What’s next after suspect Edward Holley arrest?

• Megan McDonald’s bludgeoned body was discovered in a remote Orange County field on March 15, 2003.
• For 20 years, State Police investigators pursued an arrest, which came on April 20, 2023.
• Edward V. Holley was arraigned on a charge of second-degree murder.

WALLKILL – Edward V. Holley is due in town court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing in the Megan McDonald murder case. The lead-up to his appearance on a second-degree murder charge has been anything but smooth.

On April 20, New York State Police investigators arrested Holley in the brutal murder of the 20-year-old McDonald, whose bludgeoned body was found in a remote field off Bowser Road in the town of Wallkill on March 15, 2003. The murder became one of Orange County’s stubbornest cold cases, the stuff of rumor and rewards, of billboards and posters seeking to “help bring justice to Megan McDonald.”

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Less than 18 hours before Wednesday’s hearing in Judge Peter Green’s courtroom, Holley’s lawyer said he had yet to be given access to his client, and couldn’t even get a call back from Orange County Sheriff Paul Arteta’s office to find out if Holley will be in court for the 9 a.m. hearing.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Cornwall attorney Paul N. Weber, tapped by Green to represent Holley. “In 20 years of practice, never.”

A wheelchair and transportation to court

Holley uses a wheelchair, and the sheriff’s office told the court there was a problem lining up transportation from the Orange County jail to the court, a distance of less than 7 miles.

Arteta’s office informed the court clerk on Monday that they did not have the proper vehicle to transport Holley to town court. While the State Police had lifted Holley into their cruiser to transport…