SPRING, Texas – A Spring man is facing capital murder charges in the shooting death of his pregnant wife.
Harris County Sheriff’s investigators said they responded to Michael Alan McDougall’s home in the 18700 block of Autumn Breeze on a domestic disturbance call around 10:42 a.m. Sunday.
Neighbors reported hearing McDougall, 37, and his wife, Jennifer Elaine McDougall, 30, arguing in their carport early Sunday before gunshots rang out.
One nearby resident said before the gunfire, she heard Jennifer McDougall say, "Help me! Help me! What are you doing? Somebody please help me."
Investigators said they found Jennifer McDougall’s body next to the car. Both front doors of the vehicle were open, they said.
"We don’t know who was leaving, whether she was leaving or whether he was leaving," said Sergeant Curtis Brown with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. "Apparently, it was a pretty loud disturbance. Most of the neighbors in the area heard it."
Jennifer McDougall was six months pregnant when she died. Investigators said the couple’s other children – aged 2, 4 and 8 – were in the house and did not witness the shooting.
They were put in CPS custody, because the family did not have any other relatives in the Houston area, investigators said.
Police arrested Michael McDougall at the scene. As he was taken into custody, investigators said McDougall told them his wife "had it coming."
Steve Hochanadel, a petroleum engineer who lives three doors down from the scene, said his family and the McDougalls moved down to the Houston area from Denver at about the same time. Hochanadel said Michael McDougall, also a petroleum engineer, seemed stressed about the move.
"He wasn’t the same guy," Hochanadel said. "He just seemed a little stressed out. I don’t know what kind of problems they were having. I just wish I could have known about it ahead of time and helped him."
The motive for the slaying was still under investigation Monday.
