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What began as a fun, adventurous summer family outing at Devil’s Den State Park in West Fork, Arkansas ended in unimaginable tragedy on Saturday, July 26, 2025. Devil’s Den is an Arkansas icon nestled within Lee Creek Valley that was selected as a state park site in the 1930s. Hikers, campers, mountain bikers & horseback riders visit the area to see rock formations & caverns as well as an impressive rock dam that spans Lee Creek forming Lake Devil, an 8-acre lake for fishing.
That Saturday afternoon in late July, the weather was a warm 85 degrees with a breeze that made the air feel bearable. 43-year-old Clinton Brink & his wife, 41-year-old Cristen Brink, headed out to the park to hike with their 7 & 9-year-old daughters. The couple also had a 17-year-old daughter, who did not go out with them that day. The Brink family had only just moved to Arkansas three weeks earlier so they were no doubt exploring & getting to know their new home state.
By late afternoon, half of the Brink family would be dead after parents, Clinton & Cristen were stabbed to death in an act of random violence on a trail that was less than a half-mile from the parking area. What happened that day at Devil’s Den sparked one of the most intense manhunts in Arkansas history. People who previously took refuge within the great outdoors & nature suddenly feared for their lives.
Devil’s Den is situated in the northwest corner of Arkansas near the Oklahoma border, nestled within the Ozark Mountains. Within the more than 2,500 acres of landscape, much of the park is covered in a thick canopy of oak & hickory with trails that snake through narrow crevices, caves & creeks.
Although the name, Devil’s Den, may sound ominous, for decades danger & scary stories only existed in stories told around the campfire. It was a place known for its scenic vistas & family-friendly hikes rather than danger & murder.
That Saturday afternoon, the Brinks chose to hike along Devil’s Den Trail, a popular 1.5 mile loop with moderate difficulty. It wasn’t going to be a treacherous hike, but rather, just enough of a challenge to feel accomplished at the end. Since the area is so vast, remote & blanketed with tree coverage, cell service can be spotty to non-existent, forcing campers & hikers to disconnect from their hectic lives, even for a little while.
Clinton, Cristen & their girls had only just relocated to the state from North Dakota after Clinton was transferred with Prairie Farms Dairy. He was scheduled to start his job delivering milk on Monday morning. Meanwhile, Cristen, who was a registered nurse, planned to continue her career in the medical field. They were settling into their Prairie Grove home & everything seemed to be falling into place.
At 2:40 pm that afternoon, a call came through the Arkansas State Police after hikers heard screams of terror through the trees. Although it was impossible to pinpoint the exact location, the sheer terror of the screams made it obvious that something terrible had happened. Not knowing what was happening, the hikers immediately dialed 911.
Park rangers responded within minutes & raced down trails that led to the lower section of Devil’s Den loop. They came upon two little girls, ages 7 & 9, both visibly trembling & sobbing, clearly traumatized. As they managed to speak a few words through their terror, they conveyed that they had been out hiking with their parents when a man with a knife suddenly appeared.
The man began attacking Clinton first while Cristen rushed to their daughter’s safety before she returned to help her husband. Cristen yelled to the girls, telling them to run to safety, keep running & don’t look back. The girls began sprinting down the trail alone within the thick woodland, completely unsure of what was happening to their parents.
A hiker who came upon the girls about an hour after the attack that day helped get them to safety & then turned around & went back in the direction they had just come from. As he went deeper into the forest, he hoped with everything that he could reach the girls’ parents before it was too late.
As he came upon Clinton & Cristen, they were each lying on the ground, bleeding after suffering from multiple stab wounds. He tried desperately to get cell service, but was unable to, forcing him to climb to higher ground until he was able to get a signal & dial 911.
By the time first responders reached the couple, they were sadly gone. The medical examiner later documented the defensive wounds they suffered on their hands & arms, proving that they’d each desperately tried to protect themselves from their attacker. According to the girls’ accounts, rather than fleeing to safety while the mad man attacked her husband, Cristen only worried about her daughter’s safety & then rushed to her husband’s side in an attempt to protect him.
According to their obituaries, Clinton & Cristen shared a marriage that was bound by faith, laughter & adventure. They lived for the simple joys in life, often taking their daughters hiking, kayaking or to a theme park. They were each other’s best friend, biggest cheerleader & constant teammate.
Clinton was born on June 14, 1982 & those who knew him would describe him as a kind, gentle, loving & dependable person. In addition to working as a delivery driver, he was also a Certified Nursing Assistant & had only recently been honored Employee of the Month as a CNA. Despite his multiple careers, his wife & three daughters were his greatest achievement. He was a rock to his family, a constant support & comfort who loved them unconditionally. Peace & understanding were much more important to Clinton than pride & he was someone who would apologize even when he wasn’t in the wrong.
Cristen, who was born on June 11, 1984, was described as a vibrant, compassionate soul. In addition to being an RN, she also had a degree in math. She was a volleyball player through high school as well as college & a strong, funny woman who put her family at the center of her world.
When detectives processed the scene, combing through the dirt & vegetation, they found a third set of DNA that had not come from Clinton & Cristen that suggested that their attacker had also been injured. When the DNA was run through the national & state databases, there were no hits, meaning, they had no prior felony convictions.
As the investigation team spread throughout the park, they spoke with as many witnesses as they could who were out on the trails that day & may have seen someone or something suspicious. Devil’s Den was busy on that warm Saturday afternoon, filled with families & hikers who were enjoying the day together. It’s likely that the man who attacked the couple had fled from the scene, covered in blood.
Multiple witnesses reported seeing a white man who matched a particular description. He was of medium build & wore a long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, dark pants, a black baseball hat, sunglasses & fingerless gloves & carried a black backpack. One hiker recalled seeing a man that fit this description with blood on his face, walking in a hurried manner from the direction of where Clinton & Cristen had been attacked.
Some witnesses had seen the man in question climbing into a sporty black four-door sedan before he quickly left the park. The car’s license plate had been partially obstructed with either electrical tape or duct tape.
Not only did witnesses work with investigators to create a composite sketch of the man in question, but a hiker who felt a gut instinct that the man had been up to no good, snapped a photo of the back of him as he stood among the trees with his backpack on. Although his face wasn’t visible in the photo, it reinforced the clothing he was wearing as well as his hair color & build.
For weeks, Devil’s Den was closed to the public as the investigation continued. Search teams combed over every trail looking for evidence or clues that might lead them to the killer.
After the photo & composite sketch was released to the media, tips began pouring in from Arkansas & surrounding areas from as far away as Washington. People were terrified, hearing that a young couple who had been out on a daytime hike with their two young daughters had been randomly attacked in an unprompted fit of violence. Families cancelled their hikes & camping trips or began carrying weapons with them when they headed out into the wilderness.
Meanwhile, investigators were busy collecting surveillance videos from nearby businesses that were situated along the route to Devil’s Den. As the footage was examined, they noted a black sedan appearing in multiple locations. The car had distinguishing features that made it identifiable.
Detectives realized they were specifically looking for a 2022 Kia Stinger, a sporty four-door sedan that fit the witnesses’ descriptions as well as what was seen in the surveillance footage. As they reported, the car’s license plate was partially covered.
On Wednesday, July 30, four days after Clinton & Cristen were murdered, police identified their suspect, who they found at Lupita’s Beauty Salon in Springdale, Arkansas, 34 miles (55 km) from Devil’s Den.
As the officers went inside the salon, they immediately saw a man, who was getting his hair cut, that matched the suspect’s description. He had visible injuries on his hands that looked to be from a violent struggle. Halfway through his haircut, the man was placed in handcuffs & arrested. Authorities don’t believe that he was getting a haircut in an attempt to alter his appearance, but more likely, he was getting ready to start his new position as a teacher the following week.
The man was 28-year-old Andrew James McGann, a teacher who was licensed to work in Arkansas, Texas as well as Oklahoma. He had no criminal record & he’d passed multiple background checks. Only weeks earlier, he’d been hired by Springdale Public Schools to teach fifth grade starting that fall.
Andrew had been an unremarkable man who was educated, articulate & seemed to be the last person capable of a vicious double homicide. He blended into the crowd, he could be your neighbor, your co-worker or your child’s elementary school teacher. The fact that someone this unhinged & dangerous could make it through an interview process as well as background checks & be responsible for a classroom of children was terrifying.
As investigators looked into his background, they began to see troubling patterns. Although his teaching career had been brief to that point, he had been placed on administrative leave from an elementary school in Flower Mound, Texas two years earlier in the spring of 2023. Reasons included issues with classroom management, questionable professional judgement as well as student favoritism. After colleagues voiced their concerns, McGann resigned under the mounting pressure.
After he left Texas, he began teaching fifth grade at Spring Creek Elementary in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma during the 2023-2024 school year. Once again, he managed to get through the interview process & background checks before he was hired.
During the 2024-2025 school year, he worked at Sand Springs Public Schools in Oklahoma & at the end of the school year, he resigned from his position so he could move to Arkansas.
This pattern told investigators that he would get hired within a district, concerns would emerge & he would resign before he faced more serious consequences, moving on to an entirely new state where he was unknown. His previous issues clearly hadn’t been communicated because each time, he managed to secure a new teaching position, once again, in charge of a classroom of children.
Despite the red flags & issues within his teaching positions, nothing in his employment history suggested violence. There was nothing that could have ever predicted the random act of violence he had been responsible for against a family he had never met.
When police searched McGann’s car after he gave them permission to do so, they found blood inside as well as DNA that proved to be a match to blood found at the crime scene, blood that belonged to him after he was injured during the attack, something he confirmed. Items in his home also matched evidence from the crime scene. With the overwhelming evidence against him, McGann allegedly confessed to officers, but after he obtained a lawyer, he retracted his confession & pleaded not guilty to two counts of capital murder.
Washington County, Arkansas prosecuting attorney Brandon Carter indicated that his office will be seeking the death penalty since the crime was so brutal, random & left three children orphaned.
Now that an arrest had been made, people were left to wonder why? McGann had zero known connection to the Brink family. They had never met, they didn’t live in the same town, they were both new to the area, making the attack entirely random. Sadly, the Brink family had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person. Had McGann gone to Devil’s Den that day with the full intention of murdering someone? The answer is likely yes based on the dark clothing he wore & the knife that he carried. Had it been a robbery gone wrong or was he just acting out a sick urge or fantasy?
As of October 2025, authorities indicate they have no clear motive as McGann, through his attorney, has remained silent.
The randomness of the attack, the fact that a sweet family of four was walking down a hiking trail in the middle of the afternoon & were ambushed by a stranger who attacked them, completely unprompted, has made this tragedy that much more heartbreaking & frustrating. Random violence without provocation suggests that safety is an illusion & proves that danger can be lurking anywhere.
Clinton & Cristen’s two young daughters are now being raised by family members. According to their obituary, their 17-year-old daughter is married to her 18-year-old husband. A gofundme account has been started by a family member to help cover funeral costs as well as costs of caring for the couple’s two young daughters, ensuring that their future is supported after suffering such an unimaginable tragedy. They lived through trauma that no child should ever have to experience, but they will always remember that their parents are heroes who gave their lives so they could survive. Thus far, $97,560 of the $120,000 goal has been achieved.
Clinton & Cristen’s two young daughters were key in helping the police find their suspect because of the information they provided.
James McGann remains in custody without bond, awaiting a trial that is expected to begin on January 15, 2026 in Washington County. Despite his DNA being found at the scene as well as witness descriptions matching his description, surveillance footage of his car, evidence found at his home, he maintains a plea of not guilty. In the meantime, Washington County Circuit Court Judge, Joanna Taylor, has issued a gag order to limit pretrial publicity.
The Brink family was doing what so many of us do on a weekend; going on an outing that brings the family together. They were enjoying not only each other’s company, but also the beauty of nature within their new home of Arkansas when a madman suddenly came upon them. They had never seen his face before, yet, without prompting, a deadly attack began. Rather than running to safety, Cristen died trying to protect her partner in life & the father of her three children. Clinton & Cristen died heroes, protecting their daughters to the bitter end.
References:
- Arkansas State Parks: Devil’s Den State Park
- Luginbuel Funeral Home: Clinton & Cristen Brink
- Gofundme: To help raise funds to lay Clinton & Cristen to rest
- Times Record: Washington County sets trial date in Brink’s murder; McGann pleads not guilty
- NBC News: Teacher arrested in killings of couple hiking with daughters in Arkansas
- ABC News: Teacher arrested for Arkansas double murder admits to killing married couple
- Medium: The last hike: Inside the Devil’s Den murders that shattered an Arkansas summer
- Beliefnet: Couple killed along Devil’s Den Park trail ‘died heroes protecting their little girls,’ family says
- Wynne Progress: Judge issues gag order in Devil’s Den State Park murder case
