`Alternative suspect’ discusses allegations

PORTLAND — Douglas Senecal, whose name surfaced when the lawyer for a convicted murderer pointed toward an alternative suspect, has finally spoken out on allegations connecting him with the 1988 crime.

Senecal, who moved from Phippsburg, Maine, to North Carolina to avoid publicity about the case, has never been charged in connection with 12-year-old Sarah Cherry’s death.

But he told a Maine television station he has suffered for being identified as an alternative suspect by the lawyer for convicted killer Dennis Dechaine.

Senecal accused Dechaine and his lawyer, Thomas Connolly, of doing anything to win Dechaine’s freedom, “no matter who he drags down. Well, he did some dragging, he did some good dragging. A little too nasty, I think.”

Senecal said he lost his business, had to sell his house and move away.

Dechaine, a 30-year-old farmer from Bowdoinham, was convicted in 1989 of Sarah Cherry’s death and sentenced to life in prison. The child had been tortured, bound and gagged, and her body buried in a shallow grave.

Prosecutors based their case against Dechaine on three key pieces of evidence: The defendant’s red pickup truck was found parked near a path leading to Cherry’s body; papers from Dechaine’s business were found in the driveway of the home from which Cherry was abducted; and rope used to bind Cherry’s hands was cut from a rope found in Dechaine’s truck.

But Connolly, Dechaine’s lawyer, attempted during closed-door hearings to introduce Senecal as an alternative suspect during his client’s trial. Justice Carol O. Bradford would not permit it.

Connolly, still contending that Senecal may have killed Cherry and framed Dechaine, sought a new trial for Dechaine on the basis of the alternative suspect theory. Hearings were held last week before Bradford, who is expected to issue a ruling within a month.