Murder trial of Gogan moved to York County Defendant allegedly killed, dismembered husband

SKOWHEGAN – A Superior Court judge has granted a motion for a change of venue for the trial of 56-year-old Vella Gogan, the Hartland woman charged with murdering her husband, Gene, and dismembering his body in October 1999.

Gogan will be tried in York County Superior Court in Alfred, according to the order received Tuesday in Somerset County Superior Court. Justice Ellen Gorman signed the change of venue request this week.

No date has been set for the trial, though defense attorney Janet Mills said Tuesday that she expects the trial will be held sometime in March. York County officials, who have yet to receive a copy of the order, will determine the actual date.

The change of venue was agreed to during a telephone conference call held last week between the participating attorneys and Justice Gorman, Mills said.

“There was a lot of publicity in western and central Maine, editorials and letters to the editor,” Mills said, explaining the defense’s request to move the trial out of the area.

Other motions pertaining to psychological examinations of Gogan also were discussed during the call, without any ruling issued, Mills said.

Gogan, accompanied by her sister, turned herself in at the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department on Oct. 3, 1999. She wasn’t charged with murder, however, until after her husband’s remains were recovered days later in Mayfield Township, east of Bingham, and some 25 miles north of the couple’s Hartland home.

Authorities initially reported Gene Gogan as missing until evidence was removed from the Hartland home. Gene Gogan was later found shot to death, with his body cut into 17 pieces and buried in Mayfield Township.

Vella Gogan entered a plea of not guilty during arraignment proceedings in December 1999. Michaela Murphy, one of the woman’s two attorneys, said after the arraignment that her client didn’t deny responsibility for the death of her husband, explaining it was a case of self-defense. Murphy told Justice Donald Marden during the arraignment that Gogan “suffered years of abuse in that marriage.”

Gogan subsequently was released on bail to the custody of her brother, who lives in Canaan. She has remained there with limited travel privileges.