A Missouri woman admitted to shooting her husband in the back of his head while he slept because she couldn’t afford a divorce.
She then tried to pin it on an alleged intruder. Melanie Biggins was initially charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action, which could have put her behind bars for life. But the mom of two struck a plea deal, and on Jan. 27, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
When first responders arrived at the couple’s Kansas City home around 1 a.m. on Aug. 31, 2022, they found Biggins performing CPR on her husband, Etienne McEwan, who was lying in a pool of his own blood in the couple’s bed in their upstairs bedroom. Turns out, it was part of an elaborate lie to blame the killing on a mysterious intruder.
Biggins told 911 dispatchers that she woke to the sound of gunfire and noticed McEwan had been injured, but she didn’t see the culprit, according to court documents. She said she ran downstairs and found the front door open, but there wasn’t a person in sight, KCTV stated.
At first, police didn’t think the incident was suspicious, but then a homicide team was called in after further investigation, reported KMBC. They quickly determined it wasn’t a suicide and found no signs of forced entry.
Biggins told police the only gun in the house was a rifle in a closet that belonged to her husband, but investigators discovered an empty handgun case on the closet’s top shelf and a purple and black .38 Special stashed under a bunk bed in the next room.
Biggins had no explanation, according to the probable cause affidavit, but she later admitted to having purchased a gun from a pawn shop a month earlier. Investigators also found a bloody pillow with a bullet hole and a blanket on the floor with gunpowder burns around a hole.
Her story completely unraveled, however, when she was pressed for information about her relationship with McEwan. She told investigators they had been married for nine years, but “due to financial problems, she has been in an intimate relationship with another man for a year and a half,” according to the affidavit. It stated that she “has also wanted to get a divorce from the victim but due to their financial struggles, that is currently not an option.”
Those same documents show a chilling discrepancy in her story, reported by the couple’s children.
One of their children told police that she and her sibling went downstairs after hearing a gunshot and found their mother sitting on the couch, looking “as if she had seen a ghost.”
The child then went back upstairs to the master bedroom, with Biggins and her sibling following closely behind. That’s when she made the gruesome discovery. After turning on the lamp, she saw her slain father on the bed. The child then called 911 and handed the phone to Biggins, who was instructed to perform CPR.
The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office determined McEwan, 50, died on the scene from a gunshot wound to the back of his head. According to his obituary, he left behind four children and three grandchildren. There’s no word yet on who will care for the two children he shared with Biggins while she serves out her sentence.
