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Subscribe to RSSHouston area detectives say a mother was shot numerous times and her son was kidnapped outside a pediatrician's office.
A Texas nurse accused of killing a mother and snatching her 3-day-old baby was trying to produce an infant for her fiancé after hiding a miscarriage from him, police said Wednesday.
Verna McClain, 30, acted alone when she attacked Kala Marie Golden, 28, of Spring, Texas, and took her son, Keegan Schuchardt, outside a clinic where the baby had a checkup Tuesday, police said at a news conference.
Montgomery County Sheriff's Office via Reuters
Verna Deann McClain is pictured in this booking photograph taken Wednesday.
McClain was charged with capital murder and was being held without bail after her first court appearance Wednesday, Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies said at a news conference.
The baby was recovered unharmed Tuesday night from the Harris County home of the suspect's parents by Texas Rangers. The baby was with the suspect's sister.
McClain told her fiance she’d had a live birth of his child, Montgomery County Sheriff Det. John Schmitt told reporters. A May wedding was planned, he said she told officers.
Investigators were interviewing the fiance but believed he had never seen the kidnapped baby, Schmitt said.
Investigators said McClain and her fiance are black, the kidnapped baby is white, but they did not know how McClain planned to pass the infant off as hers and her fiance's.
AP
In this undated family snapshot provided by the Schuchardt family, Kala Marie Golden, right, and her husband Keith Schuchardt are shown on their wedding day.
The baby was reunited with his family Wednesday.
Officials said McClain first approached two deputies as a helpful witness at an apartment complex where they found a Lexus described by witnesses as being the suspect’s vehicle. However, her story soon fell apart as they talked to her and she later confessed to the killing, officials said.
Police said McClain was being held in a single-inmate cell and was not under any suicide watch. McClain is estranged from her husband, with whom she had raised three children, Capt. Bruce Zenor said.
She had been working as a vocational nurse through a staffing agency, officials said.
The investigation was not over, officials said.
Earlier: Nurse charged with murder
After his mother was brutally gunned down outside a Houston, Texas, pediatrician's office, a 3-day-old baby has been found safe. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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This is just so sad and bizarre.
postpartum psychosis is real
Black woman takes white baby to cover a miscarriage? Why was'nt she looking for a black baby? Even if the father of her baby was white, she would have needed a baby that was a little darker than the one she tried to take.
Like no one was going to notice she showed up with a cute white baby?
Another article said she claimed she was adopting. Right.
I don't believe her "story"! She is playing a game of CYA. I think the baby was to be sold and fearing for her life by the thugs in the black market she is lying.
Postpartum? She did not recently give birth. If she had a miscarriage it was some time ago. I think you should look up the definition of postpartum depression or baby blues.
postpartum
Origin:
1840–50; < Neo-Latin post partum after childbirth; post post- + partum, accusative of partus a bringing forth, equivalent to par ( ere ) to bear ( see parturient) + -tus suffix of v. action
World English Dictionary
postpartum
— adj
med following childbirth
[Latin: after the act of giving birth]
Medical Dictionary
postpartum post·par·tum
adj.
Of or occurring in the period shortly after childbirth.
She is supposed to be a Nurse! Must be at the funny farm.
No person in a right state of mind would try to pull this off. This is desperate act of a very sick woman.
so she steals a white baby? This lady is a total moron on top of being a worthless piece of s#@t.
I'm so glad they have the death penalty in Texas.
Your right, she was desperate, for money though. You know a Lexus is not a cheap economy car after all. Her solution to hard economic times.
my german shepherds eyes show more intelligence than this excuse for a human being.
She was trying to hide the miscarriage from who? Her Bro? This is sad to think that she could come up with a plot like this. In Texas, she's dead. They will kill this woman for sure. Death Row for sure. Murder and kidnapping at the same time. She's history. So sad she wasn't smarter than that.
Who was the male in the Lexus? Yesterday, the reports said there was a man in the car with the suspect. Was it her fiance? How would she explain a white woman holding "their white child"? Was it a brother or a friend? Too many details still missing.
What's sad is that she wasn't miscarried. Or aborted, either one works.
Get a rope and save the expense..........
4 kids without mothers. I feel sorry for them all.
This lady isn't on suicide watch??? She hasta be nuttier that squirrel shat to even think this would work.
In an earlier article it stated the deceased mother had 2 other children. So we may be looking at 6 now motherless children.
Realist... a woman does not have to give birth to a live child to suffer from postpartum depression. Men suffer post partum also but they do not give birth now do they.
You think a woman having a miscarriage has no effect on her mentally your are seriously wrong. I have had 3 miscarriages and you know what it still bothers me today.
It is time for this country to take mental illness seriously.
Another product of our entitlement programs I see. She should get the death penalty.
justme7374
As I stated, if she had a miscarriage it was some time ago. I haven't heard of anyone suffering from sudden postpartum depression 4 to 6 months after a miscarriage. You go ahead and play along with this woman's insanity defense. I'm not that gullible.
This isn't an issue of entitlements...leave the politics out. She was employed as a vocation nurse. This is a tragic enough story on its own.
DUDE--congratulations for bringing racism into the mix. Simply because the woman is black does not mean she is a "product" of a welfare program. For all you know, her parents were hard working people who just have a dip for a daughter. It doesn't really matter one way or the other--it is your assumption that is problematic.
And, for your information, if a member of your family ever went to college on a Pell grant or you have family members on Medicare or Social Security, they too are products of "our entitlement programs." Too few people realize that Pell grants, Medicare, Social Security, and probably even the GI Bill are considered "entitlement programs."
I think the woman got talked into stealing a baby--probably by the male who was in the Lexus--perhaps because she owed money. It sounds to me like she panicked and shot the mother--she must have really been desperate to get that child. If she is smart (well, if she has a bright public defender), she will plead guilty. If she rats out the person(s) she was working for, she won't last two minutes in the prison system anyway.
It's amazing this doesn't happen more often, given the value of European-descent babies on the black market. It speaks well for our law enforcement that they seem to virtually always find such children--though perhaps not so well that the cases in which they don't look much for such children, the children tend to be Hispanic or black. Ah, well.
Who was driving the Lexus after she shot the mother? They are doing a darn good job of covering that up. I mean the child is in the get away car, so isn't the man considered an accomplist? Isn't he? Trying to sweep that under the rugs. He needs to fry too.
For all of this talk about " Postpartum " depression, I would have to say that this killer went to a lot of trouble planning and executing her plan. Everyone has an excuse for this that or the other thing anymore. Fry her and anyone who might have helped her. I'm sick of all the damn excuses. Send her to the chair.
beanathome - "For your information.....Too few people realize that Pell grants, Medicare, Social Security, and probably even the GI Bill are considered "entitlement programs."
For YOUR information, you are full of it. I've watched those SS and Medicare deductions coming out of my paychecks for years. If I could have invested that money I guarantee I'd have done a lot better than the dead-broke program it's in now. Entitlements, my arse.
I earned every penny of my GI bill money, too. Are you willing to spend a year of your life in a war zone for $150.00 a month? I did. They even took out for SS! I've never had a Pell grant so I can't speak to that but the rest of it I earned, chump.
I too, am horrified. And feeling sick and dizzy, too. This is a sickening and creepy story that I could have done without. Nightmare time. The dead woman has a husband, mother, father......
Okay. Let's get this straight; a Negroid female kills a Caucasian female and then, steals the dead woman's Caucasian child? Thus in order to hide her miscarriage? And she is a nurse?
For my part, I believe that this story smells of baby theft. Pure and simple baby theft. This is R-E-A-L horror.
Suddenly the Martin vs. Zimmerman seems so non-plus.
This is a case for the Texas Death Row. It took a vile, vicious creature to kill a mother of a newborn child and then kidnap the child. She has no place in civilized society. Death Row or Life without parole, nothing less for this creature.
Women stealing babies is not a new phenomenon. This has happened many, many times over the course of history. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she made up a story about being pregnant altogether, and did what she did to keep her fiance from leaving her when he found out she was a liar. These are most typically extremely narcissistic women who feed on attention and affection from others and will do anything necessary to get that attention without thinking of the consequences.
And that, somehow, is suppose to excuse or "explain" why she did this? Is that suppose to be taken into account when she's judged and sentenced for committing a premediated murder and kidnaping? The general "war on women" should not be occuring. But there on some women upon whom war must be declared. May she be executed for what she did. She's a woman, war is declared on her, the shot is fired, end of this war on a woman - and she lost. One less murderous woman with psychosis to worry about.
Have you never heard of a 'throwback'? Throw Caucasian genes into the background of Negro parents and a Caucasian looking baby just might pop out and vice versa. Genetics are a wierd thing.
Kyle
Really? Wow, NOT at all the sutuation here.
The comments about what the baby "needed' to look like are pretty ignorant. I'm white, my ex husband is black, our daughter is as white/light as me with blonde curly hair and hazel/blue eyes.
Who the hell cares what the baby needed to look like. The welfare biatch needs to be put down like the dog she is. I guess Obama would be proud to have a daughter or sister like her. She needs a frontal lobotemy then hung.
She was caught, has confessed, needs to be convicted then within 48 hrs she needs to be hanged in public with those in juvenile detention forced to watch the path they are headed down if they dont change. She has forfited her life after proving she cannot live within society with her heinous crime
Only 1 problem with that puckyou (besides your ignorance) is that both her and her fiance are black, neither is white.
She is certainly able to buy a Lexus if she wants. Working at a temp agency in Texas, she probably makes 20-25 dollars an hour, plus mileage.
I lose more and more faith in people everyday. People are soo self centered that they will kill people because they think that it will make their life just a lil' bit better or easier.
sounds like a hate crime to me. Black woman kills white woman and steals white baby. So where is the public outrage? Al? Jesse? Protestors? Black Panthers? Is there a bounty out on her head? Come on, JUSTICE for the WHITE woman! Print the Tshirts...
Why isnt THIS story front page news on MSNBC? DAYS of it for Trayvon!!! HYPOCRITES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't you people who have to keep bringing up the Zimmerman/Martin case know that this case is in no way anything like that case? She was caught, arrested and charged and the investigation is still ongoing. Unlike Zimmerman who was let go before all the evidence was in and the investigation was halted based on his word, the word of a witness that only saw a miniscule portion of the altercation which did not include the attack or the shooting and the fact that Zimmerman had injuries indicating that he was in a fight which none of that proves that it was self defense.
In this case justice is being served by her being arrested, charged and the investigation is ongoing. Zimmerman admitted to shooting Martin yet he was let go before the ink was even dry on the initial report. Cops that fire their guns in the line of duty (not even necessarily killing someone) are put through more scrutiny than Zimmerman was.
Glad this happened in Texas. Anyone know if there were three or more eyewitness'? I can help with the electric bill for the execution if they need.
They get the needle in Texas. We retired ole Sparkie.
I'd drive there to end her on my own dime, a gift from me to Texas.
Boot sparky back up for this stupid cow. She deserves to die slowly.
Comment # 3 deleted, George Bush derail.
Authorities shouldn't supervise any suicide watch even if they suspect she may attempt it. Good riddance.
She shouldn't get to commit suicide. She should be forced to live through all the problems that she has caused and to face the fact that she murdered an innocent woman. Suicide is too easy for her.
Poor little baby I hope she gets the death penalty
Why on earth would you want the baby to get the death penalty???
micro md, I hope you are actually NOT a doctor of any sort. Clearly that statement is talking about the kidnapper.....
jessh big, obvious sarcasm......
But there might be people in Texas thinking, "OMG! That woman provided medical care for me!"
oops, ok. then... haha. I guess a comma would have helped in the in the orginal post, and you never know with some of the news vine commenters if they seriously thought that. but, my bad!
the bigpicture - how can you tell, considering the fact that there is no punctuation and it's a run-on sentence? The way it's written, ""she" refers to the baby.
She should. If a man did it he would in Texas. They may say she is nuts. She knew what she was doing. She shot her at least 7 times.
Okay now, who do we need to turn to to put a $10,000 bounty on this black woman's head? Where are those two racist bigots AL and Jesse? How about Obama? What? There is no media outcry about 2nd amendment rights? How about stand your ground? The media would not dare be biased now would they?
We're talking about a male baby so I think that was a failed attempt at sarcasm, micromd. You're welcome.
Steve, we don't need a bounty on her head because she was arrested right after being caught. If the perp said she killed the mother in self-defense and was let go without a trial, then your comments might make some sense.
No, more like failed proper grammar by "fluffer". Fluffer may need a remedial class in grammar. Oh wait, I don't think they even teach grammar anymore. I think they now teach proper abbreviating for texting and tweeting.
I'm sure you were being sarcastic as well, but in case others seriously agree with you:
Context. And understanding that in reality, everyone forgets a punctuation mark and misspells from time-to-time.
Being funny like Micro is one thing, but every single unfunny grammar officer on this planet makes l's out of i's and places letters in the wrong spot occasionally. Sometimes, they even omit them completely! They must have had crawling helmets growing up, thinking they're so much smarter than all the rest of us.
Steve, maybe the Black Panthers down in FL will do that.
sparklystar The Black Panthers would give her a medal and she could be part of them. Send the Klan and they can take care of her aZZ.
This woman is disgusting to me. How could any person (black, white, purple or green) do this to another human being. To kill the mother of a 3 day old is heinous and makes me doubt that there is a future to our society.
What a BS story....this woman is setting up some sort of insanity defense based on her having a miscarriage....they probably need to contact her OBGYN to verify that she was ever pregnant.
I agree. If she were panicked into finding a baby so her fiance would not find out about her miscarriage, how was she going to explain to him that the baby wasn't black?! The article states they are both black. She and her lawyer have got to be cooking some story up and/or she has to be a complete idiot not to think her fiance would not question that one.
Definitely seems a little more sinister than a depressed mother looking for a fill-in baby. Why was she carrying a gun? This seems evil and planned, and I don't buy her story one bit.
Insanity defense will never fly - she planned to bring a gun, she waited and identified a victim, she had presence of mind to flee the scene. She left the infant with someone else. True what she did was beyond insane, but she knew right from wrong the whole time.
The Houston area is typically very liberal in applying the death penalty. She can plead insanity, diminished capacity or whatever she wants - I have a feeling there is an IV in her future.
Where are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson???
...and your point?
I agree with you on this one Arthur. Now the media better spend several weeks talking about how a black woman killed a white woman. This deserves the same amount of attention the Zimmerman case is getting.
The woman is in jail and charged with murder you loon.
You're comparing apples to oranges here: in the Trayvon Martin case, one person clearly shot and killed another person (race/color does not apply here), and, after admitting that he did it, the killer was not arrested. In this case, the killer admitted that she did it and was arrested and charged.
robyn01: what is the "attention" going to do for the family? A man lost his wife, a baby lost his mother, and a woman lost her life. Media attention isn't going to change that - it's just going to satisfy your need for something to bitch about.
Hey robyn, quick question. Did the police let this woman go? Did the police instantly accept her answers? Did the police refuse to go over the crime scene? No? Well then how is it you're comparing it to Zimmerman?
It will deserve attention if the cops sluff it off and refuse to even investigate the possibility of a crime having taken place. That is the difference. You who resent the fact that people want it investigated, you are proving our point. You who assume Trayvon was the guilty one, and wont even look further at the case. You are blaming a kid. A good kid by all accounts. Why?
My thoughts exactly......
white victim, black perps, therefore NO Al Sharpton or Jesse coming to that town. And certainly no "hate" crime......never, ever, ever....
C a n ' t...s t o p...l a u g h i n g. This is Texas, poster and not Florida. Damn, you are too funny!
I believe that is what the poster was pointing out. That it is a different set of circumstances altogether! We understand that this woman has been arrested, she admitted to the killing and kidnapping and I hope she has made her piece with the Lord, because she is going to FRY, as she should. You don't do this kind of crap to people. That poor woman had just spent 9 months nurturing and protecting that little baby, and just 3 days after doing one of the hardest things that a woman will ever do in her life, she has her life ended. This makes me so mad, I just want to go down there and take the shooter into a room and beat the hell out of her. Let justice be served and swiftly also.
As for the were is Al and Jessie crowd, get over yourselves. This woman is not out on the loose, she is in jail were she belongs, just like what should have happened with Zimmerman.
And yet I don't hear Obama stating he would be proud to have a daughter or sister like her.
And you wont flexmind. Get over yourself. We all know you think you are being cute, but what you are really being is silly.
This is the kind of thinking that's coming from our education system. The bad part is that in her mind it all made perfect sense go figure!!
Huh?
I think a mental evaluation is in order. And then a long stint in prison...like forever.
Facts:
1. White mother
2. White baby
3. Black murderer
4. State of Texas
Are you kidding me? And before I get the clan chapter going off, I believe she deserves it. But I wouldn't lose any sleep over the likely verdict.
"Investigators said McClain and her fiance are black, the kidnapped baby is white, but they did not know how McClain planned to pass the infant off as hers and her fiance's."
Clearly this woman was out of her mind - what a horrible story.
Right??? How stupid can one get.
thoughts and prayers to the baby, and the father.
Well, hell, Michael Jackson's kids were platinum blonde, blue eyed, porcelain-skinned as babies, too! and they are really his. No, really. I swear. He swore. Yup.
Actually, I do have a black friend, married to a white very blond woman and all three of their kids are white and blonde. You would never know their father is black.
Well, there goes any hope of a conviction. She had a miscarriage, your honor; she was suffering from PTSD and thus didn't know right from wrong. Insanity defense and 6 months in a mental hospital, if that.
Sorry, that plane won't fly in Texas. She will die in prison. Not to mention she's not crazy just greedy.
Yeah right.
Dumbest person ever.
This is just bizarre. This woman had to have lost her mind. No other answer makes sense.
Trouble,
How about just plain stupid as in felony stupid.
Is it possible for somebody to be THAT stupid?
Oh yeah, it's possible. I have no idea what sort of clutter passes for thought processes in people like this. Render her down and make candles from the tallow.
No, she didn't lose her mind. She playing the police, the press, and the rest of society for suckers. She's looking for a pity party because of her so-called miscarriage, and then she blames post-partum depression (insanity plea!) She can go ahead and feed that line to anyone willing to take such rancid bait, but I'm not biting.
I see the scenario like this: The wicked wretch, and the whoever accomplice was driving the Lexus, were stalking anyone with a baby going to the clinic. They planned to steal an infant and sell it on the adoption black market to make some bucks. When mom comes out the door, the murdering wretch goes up to the mom and demands the baby or "else." A shouting match ensued; wretch pulls gun and shoots mom; grabs baby jumps in car; leaves mom dying on the pavement crying, "My baby, my baby."
So the police hunt down this vile creature who dreams up her miscarriage/postpartum excuse. Nevermind that her fiance and she are black, and the baby is white (sorry folks--genetics of two people of the same race usually turn out to have children the same color they are. Either the boyfriend is a total moron, or he's blind.)
Don't be suckered by this criminal's story. It's so lame that it doesn't deserve consideration.
zapper I'm with you... There is way more to this then a woman affraid to tell her fiance about a miscarriage.
Who's she protecting? Who was driving the 'get-away' lexus....And what happens to her family who HAD the baby in their possession? Couldn't the sister 'tell' that this baby was the wrong color?
This whole story stinks.... and not just because of the tragedy of the victim and her baby.
Prayers go out to that gorgeous little baby and the family of the deceased. I just dont want to look at the news anymore...
Prayers for Ms. McClain and her family, too. So much loss...Lord have mercy on all.
Crazy is as crazy does!
Death penalty is so appropriate for this woman. What reason could she possibly have .
my thoughts are she was kidnapping baby to sell to another couple.
I'm wondering if she was going to claim some kind of "throwback" genetic thing. I've heard of such occurrences, but agree it's pretty far-fetched. I guess it's more likely that she is trying for a defense that might stave off the death penalty.
All in favor of bringing back public hangings raise your hands. This woman should be case #1. I hope she screams bloody murder as they tie the noose around her neck. See you in hell.
Do you plan on going to hell doctor? (see you in hell?)
It's been my experiences that hanging became a symbol of lawlessness rather than lawfulness, during the heyday of its use. Just saying.
In this case Charles... A little lawlessness is warranted..
My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the woman who was killed. Glad that baby was found safe and unharmed.
RE: " the alleged shooter" is this bride-to-be going to pull off a hat trick like giving birth to a white baby while both she and her fiance are black? Does he have vision problems such as blindness?
These cases are all the same. Either a faked pregnancy from the beginning or a lost pregnancy turned faked pregnancy. As it gets closer to the "due date" they get desparate to produce a newborn so they won't get caught. Such a sad situation. The only good thing is that the baby is fine. These crazy women at least usually provide good care for the babies until they are found and returned to the families.
This chick is setting up her Mentally Unstable Defense. Fry this NUT quick!
Black couple? White baby? She didn't know how she was going to pass the baby off to her fiance as theirs? Just give this stupid broad the chair or needle now!!!!! I'm glad this happened in Texas, I see the gurney in her future!!!! This witch makes me sick!!!! Stupid, evil woman!!!!!
This is so wrong, and I can't believe that an innocent woman has lost her life over something as bizarre as this. You go up to a woman, someone of a different racial background, kill her, and take her baby to pass off as your own? I'm sure she must be on drugs because there is noone in their right mind who would have believed that that was her baby, especially if the so-called father is BLACK. This is such a sad, sad, story, and my heart goes out to the infant and his father.
Mental Health lliness is not taken serious in the US and with the other stress related issues folks are going off the deep end.
Only when Americans started getting bored did all these "mental health issues" become big. People have their bad days, and good days. I don't think this incident should be written off as just a stress related issue. This is a killer and needs to be treated as such.
I agree Las Vegas! WHATEVER the reason.... she is a KILLER! (and could KILL again)
Sad day when you can't bring your infant to the doctor without worrying some nut will accost you-- the story she is telling is sickening.