Police: Maine murder suspect groped victim before
Jun 7, 2013, 12:50 AM
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – A teenager told her boyfriend that the man now charged in her death tried to kiss and grope her the night before she disappeared in a bizarre abduction plot, according to court documents released on Thursday.
An affidavit that accompanied a request for a search warrant shed new light on 15-year-old Nichole Cable’s final hours before authorities say she ended up face-to-face with Kyle Dube.
Dube is accused of using a fake Facebook profile to lure Cable out of her Glenburn home, kidnapping her and killing her.
Investigators say the 20-year-old Dube posed as another man, who offered her marijuana before she disappeared on May 12. Cable went to meet the man and it was actually Dube, who was waiting with a mask over his face, police said. Dube had plans to stage an abduction and then rescue Cable to make himself appear like a hero, investigators said.
Cable’s remains were found in nearby Old Town eight days later.
According to the search warrant affidavit:
In text messages, Cable told her boyfriend that Dube, of Orono, had groped her on May 11. She told him that she tried pushing Dube off her but he wouldn’t stop and ended up leaving a bite mark.
Cable nevertheless remained friendly with Dube, continuing to text him on May 12. She told Dube that she was meeting a man named Bryan Butterfield to get a “free 20 bag.”
Cable expressed reservations about meeting Butterfield at the end of her dirt road, asking Dube “is it alright to be a little scared?” Dube texted back, “No I wouldn’t be.”
Investigators found evidence of a struggle and a chase.
A mask bearing Dube’s DNA was discovered on the ground and Dube had scratches on his face, investigators said in the court papers. Cable also lost her sneakers as she apparently tried to flee, they said.
Dube, who remains in jail, told state police detectives that he got the scratches on his face at his job in Bangor, where he worked for an agency that cared for people with disabilities, authorities said.
Dube is charged with kidnapping and murder. His lawyer, Stephen Smith, tried to keep the documents under seal, but the judge allowed some of them to be released Wednesday. They were made available Thursday after some redactions.
Smith was out of town Thursday and couldn’t be reached for comment. Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson, who’s prosecuting the case, said he couldn’t comment on the facts of it.
According to state police, Dube told others that he had intended to abduct Cable using a mask and duct tape and then return to find her, becoming a hero, but he found her dead after binding her with duct tape and putting her body in the bed of his father’s pickup.
An autopsy was conducted, but the results were unavailable as of Thursday.
According to police, the fake Facebook profile for Butterfield was traced to Dube’s home. Cable’s mother, Kristin Wiley, has said that she intends to work with law enforcement to raise awareness of the potential perils of social media and how to stay safe online.
Detectives interviewed a young man named Bryan Butterfield a day after Cable was reported missing. He told them that someone had created a phony Facebook account in his name. Police say Butterfield had no involvement in the kidnapping plot.
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