Clinton David Brink, 43 & Cristen Amanda Brink, 41 found on trail - Devil's Den State Park, AR- 26 July, 2025 #3 *Arrest*

[AngTxGal]

Sifting him off would not prevent the killings. Maybe not here and on another trail.
The truth is, even if we were not a teacher, he’d still be the same person and eventually, would do the same.

I disagree,
A person repeatedly granted the professional authority where they can exploit without detection or consequence becomes BRAVER… they believe they are ABOVE DETECTION… their EGO is fed…

The system didn’t simply overlook AJMs repeated issues with female students…
The system rewarded him by putting him in charge of a classroom of students.

He was give the role of trust over the education safety and care of 20+ children, and that authority sends a message to the kids, their parents, and peer teachers.

A system that produces, keeps, and passes along pedo teachers is complicit
The system seems to have condoned the behavior
The system put the interests of the building, district, admins, and city’s reputation over children.

The system gave AJM the opportunity

Where could part of his job be to engage with children for many hours, alone time, for years and years… if he was not a teacher?
- coach, therapist, troop leader, priest

IMO

 

[Inthedetails]

Even when you give a whole detailed yes I did it confession you still plead not guilty lol

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but it does make sense to plead not guilty even if confessed.

It's the burden of the state (the prosecution) to PROVE the defendant did it. The confession isn't necessary true, and the prosecution still has to prove it. And, along the way, if LE or the prosecution make a mistake and violate the rights of the defendant, the case could be thrown out.

All that is a GOOD thing. Our country doesn't throw people in prison and take their liberty without proving guilt according to written law. The rule of law is expensive and time-consuming, but the alternatives are not something we want.

It's worth the gamble to most defendants to plea not guilty at first. That plea could change at any time, even up to the last minute, of course.

jmopinion

 

[AngTxGal]

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but it does make sense to plead not guilty even if confessed.

It's the burden of the state (the prosecution) to PROVE the defendant did it. The confession isn't necessary true, and the prosecution still has to prove it. And, along the way, if LE or the prosecution make a mistake and violate the rights of the defendant, the case could be thrown out.

All that is a GOOD thing. Our country doesn't throw people in prison and take their liberty without proving guilt according to written law. The rule of law is expensive and time-consuming, but the alternatives are not something we want.

It's worth the gamble to most defendants to plea not guilty at first. That plea could change at any time, even up to the last minute, of course.

jmopinion

I do not believe his first admission to the crimes constitutes a confession.

The reaction during the press conference appeared to me as if the Prosector, wished the person revealing that information- ASP officers, had not said it.

If this case has enough evidence to convict him of the double murders, without any ‘admission’ then it should be pursed in that way.
This ‘admission’, if used as support for a weak conviction could be used as support for an appeal.
It could be said that he was coerced.

So, I only think it matters if the case is weak in evidence. I don’t think it is

IMO

 

[Inthedetails]

I do not believe his first admission to the crimes constitutes a confession.

The reaction during the press conference appeared to me as if the Prosector, wished the person revealing that information- ASP officers, had not said it.

If this case has enough evidence to convict him of the double murders, without any ‘admission’ then it should be pursed in that way.
This ‘admission’, if used as support for a weak conviction could be used as support for an appeal.
It could be said that he was coerced.

So, I only think it matters if the case is weak in evidence. I don’t think it is

IMO

I was commenting on why defendants (in general, not just this one) who are clearly guilty bother pleaing not guilty, even when they and the entire world know they are guilty. No matter how obvious the guilt, it still has to be PROVEN according to the written law.

In this specific case, his guilt will be proven, no doubts about it.

jmopinion

 

[PunishThenForgive]

I assume you mean Not Guilty. One thing to consider, the original report said he made statements that indicate he committed the crime. That isn't the same as saying "I did it". So the insanity plea is a possibility depending on what he originally said.

BBM

Yes—Thanks for the correction, @Ghostwheel!

 

[Onlyguessing23]

Andrew McGann arraignment: Key questions in Arkansas couple’s killing remain unanswered | CNN

Andrew James McGann is sitting in jail accused of the ghastly double murder of parents who were hiking at a state park in the Ozark Mountains but several key questions linger about why they were killed.

amp.cnn.com

 

[Motherofvoids16]

Here is his old twitter account; sorry if anyone has already posted this. He sounds like a real degenerate. I mean, I know he was just a kid, but still.....

https://x.com/chafeelme

 

[Arkay]

Here is his old twitter account; sorry if anyone has already posted this. He sounds like a real degenerate. I mean, I know he was just a kid, but still.....

https://x.com/chafeelme

He does sound like a nasty piece of work. The picture of him with the girl is creepy….actually it may be his friend and not him, but the posture between the two feels threatening, even though they likely staged it.

This is the age group that I taught for 25 years. Kids who are 13 and 14 are often difficult. Just as many are kind and caring, though.

When the Internet was new, still AOL dial-up, I remember my students would come to me to tell me about some troublesome things kids had written, often in their profiles and maybe MySpace back then??

Parents still didn’t know much about the Internet. The kids who told on the others would print out the conversations they wanted me to see, and then I’d call the parents in for a meeting. Kids were writing about drugs and sexual acts, using a lot of profanity, etc., while the parents were unaware that their kids even had profiles.

I’m mentioning this because I’ve run into many of my former students over the years, and they are functioning adults now. AJM possibly could have outgrown this immature behavior, but apparently he evolved into something MUCH MUCH worse than a vicious-sounding kid.

You cannot always tell how they will turn out based on how they act at 13 and 14.

I had one student who in his 20s was involved in a notorious murder. When he was 13 he was a polite and sweet boy, at least outwardly, and I chose him to be a monitor at parent/teacher conferences. He’s the last one I would have predicted to hurt anyone.

I know it’s often said “the child is father of the man.” Probably often true, but not always.

How we all wish that AJM had simply grown out of his obnoxious behavior.

JMO and just my experience.

 

[Ghostwheel]

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but it does make sense to plead not guilty even if confessed.

It's the burden of the state (the prosecution) to PROVE the defendant did it. The confession isn't necessary true, and the prosecution still has to prove it. And, along the way, if LE or the prosecution make a mistake and violate the rights of the defendant, the case could be thrown out.

All that is a GOOD thing. Our country doesn't throw people in prison and take their liberty without proving guilt according to written law. The rule of law is expensive and time-consuming, but the alternatives are not something we want.

It's worth the gamble to most defendants to plea not guilty at first. That plea could change at any time, even up to the last minute, of course.

jmopinion

Another reason to plead Not Guilty is to have some negotiation room. To remove DP, lessen the sentence, get any advantage that might be possible. If one pleads Guilty right off the bat, there is no room for negotiations.

 

[AngTxGal]

My daughter played middle and high school volleyball as well as travel ball. Through her sophomore year, she held the setter position. She was moved to the outside hitter position even as only being 5’3”.

Yes, that is why I am curious. Cristen evidently played high level volleyball so most people would assume she was tall.
No, I’m tall and have played volleyball with many women who are 5’5” or shorter with unbelievable skills.

So I can’t tell how tell she is, or how tall Clinton may have been.

IMO

 

[Sillybilly]

ADMIN NOTE:

Please move on from the speculation that AJM could be a serial killer. Any killer "could be" but at this time there is no known fact on which to base such speculation about the accused in this case.

 

[AngTxGal]

He does sound like a nasty piece of work. The picture of him with the girl is creepy….actually it may be his friend and not him, but the posture between the two feels threatening, even though they likely staged it.

This is the age group that I taught for 25 years. Kids who are 13 and 14 are often difficult. Just as many are kind and caring, though.

When the Internet was new, still AOL dial-up, I remember my students would come to me to tell me about some troublesome things kids had written, often in their profiles and maybe MySpace back then??

Parents still didn’t know much about the Internet. The kids who told on the others would print out the conversations they wanted me to see, and then I’d call the parents in for a meeting. Kids were writing about drugs and sexual acts, using a lot of profanity, etc., while the parents were unaware that their kids even had profiles.

I’m mentioning this because I’ve run into many of my former students over the years, and they are functioning adults now. AJM possibly could have outgrown this immature behavior, but apparently he evolved into something MUCH MUCH worse than a vicious-sounding kid.

You cannot always tell how they will turn out based on how they act at 13 and 14.

I had one student who in his 20s was involved in a notorious murder. When he was 13 he was a polite and sweet boy, at least outwardly, and I chose him to be a monitor at parent/teacher conferences. He’s the last one I would have predicted to hurt anyone.

I know it’s often said “the child is father of the man.” Probably often true, but not always.

How we all wish that AJM had simply grown out of his obnoxious behavior.

JMO and just my experience.

I’m with you, have taught this age group and remember how many are big on ego, saving face, peer pressure, and false displays of their indifference, coolness, and how uncool they see most adults and their parents. That is the nature of middle school. LOL, a bunch of little posers, iirc

If you can provoke them into discussions about social justice, environmental issues, ethics, they can come alive and be tricked into giving more of a dam about learning.

But oh how tough it is for those kids who don’t fit in to any group. I wonder where AJM was in his group of peers.
Everyone needs to find their tribe, and even if it is a tribe of three or four not the most ‘in’ crowd it is better than no crowd.
Kids this age can be very cruel to those who do not fit in.

I’m not sure I understand the phrase “the child is father of the man” ??

IMO

 

[Dotta]

I’m not sure I understand the phrase “the child is father of the man” ??

IMO

It means
that a person's childhood experiences, emotions, and habits shape their adult character/personality.

It is a well-known quote by William Wordsworth.

Something like:

"As the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined"

JMO

From the poem:

My Heart Leaps Up - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[FromGermany1]

He does sound like a nasty piece of work. The picture of him with the girl is creepy….actually it may be his friend and not him, but the posture between the two feels threatening, even though they likely staged it.

This is the age group that I taught for 25 years. Kids who are 13 and 14 are often difficult. Just as many are kind and caring, though.

IF the boy is AJM, is the black backpack something like an identification mark or is it standard equipment for boys this age around that time?
Perhaps he had a slight quirk about this backpack, maybe until 2025 in Devil's Den State Park?

 

[AngTxGal]

It means
that a person's childhood experiences, emotions, and habits shape their adult character/personality.

It is a well-known quote by William Wordsworth.

Something like:

"As the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined"

JMO

From the poem:

My Heart Leaps Up - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Not that well-known, or if I had heard of it, I’d forgotten I suppose.
It is similar to ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny in evolutionary biology- a debunked idea.
Or the Nature vs. Nurture debate, that oversimplifies.
Of course
- siblings don’t grow up to necessarily be of similar character and personality
- even twins don’t

AJM’s brother seems to have turned out fine, as far as we know.
So maybe his young adult years were most influential- those after he left home?

IMO

 

[Charlot123]

Not that well-known, or if I had heard of it, I’d forgotten I suppose.
It is similar to ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny in evolutionary biology- a debunked idea.
Or the Nature vs. Nurture debate, that oversimplifies.
Of course
- siblings don’t grow up to necessarily be of similar character and personality
- even twins don’t

AJM’s brother seems to have turned out fine, as far as we know.
So maybe his young adult years were most influential- those after he left home?

IMO

One thing that I paid attention to while reading about nasty killers who had bursts of acts in a short time was brain trauma, but not of the type that would lead to CTE. Rather, of the type that might leave a person with undiagnosed seizures. Boxing trauma, being beaten up by a group of teenagers, etc. One told that he suddenly developed these compulsions after the trauma. Of course, we don't need to 100% believe them and yet...one wonders if EEG is a must in these guys.

 

[gremlin444]

IF the boy is AJM, is the black backpack something like an identification mark or is it standard equipment for boys this age around that time?
Perhaps he had a slight quirk about this backpack, maybe until 2025 in Devil's Den State Park?

I live where he went to high school and have two young adult sons. I also worked in the schools. I'd say once boys hit junior high/high school age, most of them use black or dark blue backpacks (sometimes dark olive or dark grey). A few opt for more splashy colors or designs, but that's not as common.

 

[AngTxGal]

One thing that I paid attention to while reading about nasty killers who had bursts of acts in a short time was brain trauma, but not of the type that would lead to CTE. Rather, of the type that might leave a person with undiagnosed seizures. Boxing trauma, being beaten up by a group of teenagers, etc. One told that he suddenly developed these compulsions after the trauma. Of course, we don't need to 100% believe them and yet...one wonders if EEG is a must in these guys.

I’ve considered CTE as a possible reason for someone losing time, quick to anger, or memory loss, much like a stroke.
The problem I see with this is the control he has regarding his anger bursts. For years he has been in a classroom with children and around other employees at a school and zero stories of loss of temper have come out to the press.
In a school such outbursts would be noticed- so he seems to have the ability to control his anger during the school day- six hours a day for years.

Does anger related to CTE allow for such control?

IMO

 

[Arkay]

Or the Nature vs. Nurture debate, that oversimplifies.
Of course
- siblings don’t grow up to necessarily be of similar character and personality
- even twins don’t

Oh, I can vouch for this.

I am an identical twin. We have the same face. Sometimes even we ourselves aren’t certain of who is whom in pictures and we have to look at our jewelry or something to figure it out.

Yet we are otherwise opposites in every way. She’s OCD-ish about cleanliness and I’m more sloppy. She loves meat which I won’t eat and I love cheese which she won’t eat. We married very different types of men. She had breast cancer when we were 31 and I haven’t had it, though we have identical DNA (on 23 and Me, she and my eldest granddaughter matched as grandmother and granddaughter). And a thousand other differences in our personalities.

Yet we biologically have the same nature and grew up with the same nurture. Siblings in the same household with the same parents don’t really have exactly the same parents, because they arrive at different times in the parents’ lives, but not us.

So while I recognize the importance of nature and nurture, IMO sometimes, for some unknowable reason, someone is just a “bad seed.” This is what I think about many notorious murderers who appear to have loving and stable families as they were growing up.

JMO and experience.

ETA: if either of us did something criminal, I suppose we could hide behind the identical DNA, but no identical twins have the same fingerprints so we’d get caught that way. (Fingerprints are formed by how each baby touches the mother’s womb).

 

[AngTxGal]

Oh, I can vouch for this.

I am an identical twin. We have the same face. Sometimes even we ourselves aren’t certain of who is whom in pictures and we have to look at our jewelry or something to figure it out.

Yet we are otherwise opposites in every way. She’s OCD-ish about cleanliness and I’m more sloppy. She loves meat which I won’t eat and I love cheese which she won’t eat. We married very different types of men. She had breast cancer when we were 31 and I haven’t had it, though we have identical DNA (on 23 and Me, she and my eldest granddaughter matched as grandmother and granddaughter). And a thousand other differences in our personalities.

Yet we biologically have the same nature and grew up with the same nurture. Siblings in the same household with the same parents don’t really have exactly the same parents, because they arrive at different times in the parents’ lives, but not us.

So while I recognize the importance of nature and nurture, IMO sometimes, for some unknowable reason, someone is just a “bad seed.” This is what I think about many notorious murderers who appear to have loving and stable families as they were growing up.

JMO and experience.

So interesting almost as if you two as twins deliberately chose to be different from each other and carve out your own niche.

So then I could consider myself and siblings.

Similarities-
We value education, work ethic, and contribute to society. All of us use math in our work and play an instrument. None of us are picky eaters, but are adventurous in the foods we eat. All married, all are avid readers, all attended college, all enjoy travel, live music/ plays. None of us have been in prison.

Differences-
1/2 of us graduated college, 1/4 earned advanced degree, 3/4 of us have kids, 1/2 of us married before age 23, 1/4 of us are devout church goers, 1/2 of us are divorced, 1/4 have been arrested, 1/2 used elicit drugs during 20’s, 3/4 have remained close to each other and our parents.

Interesting-
IMO