When police arrived at the Kansas City home of Melanie Biggins on August 31, 2022, she was performing CPR on her husband, Etienne McEwan, who lay dead in their bed with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. Initially, she claimed an intruder was responsible. But as investigators peeled back the layers of her story, the image of a desperate woman unraveling under financial strain came to light. On January 27, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in a deal that spared her a potential life sentence.
The killing appeared carefully staged at first, with Biggins telling dispatchers she had woken up to the sound of gunfire and found the front door open. But inconsistencies quickly emerged. Investigators found no signs of forced entry, and they recovered a purple and black .38 Special handgun under a bunk bed. The gun, purchased a month earlier from a pawn shop, matched the caliber of the weapon used to kill McEwan. A bloody pillow and a blanket with gunpowder burns further dismantled her claims of an unknown assailant.
A key break in the case came when investigators pressed Biggins on the state of her nine-year marriage. Court documents revealed that she had been in a relationship with another man for over a year and had long wanted a divorce. But financial constraints made separation unattainable, and her desperation reached a breaking point. “Due to their financial struggles, that is currently not an option,” the affidavit noted, pointing to her admission that the murder was a means to escape a marriage she felt trapped in.
Perhaps the most haunting detail came from one of the couple’s children. The child told police that after hearing a gunshot, she went downstairs and found her mother sitting on the couch, pale and shaken. Moments later, when she returned upstairs, she discovered her father’s body on the bed and handed the phone to her mother, who was instructed by dispatchers to perform CPR. Despite the attempted cover-up, the homicide team determined McEwan had died instantly at the scene.
McEwan, 50, was remembered as a father of four and grandfather to three. His death leaves behind a family fractured by tragedy, with no public announcements yet on who will care for the two children he shared with Biggins during her incarceration. The case underscores the devastating intersection of financial hardship, domestic strife, and violence, offering a grim reflection on the lengths to which desperation can drive someone.
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