Reginald MacLaren killed wife, daughter with ax: Police
Reginald MacLaren (Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office)
An 81-year-old man in Colorado was arrested over the weekend for allegedly killing and dismembering his wife and daughter with an ax. He told police he had no regrets about the gruesome murder because he knew his family was “in a better place.”
Reginald MacLaren was taken into custody Saturday night and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of 70-year-old Bethany MacLaren and 35-year-old Ruth Jennifer MacLaren, authorities said.
According to a news release from the Englewood Police Department, officers responded to an apartment in the 900 block of Englewood Pkwy around 6:03 p.m. on March 25 after receiving a call from a man – later identified as MacLaren – reporting it as his Wife and daughter had just been murdered. Police say MacLaren told 911 that “he thought he knew the suspect and that the suspect used a hammer” to kill the two women.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders entered the home where they “discovered two victims in large trash cans sitting on the floor of the living room/kitchen area.”
Both victims appeared to have sustained “significant injuries” and showed “no signs of life.” They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Homicide detectives from the EPD, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Scene Unit, and the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office were all at the scene to conduct a joint investigation. In the course of that investigation, authorities said they found that both women had been killed with an ax and “one victim dismembered with a saw.”
Detectives said they found a Stanley-brand handsaw near the garbage cans and “observed large amounts of blood throughout the apartment,” according to an affidavit.
About three hours after the 911 call, detectives said MacLaren had confessed to the murders, saying he had recently been fired from his job, was out of money, and had to kill his family to keep them from being homeless.
“About 10 days ago [MacLaren] began plotting to kill his family so they wouldn’t become homeless,” the affidavit reads. “He bought an axe, two Totter-style trash cans, and a handsaw from Home Depot. He had every intention of using these items in the commission of the murders.”
MacLaren is also said to have given details of the murders.
“This morning (03/25/23) around 11 am his wife and daughter were sitting on the couch. He hit his wife on the head with the ax and knocked her unconscious immediately,” the affidavit reads. “Then he hit his daughter’s head with the ax, knocking her unconscious. He struck each victim twice more in the head with the axe. He knew he killed her.”
MacLaren went on to tell investigators that he knew the bodies of his wife and daughter would not fit in the newly purchased trash cans, so he “used the purchased saw to saw off the victims’ arms and legs” before placing their remains in the put trash cans. However, he told police that he wasn’t strong enough to lift the cans, so he couldn’t move the bodies.
“[MacLaren] has no regrets killing his family as he ‘knows they are in a better place,'” police wrote in the affidavit.
He was arrested and sent to the Arapahoe County Jail for first-degree murder.
Englewood Police Division chief Tracy Jones said some of the detectives, who have been on the scene for more than 20 years, said the inside of MacLaren’s home was “one of the most gruesome crime scenes they’ve ever been a part of.”
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https://lawandcrime.com/crime/colorado-man-allegedly-used-ax-to-dismember-wife-and-daughter-in-one-of-the-most-gruesome-crime-scenes-detectives-had-ever-seen/ Reginald MacLaren killed wife, daughter with ax: Police
