Missouri Woman Charged With Killing Husband After Claiming It Was An Intruder

Melanie Biggins is facing first degree murder charges for the fatal shooting of her husband.
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A Missouri woman has been charged with killing her husband after she claimed an intruder broke into their home and shot him in bed.

Melanie Biggins, 40, of Kansas City, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and armed criminal action, the Jackson prosecutor’s office said in a press release Friday.

Kansas City police said they responded to a reported shooting at the couple’s home on the 1700 block of Gillespie at around 1 a.m. on Aug. 31 and found Biggins performing CPR on her husband, Etienne L. McEwan, who was in his bed lying in a pool of blood.

He was later pronounced dead.

Melanie Biggins has been charged with killing her husband after she claimed an intruder broke into their home and shot him in bed.
Melanie Biggins has been charged with killing her husband after she claimed an intruder broke into their home and shot him in bed.
JACKSON COUNTY DETENTION CENTER

According to charging documents, Biggins told police she was sleeping in bed with McEwan when she heard a loud gunshot, KMBC reported. Police said Biggins claimed she immediately sat up, felt blood and crawled over her husband to turn on the lamp.

Biggins told officers she rolled her husband, saw a gunshot wound under his chin and called 911. Dispatchers advised her to perform CPR, which she did until authorities arrived.

That statement conflicted with two witnesses, who said they saw Biggins downstairs on the couch looking like she “had seen a ghost” after the gunshot, KMBC reported.

Biggins told police that while she and McEwan had been married nine years, she’d been having an affair for a year and a half. She reportedly said she wanted to divorce McEwan but was unable to do so due to financial difficulties.

Biggins also reportedly told police she had only one firearm in the home, her husband’s rifle, but later admitted that she had bought a handgun from a pawn shop in July. That gun was found under a bed in another room.

Prosecutors requested a $250,000 cash bond for her release.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

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