Laguna Beach man pleads not guilty to 2019 murder of his mother

A Laguna Beach man pleaded not guilty to murdering his mother in 2019 at the house they shared during an arraignment hearing held Friday at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

Matthew Bryson McDonald, 36, was arrested in August 2019 on suspicion of murder after his mother, Megan Estes Hampton, 61, was found dead in their home by a neighbor who had arrived there to accompany Hampton to a morning church service.

McDonald is accused of murder with a sentencing enhancement of personally using a knife. If convicted of all charges, McDonald, who does not have a previous criminal record, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Hampton became the sole conservator of her son after her ex-husband, Tom McDonald, died in 2010 from cancer.

A judge determined in 2007 that Matthew McDonald was “unable to properly provide for his personal needs for physical health, food, clothing or shelter” and that “there is no form of medical treatment for which the conservatee has the capacity to give an informed consent,” according to court documents.

Records from 2007 to 2018 indicate that McDonald at various times objected to his conservatorship, only to withdraw his objections. The last time he withdrew an objection was in 2014.

McDonald became a suspect in the case after neighbors told investigators that they saw McDonald leave the home quickly in Hampton’s car, backing into a mailbox before speeding off. That incident was unusual, they said, as he hadn’t driven in months.

He was later stopped by Orange County sheriff’s deputies in San Clemente and found with blood on his clothing less than an hour after Hampton’s body was discovered, according to a law enforcement official that spoke to the Los Angeles Times in 2019.

McDonald remains in custody on a bail of $1 million, according to jail records, and is next scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on Oct. 15 at the Central Justice Center.

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