The Maine State Police investigate the death of Quincy McDonald, 14, at the McDonald family’s home at 2005 Summerhaven Road in Sidney on Dec. 20, 2024. Keith Edwards/Kennebec Journal file

Editor’s note: This story contains graphic information that might not be suitable for all readers. 

SIDNEY — Megan McDonald, the Sidney woman charged with murder in the killing of her 14-year-old son, Quincy, told police in December that God had chosen her for a murder-suicide and her son needed to be sacrificed, according to a police affidavit unsealed in court Monday.

Megan McDonald Kennebec County Correctional Facility photo

McDonald strangled the boy from behind with a scarf, then stabbed him in the chest, according to the affidavit.

Police who responded in December to the McDonald family’s home at 2005 Summerhaven Road in Sidney found Quincy McDonald dead in the yard behind the house, with his body on a blanket beside a decorated Christmas tree, his feet propped up on a Bible and a lock of his hair in his hand in what a police affidavit described as a makeshift altar.

Four of the family’s pets were also found dead in the yard, including two tortoises and a dog that McDonald said she killed, according to an affidavit filed by Hugh Landry, a detective with the Maine State Police.

McDonald, who drove to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office at 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2024, to report she had killed her son, answered “Blip God” when investigators asked her name, and said she had been “sent to save us from the Rapture, but she was too late.” She also said God had told her to kill her son.

McDonald, 39, told police Quincy had returned from school at 3:15 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2024. She said they had a meal together and she “let him know that God had chosen her for a murder-suicide,” according to the affidavit.

“She told Quincy that he needed to be sacrificed which he disagreed with,” the affidavit reads. “Megan gave Quincy some marijuana hoping that he would fall asleep. She planned to kill him in his sleep. This did not work. Megan said that Quincy tried running and she wrapped the scarf she was wearing around his neck from behind. She strangled him until he went unconscious.

“After Quincy stopped breathing, she flipped him over and stabbed him in the chest. Once Quincy was dead, she proceeded to kill four of their pets.”

Multiple items were placed around a fire pit in the home’s yard, including candles, a decorated Christmas tree, a hammer, an ax, a knife and a sign that read, “It’s a wonderful time of year.”

McDonald was indicted by a Kennebec County grand jury Feb. 19 on charges of murder and aggravated cruelty to animals.

McDonald told police that after killing Quincy, she planned to commit suicide by decapitating herself with a chain saw. Instead, she drove from Sidney to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office to turn herself in. She said she went to Androscoggin County because she was born there, at St. Mary’s, a hospital in Lewiston.

McDonald told police she understood what she had done was wrong and she would be going to jail, according to the affidavit. She also told police she believed what she had done needed to occur before Christmas.

McDonald reported having post-traumatic stress disorder, spontaneous heart issues and major depressive disorder. She said she had stopped taking all medications in April 2024.

A sheriff’s deputy who spoke with McDonald in Androscoggin County reported she had red-brown staining on her clothing.

Police officers who responded to McDonald’s home reportedly observed pieces of cut hair on the porch and red and brown stains on the porch, suggesting Quincy was dragged from the front door to the backyard, where he was found lying on a blanket, according to the affidavit.

Deputies said they had noticed notes on a bed inside the home that appeared to be a three-page apology letter to McDonald’s 19-year-old daughter.

McDonald told police she described setting up an “alter” in her yard, and said she cleaned Quincy’s hands, shaved his mustache, covered him with his Christmas blanket and left the knife with his body.

McDonald has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta has determined the boy died from “a combination of asphyxiation, manual strangulation and sharp force injury,” according to state police. The medical examiner’s office also ruled the manner of death as homicide.

McDonald served in the U.S. Marines from June 23, 2003, to Aug. 10, 2010, and was discharged with the rank of lance corporal, according to information provided by Maj. Melissa Spencer, director of COMMSTRAT for the Manpower and Reserve Affairs division at the Marines Corps’ headquarters.

McDonald had recently worked as a practicing nurse and as a part-time lecturer in nursing in the University of Maine System.

The Maine Board of Nursing database shows an active registered nurse license for Megan Kathleen McDonald of Sidney. The license is scheduled to expire in March 2026.

McDonald’s name did not appear in any disciplinary actions maintained by the board.