Voyage Information

MY 43 YEAR STRUGGLE

http://www.murderofmikecochran.com/

I was 88 years old on July 24 of this year. I was 44 years old on February 25, 1981, when I awoke to face the day not knowing that my life as I knew it would never be the same. The rest of my life would be a struggle to find out who murdered my son, Mike, and why. After I found the answers to both who and why, my struggle continued with the State of Maine law officials to have them investigate the men who took his life.
    We, his father (Derald) and I were first told that Mike died by accident in a fire.   On the 25th a detective arrived at Mike's father's place of work saying they had found a body in a cottage fire and thought it might be our son and asked for dental records. He never came back. The only information we received was from a part-time mortician who worked with Derald. His story was that it was arson but the arsonist didn't know Mike was in the cottage. Mike was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He said the body was badly burned and suggested a cremation. We followed his suggestion not knowing Mike was murdered.
    The reason Mike was in the cottage: March of 1980 the Maine DEA entered an apartment where Mike, his girlfriend, Linda, along with the owner of the apartment, were living. The agents were armed with a search warrant and they found $2,000 in drugs and paraphernalia. This was Mike's first and only drug arrest. He and Linda went to court Dec. 3, 1980 for his sentencing. He was sentenced to six years (one year to run concurrent) in state prison. He asked to use a phone to call his father for bonds while he appealed his case. His father was out of his office. Linda had the car running and the back door open when he fled the court house. He tried to turn himself. He contacted his attorney and asked him to see District Attorney David Cox to ask for an arrangement to turn himself. DA Cox refused.
    After the memorial service was over I started reading the past newspapers and the information I read caused me to think there was something wrong with Mike's death being just an accident. The news reported that he died on February 18, 1981 and that his body was found on February 24, 1981. He lay for 6 days under a pile of fire rubble for animals to disturb. And the fire chief saw a man fleeing into the woods as he arrived on the fire scene. And on the weekend of the Feb. 28 and March 1 it was reported that there had been a DEA drug sting 2-3 hours before the arson and "The arson may have been a retaliatory action in response to the pot bust that occurred in Holden a few hours earlier."
    Approximately one month after Mike’s death, while visiting a family member (who lived 250 miles north) I told her that I was suspicious of Mike’s death being an accident after what I had read in the newspapers. She was surprised to know that I didn't know Mike was murdered. I said to her how do you know that? She said they received a call from my sister who lives in Massachusetts the evening of the day Mike was found, and she said Linda called her and said the police had told her that Mike was murdered by men from Massachusetts.
    After being told this, I returned home and immediately contacted the Maine State Police (MSP). I was referred to Detective Ralph Pinkham. Pinkham told me that Percy Sargent, (A man Mike was staying with and was arrested in the drug sting according to Higgins' article) had sent a call to have Mike taken care of. He also said he believed Lionel Cormier set the fire and that Paul Pollard was the man the fire chief saw fleeing the arson fire. He said it was still under investigation and he would call me when he had more information. When he didn't call I contacted him and a meeting was scheduled to meet at the Penobscot County District Attorney David Cox's office (Mike died in Hancock County but the drug sting was in Penobscot County.) There was another detective (Shuman) with Pinkham. They were not pleasant. Pinkham looked me in the face and denied what he had told me. Shuman said I could be charged for knowing where Mike was and not turning him in to the authorities - Cox (I had no idea where Mike was and told them if I had known where Mike was I wouldn't have left him under a pile of fire rubble for six days.).  They told me that they didn't think Mike's murder would ever be solved bc no one would talk. I left DA Cox' office in fear of the two detectives. Was family members of murder victims used in such a way? I didn't know I had never had contact with law officials before. It would be 2 1/2 years later before I contacted them again.
   Two months, after my meeting with Shuman and Pinkham DA Cox brought default charges against Mike's father for a $10,000 bond he had on our murdered son. DA Cox attacked me publicly. The news reported Cox saying "Mother Might Have Saved Son." I wanted to die with shame. He also said “If I had cooperated.” Cooperate with whom? I had never spoken with a prosecutor nor had one ever contacted me. I had to contact the detectives. and they weren't prosecutors. The Maine Chapter of ACLU stepped in and and helped us. The bond was for a fight Mike had in a bar on his birthday, Oct. 4, 1979. He was found guilty and filed an appeal. The case is on Maine case law web site. It reports the man's "injury as scratches on his nose and a messy lip, which the photograph of the victim undoubtedly depicted."
    After that stressful situation was over my mind returned to my murdered son. Who killed him and why. July of 1981, I contacted the chief medical examiner and the fire inspector who found Mike's body. Both gave me information but the most information I received was from the medical examiner.
   The last of September 1983, I finally found the courage to contact the homicide detectives again. Mike’s murder was now five months short of three years old and I hadn’t heard a word from the homicide detectives. While on the phone with Shuman before the meeting I asked why Pinkham told me what he did about Lionel Cormier and Percy Sargent and then denied it. He said I could ask Pinkham when I came to the meeting but I only met with Shuman. I was given the same information as before they didn't think Mike's murder would ever be solved bc no one would talk. As I got up to leave I turned back toward Shuman in anger and said, “If someone struck your dog and knocked it in a ditch and didn’t bother to pick it up or come to let you know it was dead, just let it stay in a ditch for six days, you would be upset. Mike wasn’t a dog! He was my son; and as long as I live I will fight to find out what happened to him.” He just looked at me and shook his head. I didn't know then that when Mike's body was found the fire inspector though the had found a dog. As I entered the hall to leave I saw a door to another office directly across the hall with the door partly open just enough so I could see the lower part of a man’s crossed legs and his shoes. Pinkham had been hiding behind the door listening. Why?
     I then contacted Mike's attorney (Andrew Mead) to ask him if he would help me find out what happened to Mike. His advice was to “stay away from that, Mrs. Cochran.”
    Fifteen months after my September 1983 meeting with Shuman and nearly four years after Mike's murder three men were indicted for Mike’s murder. The evening of December 5, 1984, our oldest son, Derry, got a call from a friend after he saw the 11:00 o'clock news. He told Derry that he was just watching the news and saw that three men were arrested for Mike's murder. Derry went to the Bangor Daily News office as soon as the newspaper for Dec. 6, 1984 was printed and got a copy before coming to see me. The newspaper reported that a Hancock County grand jury had handed up indictments on December 5, 1984 against the three men, Roger Johnson, William Myers and Richard Sargent.
    None of the subjects Pinkham had mentioned, Percy Sargent, Lionel Cormier, Paul Pollard or Linda Gray, who was with Mike a couple of hours before he was murdered, were mentioned. It was only from Pinkham’s information that I knew the man fleeing the murder scene was Paul Pollard. It was as though those people didn’t exist. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Goodwin reported that Mike was alive in the fire “Cochran died of carbon monoxide inhalation, or smoke inhalation.”
    December 18, 1984, the Bangor Daily News reported that the state had unveiled its "star witness" at a bail hearing. It also reported that prosecutors sought to prove “Cochran was killed because the men believed Cochran helped set up Sargent’s brother [Percy Sargent] and another man for a drug arrest.” There it was! What I had believed for nearly four years: The Feb. 18, 1981 Maine DEA undercover drug sting had resulted in Mike’s murder.
     It was reported that Sharon Sargent testified for more than three hours and that she “calmly described her life in the world of drugs and petty crime.” She had gone to jail twice on charges of theft and had served as a police informant often, according to the newspaper. But on the weekend of March 9-10, 1985, Higgins reported state attorneys were weighing Sharon Sargent's role as a chief witness (only witness) and that Sharon Sargent denied hearing the plans of the three men who had allegedly planned to kill Mike. Sargent had asked the state to order Shuman to have no contact with her. She said she was afraid of Cpl. Barry Shuman and told Stern that Shuman “had been leading and suggestive in his line of questioning regarding the murder investigation.”
    June of 1985, three months after Higgins March article he ran another article on the case with the heading "State Moves to dismiss Cochran Murder Indictments." And on the weekend of June 14-15, another article by Higgins said 3 charged in Cochran's death were free. I was devastated. I had believed whole heartedly that the State of Maine had arrested the men who killed Mike. But as time went on I learned that the men were innocent and had been falsely accused. Shuman neither spoke or looked at me during the hearing. He was upset with me. I had told the news I didn't know why the detectives didn't question Linda. Sometime afterward I called Shuman to ask a question about the case. He said "give it to the Bangor Daily News" and hung up on me.
    There was complete silence after the state dismissed the arson/murder indictments. I had lost all hope of Mike's murder being solved under Shuman's supervision. But unbeknown to me Shuman was working on something other than Mike's murder that would come to the surface in July of 1986.
    One day in April of 1986, I was taking mail from the mail box when a letter fell to the ground. I picked it up and saw the name Percy Sargent with a Maine State Prison return address. I absolutely couldn’t believe it. Why was Percy Sargent—This man Det. Ralph Pinkham had told me sent a call to have Mike "taken care of" —writing to me. I had clipped a small article from the Bangor Daily News that said he had been sentenced to prison in March of 1981 for raping an Ellsworth woman who was treated overnight at a Bangor hospital. From Percy's letter I learned that the men who murdered Mike were turning on each other. His letter said that new events may be coming up in Mike's death. He said that Paul Pollard was a new suspect and that Pollard will testify against his half-brother Lionel Cormier and that Cormier is willing to testify against Pollard. He said they would testify against each other to have armed robbery charges dropped. After the letter Derry connected a tape recorder to his phone and called Percy at the prison. He told Derry "those two guys, (Cormier and Pollard) did something dirty that night.
     One evening in July of 1986, (three months after my letter from Percy Sargent) Richard Sargent's attorney called me to say that he thought I might be interested in a trial scheduled to begin in Penobscot County Superior Court the next morning and the person who would be testifying - Paul Pollard. The trial was about armed robberies and Pollard was the state's witness against his half-brother Lionel Cormier and the Sargent brothers. Percy's letter said Pollard and Cormier were willing to testify against each other. I attended the trial and met the three men who were indicted for Mike's murder. I thought to myself here I sit with the three men that I had so hated and strongly believed had taken my son’s life. They told me that Shuman had tried to frame them for Mike's murder and offered their state discovery documents. During the trial I learned things about Mike's murder that the detectives had hid from me. Shuman was asked by Richard's attorney “Did you have any understanding with him [Pollard] about his being free from prosecution in the murder?” Shuman responded “I didn’t make those indications. I had to talk with the District Attorney [Christopher Almy] before any type of bargain was made.”
Richard Sargent was involved in one of Paul Pollard's armed robberies and Pollard was testifying against him. Pollard was given immunity. Richard was found guilty and sentenced to 14 years. Richard was very upset with Pollard especially after he had been indicted for Mike's murder and claimed to have information that Paul Pollard and Lionel Cormier murdered Mike and the AG's office would pay no attention to his information. Richard joined my fight for justice for Mike and gave me a lot of information. He accused one of his lawyers of withholding evidence. He filed a complaint with the Maine Bar Association and his attorney responded to his complaint.
    Richard said he would drive halfway (118 miles) so I could pick up the documents. There was a wealth of information and so much to absorb. It included Wilbur Ricker and MSP Allen Jamison’s 1981 fire marshal reports; firemen's notes taken the day Mike's body was found; Det. Shuman and Pinkham's arson/murder investigation with statements and many other reports: autopsy (the state wouldn't allow me to have the autopsy report), death certificate, and lab reports. There was also the 1984 Maine State Police arson/murder investigation and much more. I will always be thankful to Richard Sargent for the information and help he gave me. When I was questioned I said If I have to have contact with criminals to get information so be it. I had my last conversation with Shuman in 1989 (He died in 2005). At that time I had filed a law suit against Paul Pollard. During the long conversation with Shuman he said “ I know that you think the world of Dickie Sargent. You support him in everything he does.” I said "“Oh, no, I don’t. Oh no, I don’t, Mr. Shuman. It takes two of us to work together. That’s why I’m with Dickie Sargent.
    Nearly seven weeks after Richard’s trial ended, Lionel Cormier went on trial for both the November 26, 1980 and the March 27, 1981 armed robberies (perpetrated by Lionel Cormier, Paul Pollard and Robert Smith). Cormier was also charged with aggravated assault for the brutal beating he gave Dolan and cutting off his ear.
     I was at the Penobscot County Superior Courthouse early that morning. As I entered the second floor of the courthouse, I could see that there was heavy security. There were Sheriff’s deputies stationed outside the courtroom that were stopping everyone and searching them before they were allowed into the courtroom. As I took my seat in the courtroom, I saw two more deputies sitting behind Cormier.
     When Marshal Stern called me and said Paul Pollard would be testifying the next morning at the Superior Courthouse, I was hoping to get a chance to speak with him. He was the only person with my son the night he was murdered. But Shuman protected him walking him to the witness stand and walking him out. After what I’d learned in court about Pollard, I would be apprehensive about approaching him anyhow. He sounded like a dangerous man and so was Cormier. I learned much more about the night Mike lost his life during Cormier's trial. Cormier's attorney questioned Pollard and Det. Shuman about Mike's murder. Shuman committed perjury. Perjury
     As I sat in the courtroom listening to testimony my mind went back to how I had been treated by Maine State Police Detectives Shuman and Pinkham and Maine Assistant AG Thomas Goodwin. Now more than ever their stories didn’t ring true. These men were protecting Paul Pollard—but I didn’t know why.
     I had collected many documents after the trials were over. In several of the documents there were references to Mike being shot. I contacted CME Dr. Henry Ryan to ask if Mike could have been shot. I was told any questions concerning Mike's death would have to be approved by Deputy AG Fern LaRochelle, head of the Criminal Division. I immediately wrote LaRochelle asking him to allow CME Dr. Ryan to answer my question as to whether a gunshot could have caused the back of Mike's head to be missing. When LaRochelle did not respond to my letter I contacted Dr. Ryan again making him aware of this. Ryan sent LaRochelle a reminder letter. But I never got a response from LaRochelle. He completely ignored my request for an answer to whether my son could have been shot before the fire was set.
    In the meantime, I learned that a new detective had been assigned Mike's case. But when I was told that Shuman was Det. Matthew Stewart’s supervisor and his investigation of Mike’s murder would be conducted under Shuman’s direction I wrote MSP Captain Raymond LaMontagne to say that they needed someone new on the case. He did not respond.
     July of 1988, six years and five months since Mike’s brutal murder and the Maine State Police and the AG’s office continued to snub me. They would not respond to anything I asked about my son’s murder. But I gave it another try and contacted Dr. Ryan again. I received a response from Dr. Ryan saying he had prepared a reply to my letter and sent it to Assistant AG Fern LaRochelle to respond to me. LaRochelle letter to me included Ryan's letter. LaRochelle's only said that I am- and very truly yours. But Ryan's letter was interesting he said the identification was initially from the police suspecting it was Mike and he had no idea if the word "positive" was ever used. We had Mike's remains cremated while he was not positively identified. Twenty-one years later they returned Mike's jaw bones to me for burial.
     I went home after the trial with a strong determination to find out more about Paul Pollard. Who was this short, fat outlaw who I now believed Homicide detectives Barry Shuman, Ralph Pinkham, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Goodwin, Penobscot County District Attorneys David Cox, and Christopher Almy were all protecting? Pollard testified in August that he had a .357 gun on him the morning he fled into the woods away from the murder scene. I started searching for information on Pollard and I found records of crimes that he had committed: forgery - armed robberies- indicted for reckless conduct- (dismissed by DA Cox and AG Perrino) - transporting load of rifles, shot guns and dynamite, stolen during burglaries, from Massachusetts to Bangor, Maine. His attorney testified that the cache was loaded in his vehicle and he transported it to the Bangor PD with approval from DA Cox. The report states the items were received from an unnamed client. All taken care of by Shuman and DA David Cox.
    After meeting Richard Sargent in July I stayed in touch with him. He gave me court transcripts and taped conversations February 20, 1986; - April 8, 1986; - April 14, 1986: - May 6, 1986; - June 4, 1986; - June (?) 1986; that he and Lionel Cormier had while talking about Mike's murder. In one conversation they talked about Pollard and Mike getting in a fight:
Richard: “Him and Cochran must have got in a hell of a fight that night.” Cormier: “Shot him in the head, then burned the place down.”
Richard: “Think he really shot him or what?”
Cormier: “Of course he shot him.”
Richard: “Never said nothing about shooting, though.”
Cormier: “Yeah, but I know he did. … He heard that Percy got busted … He figured Cochran set him up, called Cochran down [from loft], he says, hey, they got busted and then the conversation, who knows what the conversation was, right. And Cochran might have said, ‘you punk, you know, calling me a rat,’ pushed Paul down. Paul pulled out that bonker and just let it eat." Richard also gave me any information his attorney made available to him.
    On the 21st of February, I contacted Percy Sargent again. He was on home on furlough from Maine State Prison and was at his ex-wife's residence in Augusta. Since I had last spoken with him in April of 1986 he was almost done serving his prison time for the 1980 rape, 1980 armed robbery and 1981 drug trafficking charge. Percy wasn't as friendly during this conversation. He was now accusing the police of killing Mike and I think he was threatening me when he said "If I go to court that makes me the ugliest person in the world and I don’t want to be ugly, you know, because I’ll probably end up sitting in jail for another year for contempt of court or something because I am kind of an emotional kind of guy. I just hope you take into [account] my feelings too about this whole thing. To have my name dragged through that newspaper makes me sick, you know." Percy sending a call to have my son murdered made me sick too! But I was too afraid of this dangerous man to confront him.
Letter to:
January 1987, the news reported that the FBI was investigating Maine State Police DEA agents for improper conduct and that some of the agents were having sexual relationship with female informants. The state's witness against the three men indicted for Mike's murder was having a sexual relationship with the trooper who arrested the three men.
    With all that was going on with the FBI’s investigation of the Maine State Police, I received a Subpoena from Assistant AG Thomas Goodwin to appear before a Grand Jury in Hancock County to produce all my recorded telephone conversations. The subpoena was dated February 10, 1987. Richard Sargent was also subpoenaed. He had information they also wanted. I had recordings of conversations with Richard Sargent, Percy Sargent, Paul Pollard, his pseudo father, Owen Pollard, and Det. Shuman concerning Mike's murder. I wouldn't give them to the Maine State Police. I had given them information I uncovered but it was all worthless against Paul Pollard, Lionel Cormier and Percy Sargent so I quit giving them anymore. Now the Attorney General's Office was commanding I give up the tapes. Richard Sargent and I gave them copies of what we had.
    The state police wouldn't tell me where Paul Pollard was living but December of 1986 I found him. When he answered the phone and realized who it was he swore at me and hung up the phone. I called back over and over until he picked it up. That was one of my recorded conversations that I was commanded to give up.
    November 9, 1987, Defense Attorney Martha Harris argued Shuman's perjury before the Supreme Court, but it was it upheld.
    February 19, 1988, Richard Sargent surrendered to the authorities to start serving a 14-year sentence. My first letter from Richard was written the day he was incarcerated. He asked me to give messages to his attorney and to send documents and he let me know what was going on with him and his struggle with his brother Percy and the State of Maine law officials. He wanted the AG’s office to look at what he believed he had that would show Lionel Cormier and Paul Pollard murdered Mike.
    April 1988, 36 years ago, I filed a Complaint Pro Se in Cumberland County Superior Court for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress against Paul Pollard, Owen Pollard, and Robert Smith.   I was taking night classes for paralegal studies at the time I filed my lawsuit. When I arrived for class one evening the instructor gave me a copy of a Maine lawyer’s newspaper that had reported my case. Robert Smith was incarcerated in a jail that was not in the county he lived. My case against Smith was dismissed, but I could l refile.
    October 27, 1988, Richard wrote that Percy is not talking and won’t talk. I do have something I have never told anyone. Shortly after the fire, Lionel and Pollard and Percy came to my motel room in Auburn, that was the same day that they went to Rhode Island (fled the state). And what was said there at my motel room could possibly bring the three to court for your son’s murder. I hate putting the finger on my brother, but he don’t care about me. Richard also said he had written a letter to the Attorney General asking him to come see him. He said, “I sure am not going to tell the state police this because they would not do anything about it.” He said he would let me know if the AG’s Office got back in touch with him. The last page of his letter said "As you know, Percy was the one that made that call. I am tired of protecting him. He will be released in six months and he could care less if I sit here for seven more years. There was something said in that motel room and Percy knows it. But will they [the authorities] believe me. We will see. If Percy was smart he would tell what he knows.
    November 4, 1988, another letter from Richard said  "I really hate getting Percy mixed up in this. But he sure don’t care about me. What was said that day in the motel (Cormier did the talking) was that Cochran was taken care of and he wouldn’t be doing any talking. I told them that I didn’t want anything to do with murder. They got mad and left. They wanted Pollard to hide out at my place."
    I am not sure of the date Richard gave me an affidavit his mother wrote about Paul Pollard and Lionel Cormier coming to her house at 9:30 am the morning of Feb. 18, 1981 and talking about her son's arrest (Percy Sargent)and and how Paul escaped a fire and that the police would be finding a body.
    November 17, 1988, I borrow $35,000 against my home and hired an attorney to help me with my lawsuit against Paul Pollard, Owen Pollard and Robert Smith.
April 6, 1990, my attorney, Michael Popkin, sent a letters to Pollard's attorney informing him of what he was removing from Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Roy’s deposition. He was excising everything to do with dental identification. And on the 9th he excised everything to do with gasoline on the Mike's body. Forty-two-year veteran Fire Inspector Wilber Ricker found Mike's body and his expert opinion was that gas was poured on his body and it was my case for emotional distress. I had actually suffered mentally and physically when Inspector Ricker testified during his deposition in January of 1990 that gas had been poured on my son. My attorney had told me he intended to do this and we had a strong disagreement. I was crying when I called the owner of the firm. He said it wouldn't happen. But it did.
    April 25 1990, two weeks later, Popkin wrote a letter to the court clerk saying he was filing a motion with the court to withdraw from the Cochran case bc he was going to work for the Maine Attorney General's Office effect as of April 30. Our court date was set for May 11. One of the owner's of the firm, Jed Davis, not familiar with the case took it over. Davis received from Pollard's attorney Pollard's defendant's witness list with Shuman and Pinkham as witness for Paul Pollard. "Both these individuals will testify as to the investigation of the fire and the reasons why the Maine State Police did not believe that Paul Pollard was involved in the death of Micheal Cochran." Attorney Davis asked the court to order that the Defendant not present Barry Shuman and Ralph Pinkham as witnesses.
    The trial started on May 11 and Det. Shuman was allowed to testify for Paul Pollard and I don’t have any record of why that happened other than believing the court must have allowed it. Det. Shuman sat in a front row seat with Pollard and when Pollard testified Shuman stared him down. During breaks in the trial, Shuman would take Pollard in a room off the courtroom hall and shut the door. Pollard testified that he had taken two polygraphs and passed. I believe Shuman instructed Pollard to say he had taken the polygraph tests (regardless of not being allowed) and passed bc that was what Shuman always said to me — he passed two polygraph tests— when I asked him why Pollard wasn't looked at. I took the stand for a few short minutes and looked down on the face of Det. Shuman who was sitting beside Paul Pollard. My couple of minutes of testimony was not reported in the BDN article. I was so nervous when I was called to testify that I can’t remember what I was asked or what I said. I lost my case.
    It never entered my mind when I brought suit against Paul Pollard that Shuman and Pinkham would be in court to continue their protection of Paul Pollard. I know the respect that juries have for police officers. If someone had warned me that I would have problems with the Maine State Police and the Maine Attorney General’s office when I filed my lawsuit I don’t think I would have believed them.
    Sometime in early 2002, five years after Det. Shuman retired from the Maine State Police, a new homicide detective, Det. Coleman, was assigned Mike’s bungled murder case. MSP Detective Gerald Coleman first contacted Mike’s older brother, Derry, about wanting to talk to the family about Mike’s murder. Derry contacted me and said there was a new detective on Mike’s case and that he would like to speak with me. I said no, absolutely not. For 21 years I had gone through hell with the Maine Attorney General’s Office and the Maine State Police and had had enough of Maine law officials. I didn’t trust any of them. But, eventually, I relented and Coleman came to my home to speak with me about Mike’s murder. He told me that there were very few records in Mike’s homicide file at the Attorney General’s office (This was also what Dr. Ryan told Popkin in 1989), and asked if I would allow him to copy what documents I had in my possession concerning Mike’s murder. He said he would copy them and promptly return them to me. I also gave Coleman the two gas cans that were used to pour gas on my son and to burn the cottage. He gave me a receipt for the gas cans that has a date of March 15, 2002. Ricker had the cans for nine years; they were in my possession for twelve years; and it’s now twenty years since I gave Coleman the gas cans. Coleman knew Cormier was guilty of Mike's murder and began investigating him and kept me informed. Cormier was found guilty of drug trafficking the trial was in Portland (120 miles from Bangor) Coleman notified me of the court date and I was there to see the scum bag sentenced to 34 years in prison.
    Dec. 3, 2017, Eric Russell reporter at Maine Portland Press did another article titled This is My Struggle, 36 years later. He wrote that I had devoted more time to Mike's cold case murder than any of the many detectives assigned to it. And also reported that Maine State Police Kenneth MacMaster told the paper that Mike's murder was a "travesty of justice" and said the details were etched into his memory. After MacMaster offered to share those details, though, he stopped returning a reporter’s calls and emails."

Other newspaper article:
December 28, 1986, John Lovell a reporter at the Maine Sunday Telegram, did an article titled Mother Haunted by Son's Murder, 5 years after Mike's murder. He did a run down of what had happened after Mike's murder up until 1986.
     November 29, 1991, Randy Wilson reporter at Maine Times did an article on Mike's murder titled Up Against the System, 10 years after his murder. Wilson reported that I had brought suit against Paul Daniel Pollard and my attorney walked out on me eleven days before trial to work for the Maine Attorney General's Office.

I contacted a Cold Case Organization in June of 2022 trying to find justice for my son. Their website was so impressive with many Investigative and Forensic teams. They accepted Mike's case and I worked for months with Cathie Vallas-McKinzie who was Victum/ Advocate/Executive Assistant at that time. Last November she said they wanted to let me know the results of their investigation and set up a zoom meeting. This was after they had contacted Law Enforcement in Maine During the meeting, the Arson Investigator denigrated me and my years of work on my son's murder. He said that Mike wasn't murdered that it was an accident. The same as I was told when Mike was found in 6 day old fire rubble in 1981. The Deputy Executive Director told me to find something else to do with my life. I was completely devastated and it has taken a full year for me to start working on my son's brutal murder again. Their website still has Mike's murder listed as an unsolved murder as well as the Maine State Police website. Gerald Coleman, a great Maine State Police detective, was assigned Mike's case in 2002, 21 years after his murder. He starting investigating Lionel Cormier and told me Cormier was guilty of Mike's murder. But Cold Case Foundation Arson Investigator Bryan Crumb told me that Maine fire investigators (32 year veteran Fire Chief Norman Herrin and 43 year veteran Fire Inspector Wilbur Ricker ) didn't do a good job of investigating the fire. And to top it all off Cold Case Foundation Deputy Executive Director Dean Jackson tells me to find something else to do with my life.