Ex-boyfriend charged with murder 20 years after death of NY college student
Police on Thursday announced murder charges against the ex-boyfriend of a 20-year-old woman who was killed in 2003, decades after her body was found abandoned on a dirt road in New York.
Edward Holley, now 42, is accused of bludgeoning Megan McDonald to death on March 14, 2003, in the town of Wallkill, police said during a press conference. She died of blunt force trauma to the head.
McDonald was described as outgoing and generous. She was the daughter of retired New York Police Department Detective Dennis McDonald. He died a year before his daughter's death, according to the Detectives' Endowment Association.
Karen Whalen, McDonald's sister, said she never gave up hope that an arrest would be made. She said she had looked forward to a day when she can remember her slain sister without wondering who the killer was.
"The monster has a face and a name and he is in jail where he belongs," she said.
Police interviewed Holley four times over the course of their investigation, Joseph Kolek, a New York State Police captain, said. He provided contradictory stories and alibis that were disproved by several witnesses, according to the criminal complaint.
"We believe this crime was intimate partner violence," Kolek said. "Additionally, Ed Holley owed Megan a substantial sum of money."
McDonald and Holley dated until shortly before the homicide. McDonald had just started dating someone else before she was killed.
On March 13, 2003, McDonald told friends she was skipping a party because Holley was there, according to the criminal complaint. Witness statements from that night show McDonald tried, unsuccessfully, to get marijuana from a number of people. Holley had been her main supplier. Investigators believe McDonald turned to Holley as a "last resort."
Police spoke with numerous witnesses who were around that night. Officials say they performed hundreds of interviews over the course of the investigation. Those interviews, along with physical evidence, eventually pointed them to Holley.
Some of the physical evidence was gathered from McDonald's car, where she was killed, police said. The car was left parked at a different location from where McDonald's body was found.
"Throughout the years, there's been tremendous advances in DNA technology. As those progressions in DNA technology have come about, we've tried to leverage those things and resubmit evidence for further DNA analysis and that's what we've done in this case," Kolek said.
Holley was already in custody when police executed the arrest warrant, officials said. He had been arrested in October of 2021 after a narcotics investigation. Holley was released on probation, which he violated. He was returned to jail in late February.
James Whalen, McDonald's brother-in-law, called Holley a monster.
"This is a vile human being capable of brutally murdering a beautiful, lively 20-year-old woman and using every effort to keep his part in this heinous crime a secret for 20 years," he said.
