Ormsby to plead not guilty
Staff Writer
HOULTON — Thayne Ormsby goes into court this afternoon with a not-guilty plea before Judge E. Allen Hunter for an arraignment on homicide charges — three counts. Ormsby is accused in the stabbing deaths of Jesse Ryan, 10, his father Jeffrey Ryan, 55, and Ryan’s neighbor, Jason Dehahn, 33.
Court-appointed attorneys James Dunleavy and Sarah LeClaire, both of Presque Isle, will represent Ormsby in Superior Court today in Houlton. At presstime, Dunleavy said a plea of not guilty would be entered and a request for bail will be discussed with the judge. Dunleavy and LeClaire were appointed July 15.
Last Monday afternoon, represented by Houlton attorney Jeff Pickering, Ormsby, 20, made his first appearance in a Maine court before Judge Hunter via video conference.
Ormsby was returned to Maine July 12 from Dover, N.H. where he had been arrested. According to a police affidavit, Ormsby confessed to police that he had destroyed evidence after stabbing the three victims. He also confessed to discarding the murder weapon, a knife, in an Orient bog according to the affidavit. The victims were last known to be alive on June 22.
Ormsby was indicted by the Aroostook County Grand Jury on July 9. Deputy Attorney General Bill Stokes said, if convicted, Ormsby faces a minimum of 25 years to life on each of the three counts of murder and 10 years on the arson charge. A Ford truck was removed from Ryan’s property and later destroyed by fire.
Also in the affidavit, Ormsby claimed he planned to live in Weston with Ryan’s teenage daughter, Mariah, who is Robert Strout’s granddaughter. Ormsby had been living briefly at the Strout household in Orient on U.S. Route 1 just a few miles down the highway from Ryan’s trailer. At the time of his arrest, Ormsby was staying at the residence of Robert Strout II in Dover, N.H. He had voluntarily given the younger Strout’s address to investigators shortly after the homicides.
Robert Strout claimed in an interview with the Associated Press that the killings were the result of a drug deal gone bad and Ormsby wanted to collect $10,000 for his father. Thus far, there has been no evidence that Ryan was dealing drugs.
Also according to the affidavit, Ormsby stated that the elder Strout assisted him after learning about the stabbings. Stokes would not confirm or deny that Strout, his wife or son were considered as suspects or as persons of interest.
Ormsby is being held at the Aroostook County Jail in Houlton without bail. Pickering said last week that bail for Ormsby is unlikely due to the nature of the charges against him.
