Posted on 09/21/2007 3:23:48 PM PDT by SmithL
A former West High School student teacher whose affair with a student led to murder snatched her children from her mother’s Nashville home last week and hasn’t been seen or heard from since, her estranged husband’s attorney confirmed today.
Erin McLean climbed through a window of her mother’s home on Gale Lane in Nashville last Saturday, grabbed her two sons, ages 11 and 8, and left, defense attorney Bruce Poston said, citing information from Erin McLean’s grandmother and younger sister.
“She told an uncle she was going to California to meet a man she met over the Internet,” Poston said.
She and the boys have not been seen or heard from since, Poston said.
Poston represents Eric McLean, who is charged in the March shooting death of 18-year-old Sean Powell, a former student of Erin McLean’s with whom she was having an affair.
“Eric and his family are on the verge of panic,” Poston said. “They’re scared to death.”
Attorney Steve Sharp late last month filed a divorce petition against Erin McLean on behalf of her estranged husband that accused her of being a boozing, child-abusing philanderer. Sharp was seeking custody of the boys on Eric McLean’s behalf.
Because Erin McLean has legal custody of the boys, efforts by her family to get help in finding the boys has been stymied, Poston said.
“Her younger sister tried to get an Amber Alert but (Nashville) police wouldn’t do it because Erin has custody,” Poston said.
Sharp may file on Monday a request with Fourth Circuit Court Judge Bill Swann for an emergency removal of the boys that, if approved, would give authorities legal basis to act.
Earlier this month, Erin McLean was fired from the Pioneer Christian School, a private school in Nashville, after parents and students complained that she was trying to seduce a 17-year-old boy in her class. School officials later alleged she misled them by using her maiden name of Myers on her resume and misrepresenting her teaching history.
Poston has since interviewed the mother of the 17-year-old boy, who told him Erin McLean called the boy dozens of times. Poston said he since has learned from Erin McLean’s relatives that she had moved out of her mother’s house during that time and into a seedy motel with the boys.
“She and the two sons were living in squalor,” Poston said.
After losing her teaching post, Erin McLean left her boys with her mother to check herself into a mental health facility, he said. Last Saturday, she left that facility and, while her mother was napping, climbed through a window of the house and took the boys, he said.
“They’re not even sure if one of the boys had shoes,” Poston said.
This latest development is one more bit of bad news for Knox County prosecutors hoping to convict Eric McLean of second-degree murder in Powell’s slaying.
A grand jury already had rejected a first-degree murder charge. Poston is hinging his defense on what transpired in a seven-minute period between the time a calm-sounding Eric McLean phoned authorities to report Powell as an intruder at the Coker Avenue house the couple had shared and the shooting.
The only surviving witnesses to what happened in that time are Eric McLean, who cannot be compelled to incriminate himself, and his estranged wife.
A Jan. 14 trial date has been set in Knox County Criminal Court. Eric McLean is free on bond. Poston has ordered him not to take any steps to try to find his sons.
“He’s basically weeping on the phone, he’s so upset,” Poston said. “He’s totally helpless. He can’t do anything, and he hopes other people can. He’s very worried about the safety of his sons.”
Is this the woman who claimed she was being assaulted by the child she was raping which resulted in her husband trying to protect her?
Thanks for that summary. It is much clearer than the article.
I remember when teachers were to be looked up to - when we as Americans thought that going to school meant learning skills. Before the sex-ed part took-over math, English and science.
I say that above as a husband of a teacher - who works long hours preparing for class and talking to parents abot their darlings who are mostly lazy. My wife has often talked about how Skools of Edukation are really centers of stupidity.
Remember when “slut” wasn’t a “lifestyle choice”?
I don’t think so.
Yeah, thats more in line with what I meant. :)
Thanks for the synopsis. I had to reread it three times, when I figured out the man and wife were named Erin and Eric. Still confusing.
I wonder if her new boyfriend’s name is Eril or Erni.
Second thread this week about 'naughty teachers' at Christian schools.
West Lake High School - Knox County Schools (Read Public/Government School) - Our Mission: To provide opportunities for students to reach their potential through programs that develop the total well being of each individual.(sorry for the teacher seduction/murder)
Pioneer Christian School hired Erin McLean based on misleading information and subsequently fired her. Erin McLean got her training at West Lake High School (Public/Government School); seducing the student who was murdered. Unfair to bash the Christian School!
That’s too complicated; I’ll wait till the “Snapped” version is on TV.
I wouldn’t read my post as a ‘bash’ merely an observation. She was fired from a Christian school for trying to seduce a 17 year old
Prime candidate for a stoning.
Am I the only one?
Nice try dummy.
I thought such atrocities only occured in public schools, or so the homeschool crowd would like us to think.
It is a shame though, regardless.
Being at a private school did manage to show her the door a bit more quickly than in a public institution.
You are WAY, WAY out of line and owe softballmom a MAWJOR apology.
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