STATE OF MAINE 42-YEAR COVER-UP OF

MIKE COCHRAN MURDER

FEBRUARY 18, 1981

INDEX
Mike with nephew,
Jamie Michael
ORDER  BOOK
PHOTOS OF MIKE'S LIFE
School Days
His years with Linda
With his Family
His World

MY SON 
 
PHOTOS AFTER MIKE'S MURDER
Cottage before Arson/Murder
Cottage after Arson/Murder
Memorial Service
VIDEO DEPOSITION OF FIRE INSPECTOR  WILBUR RICKER
Fire Inspector Wilbur Ricker video deposition #1
Fire Inspector Wilbur Ricker video deposition #2
Fire Inspector Wilbur Ricker video deposition #3
VIDEO DEPOSITION OF FIRE CHIEF NORMAN HERRIN
Fire Chief Norman Herrin's video deposition  #1
Fire Chief Norman Herrin  shows where he saw a man fleeing into the woods away from the murder scene.  #2
NEWS ARTICLE
This is my struggle

18 February 2019
WVII Channel 7

Mom talks about 1981 Dedham homicide
My many years of trying to get justice for my son, Mike.
1980
1981
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
2002-2004
2005
2006
2007
2009
2011-2012
2017
2018
2022

 
 
FIGHTING FOR JUTICE


 July 14, 2020 - Review of My book - by Alice De Stuler
 June 22, 2022 - Submitted an application form to (CCF)  Uncovered concerning Mike's murder 
 Nov. 9 2022 - Five months of giving enormous amounts of  information to CCF Uncovered

COLD CASE FOUNDATION TEAM

PARTNERING WITH WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT
 
CCF Investigative Team
-- CCF Forensic Team
Dean Jackson - CCF Deputy Executive Director
Cathie Vallas-McKinzie - CCF Case Management Supervisor 
Bryan Crumb - Arson Investigator
 
 CCF UNCOVERED - Unsolved Murder of Michael Cochran
  Maine State Police-Unsolved Homicide of Michael Cochran
 
 Nov. 10, 2022 - CCF UNCOVERED investigates Mike's murder
and caves to the cover up
 Maine State Police Gerald Coleman said Cormier
 murdered Mike
 

MY TWENTY-FOUR YEAR OLD SON, MIKE
 
Maine State Police Detective Kenneth MacMaster says "TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE"
STATE OF MAINE COVER-UP OF MIKE COCHRAN MURDER
 
JUST A DOG IN MAINE
January 23, 1987 - By T. J. Tremble

Allegations of a Maine State Police Cover-up reported

https://www.pressherald.com/maine-state-police-investigation/

1986
So, the Penobscot County DA's office was supplying the dangerous criminal informants that were working with the Maine State Police who were running the Maine DEA and doing the drug stings. And the MSP were also the investigators on Mike's murder. They had lost Mike his life using a criminal informant and were now investigating themselves. Cover-up in Mike Cochran 41-year-old murder.

Richard Sargent went on trial for an armed robbery in July of 1986. I attended the trial and met Richard Sargent, Roger Johnson and William Myers, the men indicted for Mike's murder. It was now five years and five months since Mike's murder and I was still trying to find out who murdered Mike and why. The indictments against the three men were dismissed in June of 1985, six months later. The informant recanted her story and said Det. Shuman fed her the story she told the grand jury.

There was also a trial in August for Lionel Cormier, Richard's partner in the robbery. I attended both trials and learned information that had been covered up in Mike's murder. During Richard Sargent's trial his attorney, Hilary Billings, question Pollard and Shuman. I heard Shuman say that he "had to talk with the District Attorney, Christopher Almy, before any type of bargain was made" [about Pollard] "being free from prosecution in the murder." During Lionel Cormier's trial his attorney, Martha Harris, questioned Paul Pollard and Det. Shuman more extensively than Billings had in July. I heard Paul Pollard say he had a Smith and Wesson .357 on him when he fled into the woods away from the murder scene and I listened to Shuman lie to cover for Pollard. After I learned of Pollard's crimes, I had to accept the fact that Shuman and Pinkham were not honest when they told me Pollard was not guilty of Mike's murder and that he neither saw nor heard anything. He woke, found the cottage on fire and ran.

Shortly after Richard's trial there was an article in the Bangor Daily, August 12, 1986 by A. Jay Higgins, with the heading "Case of Criminal as Informant Sours." And on the same day there was another article by Higgins with the heading "Attorney Questions Value of Using Cooperating Crooks." On the 14th there was a Bangor Daily News Editorial with the heading "Miscarriage of Justice." that said when Penobscot County District Attorney Christopher Almy "calls placing the public at risk 'a small trade-off' for getting a [drug] conviction he is wrong." There was another article on the week-end of October 11-12, 1986 with the heading "Resigning Prosecutor Criticizes Drug Unit" by Higgins. The article reported that "a high-profile prosecutor claimed that "[D]ominance of the task force by the Maine State Police is compromising the potential effectiveness of the unit." 
    
So the Penobscot County DA's office was supplying the dangerous criminal informants that were working with the Maine State Police who were running the drug unit and doing the drug stings. And the MSP were also the investigators on Mike's murder. They had lost Mike his life using a criminal informant and were now investigating themselves.
    
As I read the articles, I thought of Mike and how his life was taken less than four hours after one of the State of Maine's undercover drug stings using a dangerous criminal. Newspaper articles tell how Penobscot County District Attorney Almy was involved in the practice of using dangerous criminals to catch other criminals in drug stings in 1986. Almy was Assistant DA under DA David Cox in 1981. I've wondered why DA David Cox was so involved in Mike's murder. I've wondered why the Maine State Police had my meeting in March of 1981 in DA David Cox's office and I've wondered why the Maine State Police took all their statements at the Bangor Police Department and Penobscot County DA Cox's office when Mike was murdered in Hancock County.

In my mind I thought the Maine State Police was a higher office than a district attorney. But Cox seemed to be controlling Mike's murder. I have proof that Cox was doing in 1981 what Almy was doing in 1986 - using dangerous criminals to catch drug dealers and something went wrong during their Feb. 18, 1981 DEA sting that cost Mike his life. I've also wondered why Shuman, Pinkham and Cox were so cold and hostile toward me. I now believe I was a threat to their cover-up. No matter what evidence I found there was something wrong with it.  How high up did the cover-up go? The Attorney General's Office hired my attorney eleven days before my trial date against Paul Pollard and Shuman showed up in court to testify for Pollard. They destroyed my lawsuit that cost me $30,000 that I had borrowed against my home to get some kind of justice for my son Mike. 
    
January 23, 1987,  three months after Higgins reported Pasquale Perrino's resignation from the Maine anti-drug unit there was more news about the Maine State Police. A reporter with the Bangor Daily New reported that the FBI was  "investigating charges of improper conduct leveled against several Maine State Police troopers assigned to undercover drug work."  And  "among the allegations that reportedly have been made against the police officers are that some of the troopers have had sexual relations with female informants and that they coerced some witnesses to lie in court."      

From a review of my book by Alice De Stular

"Leola “Lee” McBreairty Cochran has written a encyclopedic research manual about the development of a covered-up true crime story, the investigation, the trials, and the aftermath. She exposes those who railroaded her and those who stood by her.

"When a true crime book of this volume, over 600 pages, is written in a novel style it is easy to lose the attention of the reader. We cannot let that happen as Michael is too important. His story is too important. The cover-ups must be exposed.

"‘A Maine Murder’ is a mix of a true crime, survival  guide, memoir, diary, trial transcript repository, and guidance for other victim families. She has done a tremendous job and I highly recommend you check out this book."
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1980

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