This photo of the couple together was posted by Cristen Brink on her Facebook profile earlier this year. – From Cristen Brink/Facebook

A man has been arrested in connection with the deaths of a married couple attacked and killed while hiking with their two young daughters at a state park in the Ozark Mountains, Arkansas State Police announced on Wednesday.

James Andrew McGann, 28, was arrested Wednesday afternoon at a barbershop in Springdale, Arkansas, and faces two counts of capital murder, police said.

The deaths of Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, are being investigated as a double homicide after their bodies were found Saturday on a walking trail in Devil’s Den State Park in northwest Arkansas, state police said, without saying how they were killed.

A motive for the killings is still being determined, Arkansas State Police Major Stacie Rhoads said during a news conference after Wednesday’s arrest.

McGann recently moved to Arkansas from Oklahoma and secured a job at a local school, Rhoads said. Officials declined to provide specific details about what led to the arrest, citing the ongoing prosecution of the case.

The Brinks’ daughters, ages 7 and 9, weren’t harmed and are safe with relatives, police said. Law enforcement presence was increased at state parks across Arkansas in response to the killings.

Special Agents with the Arkansas State Police (ASP) have arrested James Andrew McGann, 28, of Springdale, in connection to a double homicide that occurred on Saturday, July 26, 2025, at Devil’s Den State Park. – Arkansas State Police

“No news can heal the enormous harm done to the Brink family in last weekend’s crime, but this announcement is a comfort and reassurance for our State,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Wednesday.

Since the weekend, state police had worked with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to track down the suspect and bring “justice to this family,” Arkansas State Police Col. Mike Hagar said.

“Because of their hard work and investigative skill, we were able to take a monster off the streets, and bring relief to those two precious girls, and the rest of our citizens,” Hagar said.

Arrested in a barbershop

In dispatch audio around the arrest, officers can be heard saying, “It’s going to be a haircut and beauty shop” and, “We’re going to have one detained,” according to a recording from Broadcastify.com.

Officers also identify a vehicle belonging to McGann, and dispatch arranges for it to be towed “to headquarters,” according to the recording.

The arrest happened at Lupita’s Beauty Salon and Barber Shop in Springdale, according to a video posted on the salon’s Facebook page in which the owners and some of their employees recount what happened. Arkansas State Police did not specify an exact location or which barbershop McGann was arrested. CNN has reached out to police to confirm.

One of the owners said their granddaughter was in the middle of cutting a man’s hair when plainclothes officers entered and asked the man if he was the owner of a car outside. When he said yes, the officers arrested him and collected some of his hair, the owners said.

The granddaughter does not appear in the video, and one person in it says she is too distraught to talk about it. The man “did not speak” when he entered and only indicated what hair style he wanted, one of the owners in the video said.

Detectives have requested camera footage and other information from the salon, according to an unidentified woman in the video who is interviewing the owners and employees.

Dayslong search

Earlier this week, police in Arkansas released a photo and a sketch of a man seen Saturday in the Devil’s Den State Park and said they wanted to question him in connection with the deaths. They also asked the public to watch out for a medium-build White male who may have driven a Mazda near the park and to send them any photos or videos from the area that day.

Officials said Wednesday they received an “overwhelming” amount of tips from the public. “A lot of the video footage that we received was instrumental in helping us identify this particular subject,” Rhoads said.

Last Saturday afternoon, “Washington County received a call from the visitor center,” police audio captured by Broadcastify.com says. “Two children are there. They advised that their parents were assaulted. One was possibly stabbed. The parents are missing.”

The Brinks had recently moved from another state to Prairie Grove, a small town in northwest Arkansas near the Oklahoma border, according to police.

Their family has asked for privacy. “Clinton and Cristen died heroes, protecting their little girls and they deserve justice. They will forever live on in all of our hearts,” relatives said in a Monday statement.

The killings happened in a part of 2,500-acre Devil’s Den State Park with thick vegetation and no cell phone service, police said. The park is known for its rugged natural scenery, with waterfalls, caves and rock formations.

The couple’s bodies were found on the Devil’s Den Trail, audio from first responders indicates. The 1.5-mile loop of “moderate” difficulty is one of 11 trails in the park, and its trailhead is close to the park’s visitor center.

While searching the trail, first responders heard shouts, scanner audio indicates, though it’s not clear from whom.

“I hear yells calling for help. We’re walking down,” a first responder says.

“Try to relay to the office that we found the victims down here,” a first responder says. “They’re on the lower Devil’s Den Trail. … I think I see you right there. I’ve got two bodies down here.”

This is story has been updated with the latest developments.