Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - The Murder of Maureen McConaha

Starting point is 00:00:00 To listen ad-free, visit Zinspod.co slash subscribe. Starting at $2.99 a month, you'll also get access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you join through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show! In the early morning of Saturday, October 4th, 1997, a resident of East Las Vegas was woken up at 6.30am by his dog barking incessantly. He walked into his backyard, where, just beyond his fence, he could see the narrow strip of desert between the highway and

Starting point is 00:00:30 his yard. Under some bushes, he saw the body of a young woman. The police were stumped that no one had reported a missing teenager, especially because she was wearing designer jeans and had a fresh manicure. She remained a Jane Doe for three days until her parents had to do the unimaginable, identify the body of their daughter, Maureen. Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I'm your host, Sean, and with me, as always, is the one and only John. I am the only John in the room. This week's case is from the late 90s, but there have been recent events involving one of the defendants that we'll talk about later.

Starting point is 00:01:27 Also, we often cover cases where the couple involved is married and has children together, but it's important to remember that domestic violence and abuse can occur in any intimate relationship, whether it's a marriage or just two people dating with one of them still being in high school. That was the case here. Maureen McConaughey was born in Pomona, California on June 4, 1980, to her parents Deborah Cloick and Joseph McConaughey. She had three sisters named Tennille, Jillian, and Ashley, and a brother named Joseph McConaughey III. Her mom married Alan Cloick, who was her stepfather. The family moved to Las Vegas in 1986 when Maureen was just six years old. In 1997, she was 17 and was attending Sunset High School in Las Vegas. She was outgoing and caring, and her parents said that she was stubborn and rebellious and ran with a tough crowd, not at all uncommon for a teenager. She had a job at Pizza Hut located

Starting point is 00:02:26 on the east side of the valley near the 95, and her stepdad said she wrote in her diary that she was thinking about becoming a lawyer so she could put criminals in jail. Maureen's boyfriend was 18 year old Christian Walker, and they had been dating for about two years. This is yet another case where there seems to be relatively little information out there about Maureen as a person. We've had a hard time learning much about her. A common thing with relationships and domestic violence is that, as you might expect, the abuse tends to start out slowly, just like a frog in a pot. As Sean often says, no one's going to start screaming in someone's face on their first date. Maureen's family confirmed this was the case with Maureen and Christian as well. In their first fight, according to her

Starting point is 00:03:11 family, something set Christian off and he flew into a rage in her room with him tearing up photos and destroying her treasured items. In another case, her stepfather Alan collected some employment applications for her. She filled them out and then met up with Christian, who was going to help her drop them off. In that case, Maureen came home crying and said that Christian told her that he didn't want her working anywhere because she would be talking to other guys, so he ripped up all the applications. It was no secret among Maureen's friends and family that she was being abused by Christian. The Las Vegas Sun noted that she had told friends at sleepovers that he had threatened to kill her, and many classmates had noticed

Starting point is 00:03:49 welts and bruises on her. Her friend Renee told police that Christian beat her regularly and that Maureen said that she wanted to leave him, but she didn't know how to leave. A former girlfriend of Christian's, Tasha, said that Maureen was afraid for her life. An anonymous friend told the Review Journal that she and her boyfriend fought all the time. It's a totally screwed up situation at this point and no one can believe it. Everyone just wants to stay out of it. Her mother, Deborah, was quoted as saying, you could tell she was scared. Every time she would leave the house or call us on the phone, she would go out of her way to say, I just want you guys to know how much I love you. Also, Maureen told her brother,

Starting point is 00:04:33 if anything ever happens to me, I want you to go and tell mom and dad that I said Chris did it. On August 27th, there was a very serious DV incident where Maureen called her mom from school crying, scared, and extremely upset. She told her mother that she had had a fight with Christian and he'd assaulted her and she had a big knot on her head. As a result of the incident, Maureen was granted a temporary protective order and Christian was indicted for misdemeanor battery for headbutting her three times. And her stepfather tried to ban Christian from seeing her. I can't even imagine how frustrating it would be to see your daughter going through that and not be able to help. It took more than a week for the temporary restraining order against Christian to be

Starting point is 00:05:08 granted after Maureen filed for it, which was, as her mother said, a horrible delay for someone in her situation. It also came out in her petition for a TPO that in July, Christian hit her and then was destroying her room, breaking glasses on his head, and then eating the glass, which is obviously pretty disturbing. Given that fact, it's pretty unbelievable that there was any delay at all in getting her that protection, scant as it was. Unfortunately, as it so often happens in domestic violence relationships, Maureen and Christian started seeing each other again. Her friends and family said that she went out with Christian on Friday night, October 3rd, 1997. Christian, his cousin Johnny Walker, and Maureen all attended a party at the home of Tobin Roche and Dana Icar arriving around 9.30 p.m. There was testimony that Christian had gotten enraged with Maureen when another man

Starting point is 00:06:03 at the party was flirting with her. That appears to have been a common source of anger and jealousy for him. Maureen's parents thought that she might have gone off with him out of fear or in hope that they could become friends. According to Dana's later testimony, Christian, Johnny, and Maureen left the party around 10.50 p.m. And then around 12.30 a.m., Johnny and Christian returned to the party with people that Dana and Tobin didn't know. And because of that, Dana and Tobin didn't let them back into the party. And the two of them noticed that Maureen was no longer with Christian and Johnny. Dana asked where Maureen was and Christian replied that they had taken her home.

Starting point is 00:06:41 The next morning in the area near 4400 East San Rafael Street near Mountain Vista and Tropicana, neighbors were jarred awake by a dog barking. One of the area neighbors took a walk behind the rear fence of his home and made a horrible discovery. He found the body of a young woman between the ages of 15 and 18 who had been shot in the head. She was wearing jeans with frayed bottoms, with bands around the ankles, and a multicolored knit top with horizontal stripes. She had long blonde hair and well-manicured nails. Police were initially puzzled why no one came forward to identify her. They immediately reached out to other agencies to see if any teenage girls had been reported missing, but they hadn't.

Starting point is 00:07:20 Maureen remained a Jane Doe for three days. Her parents were away for the weekend to see a Phoenix Cardinals game in Tempe, Arizona, so there was no one to report her missing. When they got back on Monday, October 6th, they immediately started looking for her, and just after midnight, they went to the morgue and identified her. Police commented on the obvious rage and violence associated with how she had been murdered, execution style, and said whoever committed the crime obviously had a lot of anger toward her. She had been shot four times in the head at point-blank range and once in the hand. The only piece of physical evidence they found was a cigarette butt under her body. Police spoke to a woman named Sarah Hendricks who lived in the area. She had been

Starting point is 00:08:00 babysitting for a relative named Roscoe Workman that evening, and had left around 11pm. She told police that she observed three people to the west, and although she couldn't see their faces, she thought one appeared to be a female wearing a horizontal striped shirt. The other two seemed to be male, based on how they walked. Roscoe left the house shortly after Sarah, who was babysitting his child, in order to take his son out to visit a friend. Before entering the car, he told the police that he heard three gunshots, a single shot, then two in quick succession. Initially, police didn't have a lot more than that to go on when investigating Maureen's murder.

Starting point is 00:08:33 They spoke to her friends and asked people to contact them with information about Maureen and her lifestyle, whatever that means. And there was a reward of $2,000 offered, but they had few leads. The investigation into Maureen's murder led the Las Vegas police to uncover that Christian and his cousin Johnny were responsible for a shooting that happened just a few weeks before Maureen's murder. On September 22, 1997, a 17-year-old boy named David Demas was hanging out at Ulam Elementary School in Las Vegas, which is on the east side of town, near Tropicana and Boulder Highway. The school was across the street from his house,

Starting point is 00:09:10 and it was pretty common that he would hang out there with his friends and smoke weed. On the day of the incident, David was with a few friends named Lionel and Misty, as well as with Maureen McConaughey. Christian was there too, and he was showing off his gold necklace to David and the rest of the group who were smoking pot together. After they were done and the hangout broke up, David and Lionel went home, and Christian left with Misty and Maureen and completely forgot about his necklace. But after he got home, he realized the necklace was missing. Later that afternoon, Christian went over to David's house to ask him about the necklace.

Starting point is 00:09:43 David said that he didn't have it. Christian said, and this is a quote, I ain't going out like no punk, and left and came back with his mom, Annette Walker. A classic non-punk power move. Again, he demanded that David give him back his necklace, and again, David denied he'd taken it. Annette threatened to take David to small claims court, and then she and Christian went home. Christian refused to give up on getting this necklace back. He was sure that David had taken it. Around 11 p.m. that night, he went back to David's house again, and this time with his cousin Johnny. David was outside smoking with his friend Brandon when the cousins walked up to the house. Johnny suggested that the four of them go across the street to the school and smoke weed,

Starting point is 00:10:28 which they did. And after they were done hanging out, Johnny offered David his hand so they could shake. But when David reached out to shake his hand, Johnny grabbed his arm and pulled out a small caliber gun. David ducked, but Johnny shot him in the neck. The bullet went through David's neck, but somehow did not cause a life-threatening injury. David and Brandon then fled on foot, and they heard two additional shots as they ran away. Luckily, David recovered and was able to identify the shooter. On October 9, 1997, Christian and Johnny were arrested and charged with attempted murder. Johnny took responsibility for the shooting, saying he

Starting point is 00:11:05 only meant to scare David into giving back the necklace or scare him into revealing who had stolen it. He said that the gun had accidentally gone off because David had flinched or jerked his arm. Christian and Johnny were initially set to be tried together, but their cases were severed, meaning they would be tried separately. Christian was convicted in September of 1998 of attempted murder with a deadly weapon for his role in David's assault. Johnny's first trial ended in a mistrial, and his second trial in 2000 resulted in a conviction for battery with a deadly weapon, not attempted murder. That's interesting given that Johnny always asserted that he was the one who had shot David. We're going to pause here for a moment and hear from our friends over at PNW Haunts and Homicides, Caitlin and Cassie. Please show them some subscriber

Starting point is 00:11:50 love. Hey, creepy people. This is PNW Haunts and Homicides. I'm Caitlin. And I'm Cassie. Together, we explore stories of the paranormal and true crime throughout the Pacific Northwest. For each episode, we do a tarot reading to help us gain some insight on the topic as we share the facts of the case and our interpretations. You can find our episodes featuring true stories from infamous cases such as the misdeeds of Boeing, as well as lesser known true crime cases like the murders in Tunnel 13.

Starting point is 00:12:21 As well as our spooky stories from Pike Place and Raven's Manor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else you'd like to listen. Have a creepy ass day. Okay, back to the episode. We included the details of the David Dimas shooting because according to detectives, it was their investigation into Christian and Johnny as suspects in Maureen's murder that led to the discovery that they were the pair who had shot David.

Starting point is 00:12:48 It seems implied by officers here, and I'm reading between the lines a bit, that David and other friends of Maureen, Christian and Johnny, had been afraid to come forward with information about Christian and Johnny's violent behavior. Based on our research, David's shooting did not seem to be reported in the press until after the two were arrested. I did not find any articles about an investigation into the shooting of a teen in East Las Vegas around those days in September. It's my opinion and suspicion that perhaps David did not even report the shooting to the police when it happened, and only revealed what had happened when the police questioned him about the cousins and Maureen's murder.

Starting point is 00:13:27 Since David was alive and fine, and Brandon was also present during the shooting, it doesn't make sense to me that the police would have had to have done too much investigating to uncover who the people were who had shot David. I will also note here that Christian's attorney, John Fadden, when he was asked about the Cousins being arrested for the attempted murder of David Demas less than a week after Maureen's body was found and more than two weeks after David had been shot, he stated that he believed the police had arrested his client to leverage him to talk about Maureen. So let's get back to talking about Maureen.

Starting point is 00:14:03 At the point the Cousins were arrested for the assault on David, police had said that Christian and Johnny were not cooperating at all in the investigation into Maureen's murder. They refused to provide alibis or give a statement. According to his attorney, Christian repeatedly claimed that he was innocent of both shootings. Thadden repeatedly said that the evidence would show that Christian had no hand in Maureen's death and was innocent of all charges. Sergeant Bill Keaton would not name Christian as the main subject in Maureen's murder and said, we are still following up on a number of leads, but we need people who know the details of Maureen's personal life to come forward. We have reason to believe

Starting point is 00:14:38 that some people right now are afraid to do so. According to police, once the cousins had been incarcerated for the Dimas shooting, additional witnesses came forward about Maureen's murder. Before that, these witnesses were hesitant about coming forward and speaking to the police. That relates back to what you were saying before. In what we read, that topic of the police asking people to come forward with information about Maureen's life and relationships comes up a lot. But the police did have some physical evidence as well. The cigarette that was found under Maureen's body tested positive for Christian saliva. They also had collected shell casings. Once the two cousins were incarcerated at Clark County

Starting point is 00:15:14 Detention Center, being held for the assault on David, the investigators put a cellmate in with Johnny that they hoped would be able to get him to talk. They matched him up with Mark Smith, and according to what Mark told the investigators, he and Johnny were reading the Bible together one evening, and the topic of forgiveness came up. Johnny decided he wanted to confess what had happened with Maureen. Johnny said that he and Christian left the party with her in the car, but shortly after, she asked to get out. They pulled over and let her out of the car, but just a short time later, Christian decided he wanted to talk to her, so they circled back. Christian and Maureen started fighting because Christian said she was seeing another guy.

Starting point is 00:15:54 He pulled out a.25 caliber pistol and shot her. Maureen fell to the ground. Johnny told the informant that she was still alive and that he knew she could identify them. So Johnny grabbed the gun and then shot her in the head several more times. He said he finished it, shot her. Once they knew she was dead, they left the scene and went back to the party and told their friends that they had taken Maureen home. Christian's attorney argued that the informant was trying to get a lighter sentence in his own case, according to Fadden. The informant asked the police if he had done a good job and asked to be put in someone else's jail cell.

Starting point is 00:16:30 Johnny's attorney, David Figler, said that the credibility of jailhouse snitches is always suspect. Christian and Johnny were charged with the murder of Maureen McConaughey and rebooked on November 20, 1997. The cousins did not have much evidence to offer in their defense. Christian and Johnny offered several conflicting and convoluted alibis of different groups they were hanging out with or with different parties they had been to. A friend claimed to have seen them at GameWorks around 1145 that night, but none of these were enough to raise reasonable doubt in their trial. Between Johnny's confession to his cellmate, the witnesses who saw the two of them with Maureen right before her death, the testimony about the timing of the gunshots, Christian's DNA on the cigarette found under her body, and the fact that Maureen had been pursuing an order of protection against Christian without another suspect to point to or a solid alibi,

Starting point is 00:17:20 the case was pretty straightforward against Christian and Johnny. During testimony, Josh Martinez, a friend of Christian's, testified that Christian had told him he wanted to kill Maureen to prevent her from telling police he was the graffiti tiger they were seeking. And when their friend Dana testified, she surprised the attorneys when she told the court that during the preliminary hearing she had attended, Johnny had looked at her, pointed his finger at his head like a gun, and called her a snitch. Like I said earlier, their friends believed they were dangerous people. It was no surprise when the two were found guilty. In February of 2000, Christian was convicted of second-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, and Johnny was found guilty of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon on March 10, 2000. The jurors only deliberated for two hours before handing down

Starting point is 00:18:10 the guilty verdict in Johnny's case. Christian, who was 21 at the time he was sentenced, was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 20 years. Johnny, who was 20 years old, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms with the possibility of parole after 20 years. In January of 1998, before the murder trial began, the state decided to pursue the domestic battery charge against Christian. As we mentioned earlier, Maureen filed for a temporary protective order and made a criminal complaint against Christian in August of 1997. The police had gathered witness statements during their investigation of the domestic battery charge and called Maureen's mother, Debbie, to testify about the head-butting incident. Christian's attorney, John Fadden, objected, stating that Christian could not be

Starting point is 00:18:54 convicted because he could not cross-examine his accuser. District Attorney Frank Kumu had the perfect counter-argument to that and said, quote, the right of confrontation was waived when the defendant procured the absence of the victim. The court allowed Debbie to testify and convicted Christian on the misdemeanor charge. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail. He was already in jail awaiting the trial in the murder case and also for the attempted murder of David Demas. In this week's bonus Swing Shift episode, we are going to talk more about protective orders, but here is an important quote from Maureen's mom. I think it is highly possible that getting a protective order played a role in her death.

Starting point is 00:19:35 Maureen told me that when she told him about it, he said, you think you got it bad now, you'll have it a lot worse if you don't call the police and get this canceled. At the time, we thought it would protect her, but it didn't. Both Christian and Johnny have filed several appeals over the years, in both Maureen's murder case and in David's attempted murder case, but none of the arguments raised by their attorneys have held up. As of this recording, all of their convictions stand. On April 15th, 2023, nearly 23 years after his conviction though, Christian died at the High Desert State Prison. He was 44 years old. According to the Sacramento Bee, he had been transferred there just two days earlier from the Southern Desert Correctional Center. Annette Walker, his

Starting point is 00:20:20 mother, filed a lawsuit against the Nevada Department of Corrections about two months ago in April of 2024, seeking answers about Christian's death. The court documents she filed allege a potential cover-up by the Nevada DOC of Christian's murder. Here is a summary of what's in the lawsuit. Christian was experiencing paranoia at Southern Desert and he believed someone was poisoning him. The decision was made to transfer him to High Desert. On the first day Christian arrived at High Desert, April 13, 2023, he was transferred to UMC Hospital with a head injury. According to medical records, Christian had been hit in the head, possibly with a baton, but he told the nurses that he couldn't remember what happened. He was struggling to speak. He had several injuries to his face, lips, and scalp and needed 17 stitches. On the following day, April 14th, a porter brought Christian his dinner and found him moaning in pain,

Starting point is 00:21:14 curled up naked in a pool of blood. The porter alerted officers, but according to the complaint, no one checked on him for the entire night. The next morning, April 15th, Christian was found dead, and after the autopsy, the coroner ruled his manner of death was natural as a result of hypertensive cardiovascular disease. What was troubling to his mother was that his autopsy noted blunt force trauma to his head, neck, torso, shoulders, and legs, including multiple cuts and contusions on his face and multiple contusions on his extremities and sides and two black eyes. His mother maintains he was beaten to death by batons and punched and kicked and pepper sprayed. Annette told the press,

Starting point is 00:21:57 quote, Christian's death raises serious questions about the treatment of inmates, about the conditions within our prisons, and about the very nature of our justice system. This lawsuit stands for something much larger than Christian. It stands for all those who came before and will come after Christian Walker. It stands as a loud, strong signal to NDOC officials that their careless attitude towards cruelty will no longer be tolerated, and that their efforts to conspire to hide their organization's wrongful actions will no longer be permitted. Johnny Walker is currently incarcerated at the Ely State Prison, and his next parole hearing will be in September of 2028. Maureen was laid to rest in the Las Vegas Woodlawn Cemetery, which is one of the oldest cemeteries in Clark County.

Starting point is 00:22:43 Her friends at Sunset High School were deeply saddened by her death and remembered her as a really nice person. One friend said that everyone who knew her liked her. Her stepdad said she had a really big heart and I think she thought she could help him. Her mom told the RJ, I think there are a lot of battered women out there who are like Maureen. They think they can help their abuser, but they can't. They need to know that if someone hits you one time, get away, just get away. It's not always easy to get away, and it sounds like Maureen was trying to get away, but it was a struggle as it is for many survivors. You can always find a list of resources in our show notes and on our website that can help you or someone you care about. Thank you as always for listening. Make sure you're following us on social media

Starting point is 00:23:26 at Sins and Survivors and share your thoughts on this case. We'd love to hear from you. Until next week, remember, what happens here happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad-free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast,

Starting point is 00:24:11 please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, Thank you.

Your Ad Here

Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - The Murder of Maureen McConaha

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.