Germantown Homicide: Police Offer New Details

More details have emerged since the arrest of a slain Germantown woman’s husband in North Carolina on Thursday.

Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said Carlos Maurice Lopez, 45, was taken into custody at an EconoLodge in Charlotte at 9:30 a.m., an hour after his wife Jane McQuain’s missing Honda CRV was located the hotel.

McQuain, 51, and her 11-year-old son, William McQuain, who is Lopez's step son, were reported missing 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Manger said Lopez was contacted by detectives  — prior to the discovery of Jane McQuain’s body Wednesday night— in connection to their disappearances.

McQuain and her son lived at in a condo in the 13100 block of Briarcliff Terrace in Germantown.

Lopez, who did not live with McQuain, became a person of interest after her death was ruled a homicide, “based on his inconsistent statement,” Manger said.

“We believe she was alive at least through Oct. 1 or 2, maybe even beyond that, but we're trying to confirm that,” Manger said.

Autopsy results were unavailable Thursday evening, Manger said.

Still missing is William McQuain, a sixth-grade student at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Germantown. Manger said the boy had not been in school since Sept. 30.

“We were hoping we could find him with Mr. Lopez, and we did not,” Manger told reporters during a press conference Thursday.

When asked by a reporter why it took so long for a missing person’s report to be filed, given the boy's absence from school, Manger said that he “didn’t know” and that he wasn’t able to speculate.

Montgomery Count Public Schools spokesman Dana Tofig said school officials couldn’t share such information about students, when Patch asked whether school officials had contacted the boy's home in the days he was absent.

The protocol, according to the middle school’s student handbook, is for administrators to make "reasonable attempts” to notify parents of absent students, with calls attempted "during the work day."

Tofig said that in general, if a student is missing for several days and if parents were unable to be reached, school administrators would try the emergency contact listed for the student.

“We want this young man to be found and we want him to be found safely,” Tofig said.

Tofig additional counselors were made available to students, teachers and staff at MLK on Thursday.

In the meantime, police have asked anyone with information about the boy to call 911 or the Montgomery County Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5070.