TOWN OF WALLKILL – Twenty years of hard work by local police agencies and law enforcement across the country paid off as State Police arrested Edward Holley, 42, of Wawayanda for the 2003 murder of 20-year-old Megan McDonald in the Town of Wallkill.
As he was wheeled to a police car to be taken to arraignment, Holley said he was innocent; he would never hurt her, and that he was framed.
Police said he had dated Megan and also owed her a substantial amount of money. State Police BCI Captain Joseph Jolek called the motive “intimate partner violence.” Ms. McDonald is said to have broken up with Holley just days before he killed her.
State Police Major Paul DeQuarto, commander of Troop F in Wallkill, said DNA evidence helped solve the case.
Megan’s sister, Karen Whalen, called Holley a “coward” and her brother-in-law James called him “a monster” in his remarks. “Today police gave us an answer that we have been searching for, for over 20 years. “The monster who violently and senselessly took Megan’s life now has a name and a face. The person arrested today will never be anything but a coward to our family,” he said.
Holley was arrested on the murder charge Thursday at the Orange County Jail where he was being held on drug and probation violation charges.
Megan was a 20-year-old SUNY Orange student and waitress whose body was found in a wooded area of the Town of Wallkill. She died from blunt force trauma, police said.
Days after her body was discovered, her car was found in an apartment complex parking lot in Wallkill.
State Police BCI Capt. Joseph Jolek said the case remains active.
The McDonalds said they hope the district attorney prosecutes Holley to the fullest extent of the law. District Attorney David Hoovler, meanwhile, said once a defendant is charged and held in custody, “the grand jury must vote an indictment within no longer than six days from the date of the arrest or the defendant must be released.”
