. So, what's your gut telling you as you
take a look at these two bodies? Wait, you will make mistakes if you make assumptions before you actually do the
work. So, she would have had to have done what to shoot herself in the head that way. Magic.
She would have had to done magic. It just isn't possible. [Music] [Music] Friday, July 14th, 2017, about 5:00 p.
p.m. Fairfax County, Virginia police visit the next of kin to deliver awful news. 63-year-old Pam Hargan and
24year-old Helen Hargan are dead. Pamela was shot twice in the mudroom. Lead detective Brian Byerson says police
are recording and whispering to avoid being overheard when they give Pam's ex-husband Steve more painful details
about Helen. She had a punch shot from the computer. I'm really sorry. There was a thought that went around
that it might have been a murder suicide. Hargan soon summons his other two daughters, 32-year-old Ashley and
34year-old Megan. What is happening? What happened? They react with equal parts pain and
panic. Oh god, what are we going to do? Jesus, what are we going to do? I don't know. Our mom takes care of everything.
Yeah, I just don't even understand. We were at the freaking house. [Music] Megan Hargan tells authorities she and
her 8-year-old daughter Molly have been living with Pam and Helen while her husband is in the military. She says
she'd left the home with Molly at about 1:30 p.m. that day, adding that there had been an argument between her mother
and Helen, who had been upset. Helen has been so angry, like just so angry all the time and
struggling emotionally. I knew I was depressed like to do this. He's like, I can't
wrap my head around this. Is it true that she once threatened suicide? I think that that is possibly true. Yes.
In fact, Ashley would later tell authorities Helen had thoughts about self harm. I know my sister was
depressed. Has she ever talked about hurting herself? Yeah. But Megan also suggests her mother and sister could
have been attacked by offering a potentially important clue. Something she reports she'd seen the day before.
Two suspicious males casing the neighborhood. And she later tells us those particular guys are the reason why
she ends up bringing this rifle up to the main floor of the house. It's the 22 Ruger rifle found with
Helen's body and it belongs to Megan's husband. She says her mother had allowed her to store it in the house until the
couple moved into their own place in West Virginia. My husband and I literally just closed on our new home
yesterday. My mom bought it for us. [Music] Steve and Pam Hargan divorced when the
children were young. Pam took them and moved around before ending up in PTOAC, Maryland, next door to Tammy Malios.
Megan was very upset about the divorce. In the next few years, Tammy got to know Megan
and her little sister, Helen, and often saw them across the backyard fence. The girls were out in the yard all the time
with the dogs, that sort of thing. So Tammy says she always knew there was a sibling rivalry. Megan did bring that up
a lot, saying that Helen was the favorite, but she remembers that for the most part, the Hargan sisters seemed to
get along fine. Pam was proud of them. She talked highly of her girls whenever I did speak with her.
Pam Hargan poured her life into those kids. Michelle Sigona works for CBS News. She's been covering this story for
nearly four years and says the other love of Pam Hargan's life was her job. Pam had spent decades climbing the
career ladder to become a vice president of aerospace giant Loheed Martin. She had built an $8 million estate, but she
didn't keep it for herself. She was constantly giving to those around her, specifically to her children. Helen
seemed to have her mother's ambition, double majoring in math and management science at Southern Methodist University
in Dallas. That's where Aaron Rockne met her in 2014. When I first met her, I was extremely
scared of her because she didn't laugh or smile. She's kind of like a onion. You have to peel the layers off and you
really get to know the kind and genuine person underneath there. Rockn says they
became close friends. It's been said that Helen may have suffered from depression. Did you ever see any of
that? I did not at all. Rockin says her friend spent a lot of time studying, though Helen did have a
job at a nearby restaurant. She was working as a waitress. There was a 30-some named Carlos Gutierrez working
in the restaurant, too. They fell for each other in short order and they had plans to move in together.
Pam had started building a house for Helen in Northern Virginia. So, in the spring of 2017, Helen had moved back
home from Dallas. According to Carlos, he hadn't asked her to be his wife, but he was working towards that. But Megan
tells police Pam hadn't approved of Helen's relationship. She believed that Helen was going to try to move Carlos
into the house and my mom didn't want him being there. Still, Helen had been moving ahead, planning for the future.
It was just a matter of figuring out her career path. Takes a little while to figure it out, but she was going to get
there. But Helen Hargan never got there. Fairfax County Police and Fire. How may
I assist you? Yes. I have an emergency. On the day of the shooting, it was Carlos Gutierrez who had first alerted
authorities that something in the Hargan house was dreadfully wrong. I'm in Dallas, Texas, and my girlfriend lives
in McLaren. He says he and Helen had spoken earlier that morning. Now, he can't get in touch with her and he's
worried. My girlfriend won't answer the phone and I'm thinking my girlfriend's life is in danger.
Okay, sir. What I need you to do then is contact your local jurisdiction, file a
report with them, and tell them that Fairfax County requires a teletype in order to do a welfare check. I feel
really bad for Carlos because he's bounced around all over the place just trying to get somebody to listen to the
fact that he thinks his girlfriend's life is in danger. I think this is like life or death. Like, I think someone
might be dead. Carlos Gutierrez would later testify about why he was so concerned. He would also tell a jury he
felt authorities were giving him the runaround that day, even when he called back later with something explosive to
add, something Helen had told him. Exactly. What did your girlfriend say to you?
[Laughter] [Music] Fairfax County Police and Fire. How may I assist you with as an emergency? It's
1:44 p.m. on July 14th, 2017. Carlos Gutierrez, Helen's boyfriend in Texas, is having a hard time with 911
dispatchers in Virginia. Look, I think someone might be dead. Right, sir. contact your local jurisdiction. File
the report had them. The call ends without a promise of help. So 15 minutes later, Carlos calls again.
Police involve and this time he makes a startling revelation about something he says Helen had told him on the phone
that morning. My girlfriend told me that her sister killed her mom. Now my girlfriend won't answer her
phone. Megan Hargan had murdered her mother. Or at least that's what Carlos said Helen
had told him. Okay. Was this just out of the blue? Your girlfriend is sitting in
a house with a dead woman. Yes. Why was Carlos, who is more than a thousand miles away, calling 911? Why
didn't Helen call herself? What was going on in that house? I reported a murder earlier and I have
the address. We don't have the address. When police arrive around 300 p.m., they
find Pam is dead. But they discover Helen's body, too. Carlos had offered authorities a
possible explanation for Pam. But Helen was a mystery. Megan Hargan told police something interesting. Her mother and
sister had been arguing that day. This morning, my mom let Helen know that she was cancelling the contract on
the house she's building her because she truly believed that Helen was going to try to move Carlos into the house. And
when middleister Ashley hears that Carlos is accusing Megan of murder, she makes it clear she doesn't believe him.
She would never do that. Ever. Never. Okay. Megan Hargan's friend, Rebecca Wolf,
agrees. I do not believe that Megan killed her mom, Pam, or her sister, Helen. No piece of me believes that.
Rebecca and Megan met in 2015 when they both were volunteering in a program to find homes for dogs rescued from war
zones. Rebecca says that Megan always had a passion for animals. She is very compassionate, generous heart. She is
just a really good person. And Rebecca says Megan often talked about her family, her generous mother. Megan
admired Pam's wisdom, her career. She always spoke very lovingly of her and her sisters, especially the baby of the
family, Helen. Megan talked about Helen struggling with things and feeling depressed, but I never got the
impression that it was insurmountable. Rebecca says that Megan called her on the day of the shooting and sounded like
a woman who'd lost everything. Very distraught. And she did not give me details of what had happened. She just
said, "We've lost mom and Helen." By 8:00 p.m., police had told the media what they had told the Hargan family.
This looked like a murder suicide. But Detective Byerson says the more he saw of the crime scene, the less he thought
so, and the more he wanted to take a closer look at Megan Hargan. That night, he had officers test her hands for
gunshot residue and photograph her. Did she become a person of interest at that moment? She's certainly a person of
interest because we know that she was in the house. Police knew the house probably held
answers. Crime scene detective Julia Elliot, who had joined Detective Byerson at the scene, spent the evening combing
for evidence. I was shown Pamela's body first. One thing that caught her attention was
Pam Hargan's cell phone. It's laying on top of the pool of blood and the blanket. Was it unusual to see the cell
phone in this kind of position? Yes, it certainly wouldn't fall on top of the blanket and on top of the blood once you
were already covered up. And what does it suggest that the cell phone is lying on top of this comforter? That suggests
to me that it was placed there by someone. Elliot says the Helen Hargan shooting scene was next. She had a lot
of blood on her face. So much blood that it was impossible to see an entry wound.
and there was more on the floor, but there was a lack of blood where investigators expected to see it. The
rifle itself had very little blood on it. The rifle was leaning against Helen's body. The butt was on the floor
between her legs. The barrel was pointed up towards the ceiling. You would expect
that if the rifle had been sitting there as she bled so heavily, it would also have blood on it. And was there anything
on this gun from Megan? No. What about fingerprints on this rifle? None that were usable. There was DNA found on the
trigger, but it wasn't Megan or Helen's. Is it true that Helen's DNA was found on
the rifle case? Yes, that is true. But Byerson says only on the tip of the case. Megan's DNA was on the case
handles. It's part of the reason police believe Helen Hargan never touched the gun that day. As she died, someone else
was there to place it on her. She says Helen's phone was telling as well. There was almost no blood on it. And although
Helen had used it that day to talk and text with Carlos, there were no fingerprints either. What we found was
what looked like swipe marks, as if someone had taken their hand and wiped off the front of the screen.
Though it would take time to learn exactly how the Hargan women died, in the basement, Detective Elliot saw an
immediate opportunity to learn how they had lived. And I got a little uh nosy, and I wanted to see what my victims may
have looked like in life. So, I pulled out one of the center photo albums to look at it and open it up. Tucked away
in that album of family photos was something that seemed out of place. Documents. Megan's bank statement, Pam's
too, and a spreadsheet full of passwords and security verification details to unlock all of Pam Hargan's accounts.
Well, that's interesting. Were you able to analyze the paper? So, at the time of
us locating that, financial documents were not on our search warrant. So, Detective Elliot photographed the
documents and left them in the house. But when she entered with the proper search warrant days later,
they were not there. They were not there. They were not. The house had been returned to the
Hargan family's custody the day after the shooting. And something else had happened that day.
The medical examiner delivered her report on Helen Hargan's autopsy, casting doubt on the murder suicide
theory. It tells us that someone else pulled the trigger. What do you think the crime scene
suggests about what happened? Chat now on Facebook and Twitter. [Music] A police spokesman was calling the
Hargan shootings a murder suicide. But the next day, when detective Brian Byerson saw Helen's autopsy report, he
was certain it was something else. The gunshot wound on Helen Hargan was in the top of her head.
The rifle bullet had traveled downward into her neck. She would have to hold it straight up and be able to reach the
trigger to accomplish this. I've never seen that before. and I've worked a lot of murders. Well, what does that tell
you when you when you learn that information? It tells us that someone else pulled the trigger.
As Detective Byerson arrived to work 2 days later on Monday, July 17th. Good morning. Thank you for calling Capital
One Bank. There was a clue waiting for him. A clue that Byerson was able to take all the way to the bank. That
Monday morning, I have a message on my desk phone from Capital One. The bank had some startling news. Bank employees
had seen reports of Pam Hargan's death and wanted him to know about some strange activity on her account. Would
you tell me your name, please? Pamela Hansen Hargan. Someone claiming to be Pam Hargan had called the bank the day
before the shooting with a request. What can I do for you today? I was told that
I could do a wire transfer. Whoever it was was trying to transfer money, more than $400,000,
out of Pam's account to a real estate settlement company in West Virginia. Oh, you getting ready to buy a house? Uh,
for my daughter. Yes. The caller was able to successfully answer Pam's security questions. All right. You as
the verification. Great job. Detective Byerson discovered that the transaction hadn't gone through. So, the caller had
tried again the next day on the morning of Pam's murder. Uh, yes, we attempted to yesterday and there was a bit of a
mixup. So, we would like to do it again now. Okay. They need it today. Somebody's trying to perhaps steal Pam's
money. Yes. And Byerson believed he knew who that somebody was. That is Megan Hargan
pretending to be her mother. Pretending. Pretending. He decided it was time for him to get Megan Hargan on the phone.
Megan, how you how you holding up? I am really not okay. Megan claimed the attempted wire
transfers were just an innocent mixup at the bank. But by now, Byerson was suspicious of everything she said. He
began to think Megan Hargan had been trying to confuse police all along. I realize there's a lot of confusion here.
Megan had stressed Helen's depression and anger issues with investigators. Helen has been so angry,
like just so angry all the time over everything. But Megan told Byerson her sister would never have killed herself
or her mom. I can't imagine my own baby sister doing that at all. She repeated her story about two strange
men in the neighborhood. I had to call the police about these two guys. Other people had called them. Apparently, but
says that tip went nowhere. The only call that's made about these guys in the neighborhood is from Megan Hargan. He
had run down every lead, every alternative theory. There were no other suspects.
But there was a motive, the money, and the person who had needed it couldn't stop talking. She demanded to come in
and get an update on the case. So on July 19th, 5 days after Pam and Helen's deaths, Detective Byerson brought Megan
in. My mom, he says that once Megan started, you're just unimaginable. She wouldn't stop. everything. I could
ask her for anything. We just can't get her to leave. This is you. She stayed for more than 4 hours. Long story short,
the point I'm making is we would ask her questions that we knew the answer to and
then she would either pivot to something else. I don't understand what or just outright not answer the question. I
don't know what you want me to say. We want you to tell the truth. I just want you to answer the question.
At first, Megan insisted it was her mom who had made those calls to the bank. I'm gonna play the call for. But when
Byerson played the tapes for her, who is that on the phone? That's me. It's you,
right? What? Detective Byerson says she finally admitted to lying to him about the wire
transfer. Why in the world would you do that? I knew how it would look. No, no, it's
not how it would look. You knew that if we knew about this, that would shine a whole new light on you. Still, she was
adamant that she hadn't shot anyone. So, it was truly bizarre when halfway into the interview. Explain me. Just answer
the question. Just blame me. Just blame me. Just blame me. My family's not turning up. Just blame me so we can move
on from this. Okay. It seemed like she was acknowledging that we knew that she did it without
openly giving us a detailed confession. This is not happening. This is though inadmissible in court. No, I know. She
readily agreed to take a polygraph. She failed three times. Buyerson says it was all adding up. He
was sitting across from a killer. It becomes very obvious to us it is exactly who we think it is and it's
Megan Harden. But despite everything, police let Megan leave that day. So murder investigations
can be extremely complex. You not only have to be sure, you have to be right. And that decision is not just it does
not just rest on me. I have to be on the same page as the Commonwealth Attorney's
Office. So, in consultation with them, we decided to wait. Law enforcement may not have moved, but
Megan Hargan did. Though she never got Pam's money, she and her husband used a VA loan to buy a
different house in West Virginia. We kept an eye on her. We knew where she was. Buyerson methodically kept building
his case. evidence kept trickling in, including the results of Megan's gunshot residue test, which showed she had it on
both hands. And on November 9th, 2018, almost a year and a half after the deaths of Pam and Helen Hargan, this
morning at approximately 7:40 a.m., detectives from our major crimes bureau stopped and arrested Megan Hargan near
her home in West Virginia. As Detective Byerson takes Megan in, investigators search her home and find
yet another important clue. That missing password sheet to Pam Hargan's accounts.
Do you have any doubt that Megan was the person who pulled that trigger? I have no doubt at all. What the defense would
say is that there is doubt all over this case. Megan Hargan's defense will include a
specific theory of how Helen could have killed herself. She puts her head down and that she's able to utilize the
trigger, probably with her toe, to be able to discharge the weapon, but will the jury agree? Even the experts said
it's possible. [Music] What did you see in her eyes? Nothing. I don't see much behind those eyes. More
than 3 years after her arrest for the murders of her mother and sister, Megan Hargan is going on trial. I think she's
pure evil. Whitney Gregory and Tyler Bazilla are prosecuting the case. Megan is a pathological liar. That's what she
is. The Commonwealth of Virginia opens by arguing Megan tried to steal more than $400,000 from Pam for this new
house and got so desperate for the cash that she killed her. Then she killed Helen to keep her quiet and staged the
scene as a murder suicide. This is an individual who murdered two of her closest family members for money. The
defense argues Helen was the killer, mentally unstable and furious at her mother, who had offered her a new house.
But the morning of the shooting announced there was one devastating condition. Helen had to break up with
the man she had hoped to marry, Carlos Gutierrez. What is your greatest challenge with this jury? proving it
wasn't a suicide. To do that, they begin by calling Carlos and Helen's sister, Ashley, who testify
on the day she died, Helen seemed normal and fine. Did Helen have a diagnosis of
depression? No. And she didn't take her own life, says Detective Julia Elliot. It's a homicide.
Who tells the jury about the blood stains and position of the rifle. She did not have an arms band long enough to
pull the trigger. Her fingers are not reaching the trigger. Crime scene reconstructionist Iris Graph agrees.
What's on the screen? Okay, this is a forensic animation, a virtual model. Prosecutors hired Graph to use photos
and measurements from the house to create this digital model. She can't reach that trigger, right? We still need
another 5 in. So, based on your scientific analysis, was the wound that killed Helen self-inflicted?
Within the context of this scene, it's not possible that she could self-inflict that wound. Gregory says that's just
common sense. Did the tooth fairy put the gun hole here? Helen's wound isn't the only evidence pointing at Megan.
Megan's conduct in her police interview is damning, too. Yes, she did. We and so
are those phone calls to the bank. Thank you for calling Capital One Bank. Would
you tell me your name, please? Pamela Hansen Hen, I understand you want to complete a wire transfer with us today.
Uh, yes. They needed today. Megan's panicking because she still owes that money on the house. Prosecutors reveal
Megan lied to police about Pam buying her a house, saying the reality is that Megan was trying to buy that West
Virginia property with her mother's money. Turns out Megan still owed more than $400,000
due the day of the shooting. The prosecution contends she'd secretly substituted her name onto Pam's bank
statement as proof of funds. Pam was apparently totally in the dark until the day before the shooting when the bank
called the real Pam. Hi, who am I speaking to? Who am I speaking to? My name is Jeff with Capital One. Okay.
This is Pamela Hansen Hargan. A bank officer had called her to authenticate the attempted wire transfer. Somebody
tried to do a wire out of your account for $400 and some odd thousand. What? I did not do that.
The defense would say that there is doubt all over this case. The defense declined to be interviewed. So, we asked
Matt Torano, an attorney with decades in court. He didn't try this case, but we hired him to review the file. To help
prove reasonable doubt, he says the defense contends Helen was the suspicious one that day. Helen doesn't
call 911. She doesn't run out of the house for safety. She tells her boyfriend, "Do not call for help." Why
didn't Helen call 911? That is one of the pieces to the puzzle that we'll never have. That's a question that came
up during the trial. Why didn't she just leave? Why didn't she call 911? We don't
know. There's a lot authorities may never know for sure about the roughly 2 hours they
say lapsed between Pam's and Helen's deaths. If Megan killed Pam, why did she wait so long to kill Helen? And why on
earth hadn't Helen made a run for it? Testimony suggests she was worried about 8-year-old Molly, who was home at the
time. Not a good enough explanation, says Troyano. For hours, Peter. She allowed what is claimed to be a murderer
run loose in a home with a rifle without seeking help, without barricading her in
to a room. He says Helen's body showed no definitive signs of a life and death struggle. Why wouldn't she have fought
back? And how credible are the witnesses against Megan Hargan? Triano says the defense wants the jury to believe one
may not be credible at all, her sister Ashley. Her story has changed. When she'd spoken
to investigators soon after the shooting, Ashley told them Helen had once been in emotional turmoil. I know
my sister was depressed. Has she ever talked about hurting herself? Yeah. But once on the stand, Ashley testified
she doesn't remember ever saying that. She says 150 times thereabouts that she doesn't
remember certain things. There's two ways to look at that. Number one is that she doesn't remember, right?
Number two is that she doesn't want to say things that are not helpful for the prosecution. Ashley testified that she
couldn't recall more than 150 times. Why was that? Anytime you're dealing with the victim of trauma, there are always
going to be aspects that she can't recall. Whatever the jury thinks of Ashley, the defense wants to explain to
them how Helen could have pulled the trigger on that rifle. And they have a theory with her toe. She puts her head
down and that she's able to utilize the trigger, probably with her toe, to be able to discharge the weapon. Your toe,
she's got to figure out some way. And the the critical question is, could it have been done? Even the prosecution's
expert witness conceds while very unlikely, it is possible. Can her toe reach the trigger? Yes, her legs are
long enough that her toe could reach the trigger. Either way, the judge thinks Iris Graph's digital reconstruction
isn't necessary. So, he prevents the jury from seeing it. And though Megan Hargan never testifies, every shred of
evidence shows that Megan Hargan was the one who committed these murders. In closings, prosecutor Bazilla argues
there's no evidence Pam Hargan was actually going to cancel the contract on Helen's new house. And he urges the jury
to compare Helen's behavior around the time of the shooting to Megan's. He says Megan's actions speak for themselves.
She's doing all these things that a murderer would do. But the defense insists there's reasonable doubt in this
case. They argue the prosecutor's forensics are inconclusive and the toe on the trigger theory cannot
be ruled out. It's possible. And if it's possible, that then lends itself to doubt. Megan Hargan is innocent.
Megan's friend, Rebecca Wolf, spent about 5 years working for the Justice Department. She knows her way around a
criminal trial and has been at this one almost every day. I would not be comfortable
sending someone to prison for the rest of their life without knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind that they
did it. On March 24th, 2022, almost 5 years after the shootings, the jury gets the case. Based on your review of this
case, as the jury is heading into deliberation, could this go either way? Sure. What do you think of the defense's toe
on the trigger theory? For a look at a timeline of the investigation, go to 48 hours.com.
As the jurors come back into the room, they have a decision. Are you looking at their faces?
Yes. After a 3-w weekek trial, it takes the jury less than two days of deliberations to reach a verdict. I I
thought my legs were going to go weak cuz we were standing up and it had been just like months of our lives that this
is all we had done. Megan Hargan is guilty. Two counts of first-degree murder for killing her
sister Helen and mother Pam. How did Megan react to the verdict? At least for me as a prosecutor, I don't
want to look over at that table. I think it's not very classy. I'm just sort of in the zone trying not to pass out. I
think weight lifted off of everybody. It was a very emotional moment. The jury recommends a sentence to the
judge of life in prison on each murder count. I thought for sure that I would be getting a phone call and coming to
pick her up 100%. Megan's friend, Rebecca Wolf, thinks this jury was shortsighted. I thought they were going
to see through all of this. They were going to look at all the evidence. They were going to ask the right questions.
They were going to do their job. This job is difficult. Detective Byerson thinks there are parts of authorities
conduct in this case that he would have changed if he could. how 911 dispatchers
responded to Carlos Gutierrez and how quickly the Fairfax County PD went public with the murder suicide theory. I
don't find it helpful to kind of make a blanket statement about what we think it
is cuz it doesn't matter what we think it is. It only matters what it turns out to be. Was justice served in this case?
Depends on what justice is, right? You're never bringing back the two lives that were lost.
The domino effect of tragedy from what happened is immeasurable. Though the trial is finally finished,
waves of grief still wash over the surviving Han family. It's just an immeasurable grief.
And ripples still reverberate in the lives of people they touched, like Pam's former neighbor, Tammy. And I was just I
just devastated. I mean, just but what I didn't have any words. It was just unbelievable.
And Helen's friend, Aaron. I was in shock. Who had moved abroad after graduation and had to hear about her
death from us. I had no idea that happened to her. You're convinced if Helen were alive
today, she'd be on the road to some great success, some great career? Absolutely.
She'd be a trailblazer. How do you want your friend Helen to be remembered? For being kind and compassionate,
driven, and caring. Just a very caring person. [Music] [Music] [Music] a woman's uniquely lethal plan for
identity theft. I've seen people killed with knives and machetes and guns. Death
by dessert. I have never seen anyone try to kill another person with a piece of cheesecake until now. Until now. 48
Hours next on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus. [Music]

On Sept. 22, 2023, a jury found Megan Hargan guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of her mother Pamela and sister Helen in 2017. This is the second trial for Hargan, after the judge overturned the first conviction after finding juror misconduct. This story aired on June 3, 2023. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

Brief Summary

Megan Hargan is convicted of murdering her mother and sister for financial gain after a complex investigation reveals suspicious circumstances surrounding their deaths.

Key points

Tragic Discovery. Police discover two bodies in a million-dollar home, leading to a shocking investigation.
Family in Crisis. The Hargan family grapples with the devastating news of Pam and Helen's deaths.
Mysterious Circumstances. Detectives uncover strange activity surrounding Pam Hargan's bank account before her death.
Megan Hargan Arrested. Detectives arrest Megan Hargan near her home after building a case against her.
Trial Begins for Megan Hargan. Megan Hargan's trial for the murders of her mother and sister begins, revealing shocking details.
Verdict Reached. After a lengthy trial, the jury finds Megan Hargan guilty of two counts of murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You don't know what goes on behind closed doors.

2:39WatchSep 26, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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