CONROE, Texas — Verna McClain, apparently desperate to find a baby after suffering a miscarriage, went looking for an infant where she knew she could find one: the suburban Houston clinic where she had taken her three other children for checkups.

Heightening the urgency of her search was that McClain had told her fiance she had already given birth to their child, said Capt. Bruce Zenor of the Montgomery County sheriff’s office.

But authorities say when McClain went to the clinic this week, her choice of which mother and child to target appeared to have been made at random.

“There is nothing to indicate this was anything beyond planning further than” going to the clinic, Zenor said.

Authorities say McClain saw her chance when 28-year-old Kala Golden and her 3-day-old son, Keegan Schuchardt, left the clinic after his first checkup since being born. McClain is accused of shooting Golden multiple times in the clinic’s parking lot and speeding away with her tiny newborn son.

Keegan was found unharmed hours later with McClain’s sister — who said her sister told her she planned to adopt the boy. Keegan is back with family members. Golden died at a local hospital.

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McClain remains jailed without bail and faces a capital murder charge that carries a potential death sentence.

McClain, 30, who listed a Houston address, was set to make a court appearance Thursday before a judge in Conroe.

But Montgomery County Sheriff’s Detective John Schmitt said McClain, who authorities say has admitted attacking Golden on Tuesday and stealing the baby from his mother’s pickup truck, does “appear remorseful for what happened.”

McClain’s husband, who is separated from her, said he was shocked by what she is accused of doing.

“I can’t believe she shot someone. That’s not Vera,” her estranged husband, Theo McClain, of San Diego, told The Associated Press. The couple had raised three children, who are being cared for by a relative in Houston after McClain’s arrest.

Authorities say McClain had parked next to Golden at Northwoods Pediatric Center in Spring, about 20 miles north of Houston. As Golden was placing Keegan into her pickup truck, McClain shot her, snatched the child from the truck and sped off. The dying woman had leaned into the vehicle and tried to take the boy back, screaming, “My baby!”

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Later Tuesday, two detectives spotted a vehicle outside a nearby apartment complex that matched witnesses’ descriptions of the one the shooter sped off in, said Montgomery County Sheriff Tommy Gage. Though McClain’s apartment was empty, she showed up and talked to investigators.

Detectives then learned of a residence in Harris County where McClain’s sister lives and the child might be, Gage said. Keegan was found later Tuesday evening at that home.

McClain’s sister, Corina Jackson, told authorities that McClain had talked about needing to “do the adoption” soon after taking Keegan.

McClain was later arrested. Police do not believe anyone else was involved.

Authorities say they have interviewed McClain’s fiance, who was not identified Wednesday.

The kidnapped baby has been returned to his family, according to his father, Keith Schuchardt, who said he had been married to Kala Golden for three years.

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Asked by reporters what he would tell his wife now, Schuchardt said, “I wish you were here with me to get me through this.”

Schuchardt, who also has a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, said officials were initially concerned about his criminal record, which includes felony convictions for possession of a controlled substance and burglary of a coin-operated machine.

Gwen Carter, a spokeswoman for Texas’ Department of Family and Protective Services, said Schuchardt could see his children as often as he wanted while authorities worked on the case.

McClain is a vocational nurse at a local staffing agency, a job that involves providing basic nursing services under the direction of registered nurses and doctors.

McClain, who has vocational nursing licenses in California and Texas, has not faced disciplinary action in either state, according to licensing boards.

 


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