ROCKLAND, Maine — Debbie Crosman sat in a courtroom, staring intently, as lawyers grilled forensic scientists about cutting-edge DNA technology. A disturbing image appeared on a courtroom video screen, the tiny, bound, discolored hands of 12-year-old Sarah Cherry, Crosman’s daughter. Crosman turned away, unable to look.
The picture brought to her all the searing pain of a fresh loss. But the photo was taken 36 years ago, when her daughter was abducted from a home where she was baby-sitting, taken to an isolated patch of woods and raped, tortured, and murdered. It was a horrifying crime that riveted the entire state in 1988 and is still thought of as the most notorious in Maine history.
Crosman was forced to confront the wrenching details of the crime during the 1989 trial of a local farmer, Dennis Dechaine. She thought his conviction and life sentence at the Maine State Prison would be an end to that, letting her turn to healing. But it wasn’t.
It has become a case that won’t die. Dechaine and a group of ardent supporters have brought it back repeatedly over the last few decades in a seemingly inexhaustible quest for a new trial. The supporters, once a small group of childhood friends who couldn’t believe the person they knew could commit such horrible acts, now number more than 2,000 and include members from abroad who have never met him.
They have buoyed him with visits and letters. They have also raised money to help pay for DNA testing and expert witnesses, incl.