Accused killer, baby-snatcher in jail

SPRING, Texas – Verna McClain told her fiance she had given birth to their child. But after she suffered a miscarriage, authorities said, she went looking for another baby to present to him.

Now she’s accused of killing a mother to take one by force.

Investigators say McClain waited outside a pediatrician’s office north of Houston and shot Kala Golden before taking her tiny newborn son, who was only 3 days old.

Little Keegan Golden was found unharmed hours later with McClain’s sister – who was told that her sister planned to adopt the boy. He is back with family members.

McClain is charged with capital murder and was being held Wednesday without bond. Authorities say she admitted attacking the woman Tuesday and stealing her baby from his mother’s pickup truck.

McClain, 30, who listed a Houston address, was separated from her husband, with whom she had raised three children.

“I don’t understand that, her taking a child,” her estranged husband, Theo McClain of San Diego, told the Associated Press. “That doesn’t make sense. We have three kids. And then to shoot somebody? I’ve never known her to hurt anybody.”

Sheriff Tommy Gage said 28-year-old Kala Golden had placed Keegan into her pickup truck Tuesday afternoon after leaving Northwoods Pediatric Center in Spring, about 20 miles north of Houston. The suspected shooter was parked next to her, Gage said.

The woman repeatedly shot Golden, then snatched the child from her truck and drove away, according to witness accounts.

McClain was later arrested. Police say McClain admitted carrying out the attack. They do not believe anyone else was involved.

Investigators said McClain’s statements included information only the shooter would know and indicated Tuesday’s attack was part of a wider plan to kidnap any child. Golden was simply a convenient target, authorities said.