HOUSTON – The fiancé of a woman who is accused of fatally shooting a young mother and kidnapping her baby said he’s standing by her.
Investigators said Verna McClain, 30, shot Kala Golden on April 17 outside of a Woodlands-area pediatric center and then abducted the victim’s 3-day-old son, Keegan Schuchardt.
Investigators said McClain confessed she had a miscarriage and that she took the baby to try to fool her fiancé.
McClain’s fiancé, Kevin Carter, appeared before the grand jury investigating the case Tuesday morning.
In an interview with KHOU 11 News Monday night, Carter said he was stunned to learn about the allegations against McClain.
“I was at work that day, but I just found out like the next morning when I put my little girl on the bus. That’s when I found out, when I looked at the news then,” Carter said.
Carter said he proposed to McClain before she got pregnant and there was no pressure from him to have a baby together.
“I would have married her anyway. It really wouldn’t have mattered,” Carter said. “She got three [children]. I got two so we wasn’t hurting for no baby.”
Carter said McClain told him that she gave birth to their baby on April 3. For the past couple of weeks he was wondering if there was a baby at all because he had not actually seen the child.
Carter said McClain told him the baby, Kevin Carter Jr., was in the hospital with a respiratory infection. He said she even sent photos of a baby, which he posted on his Facebook page.
After the shooting, Carter posted on his Facebook wall, “damn verna u didnt have to do dat but keep ya head up mama.”
Barbara Fisher, Carter’s mother, said she was also shocked by the allegations.
“I was in disbelief. She was the sweetest person I ever known and she made my son want to be a better man,” Fisher said. “I love her like a daughter. I just don’t understand.”
Both Carter and his mother characterized McClain as a good person and said she must have just snapped.
“We really feel bad for the family this happened to. A children’s mother has been taken. Something bad had to happen to her for her to do this,” Fisher said. “Something really bad in her mind had to happen for her to do this. It’s just not her at all. Not at all.”
“I still love her so I’m going to still marry her,” Carter said. “I feel bad for the family that it happened to, but I still love her. I don’t look at her no different.”
Kala Golden’s funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday at First Baptist Church in Willis.
