An 83-year-old Englewood man was convicted of first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased body and false reporting in the 2023 deaths of his wife and daughter in Arapahoe County District Court on Friday.

Reginald Maclaren was convicted of all counts by an Arapahoe County jury on Friday, according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. He was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder after deliberation, two counts of tampering with a deceased body and one count of false reporting in the deaths of his wife, 70-year-old Bethany, and daughter, 35-year-old Ruth Jennifer, on March 25, 2023.

Investigators accused Maclaren of killing Bethany and Ruth Jennifer with an ax, dismembering one of their bodies and putting them both in large trash cans in the living room of their home at 901 Englewood Parkway before calling police to report someone he knew murdered them with a hammer, according to previous reporting.

Englewood police said Maclaren later confessed to the killings, telling investigators he recently lost his job working with homeless people and was worried his wife and daughter would become homeless if he could not afford rent.

“Mr. Maclaren betrayed his family in a grizzly and senseless ambush that he planned for weeks,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Jake Adkins said in a statement. “He violently murdered his wife and daughter and planned to dispose of their bodies like trash.”

His sentencing is set for July 10.

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Originally Published: June 28, 2024 at 4:06 p.m.