Montgomery County prosecutors say a Germantown woman’s estranged husband killed her in her sleep and beat her 11-year-old son to death with a baseball bat. New details about the killings were disclosed at a Thursday bond hearing for 45-year-old Curtis M. Lopez, who is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 51-year-old Jane McQuain. Prosecutors said he will also be charged in the killing of William McQuain, Jane McQuain’s son and Lopez’s stepson.
Montgomery County District Court Judge Barry Hamilton ordered that Lopez remain in custody without bond.
Lopez was arrested in North Carolina after Jane McQuain was found beaten and stabbed to death in her Germantown apartment on Oct. 12. An Amber Alert was issued for William, whose body was found Oct. 18 in a wooded area of Clarksburg.
Prosecutor John Maloney said McQuain was found slain in her bloodied bed.
“It looks like she was killed in her sleep,” he said. Maloney said McQuain’s skull was crushed and a 30-pound weight with blood on it was found in the home.
Investigators found a baseball bat a few feet from William’s body and believe the bat was used to crush his skull, which broke into pieces, Maloney said.
Authorities have not described a motive in the slayings. But Maloney said Lopez told his girlfriend in North Carolina he was going to get her a new car, and later sent her photographs of McQuain’s Honda CRV.
Alan Drew, Lopez’s public defender, said the case was circumstantial and asked for a bond to be set.
He said there was “no evidence whatsoever” that links Lopez to the killings.
Hamilton ordered Lopez, who served 13 years in prison for an attempted murder in Pennsylvania, to remain behind bars, citing his “horrendous” criminal history.
Prosecutors have said they are exploring whether to pursue the death penalty in the case.
McQuain was last seen alive the evening of Sept. 30. William and Lopez were seen on security footage at a gas station the afternoon of Oct. 1, near where the boy’s body was later found.
Surveillance images show Lopez sneaking a bat into the back of McQuain’s car at a storage facility earlier that day, Maloney said.
