Murder trial set to begin today Woman charged in stabbing death

HOULTON – The murder trial of a woman accused of killing a Caswell child care provider is set to get under way today in Aroostook County Superior Court in Caribou,

Laura Kirk, 34, of Limestone has been charged with stabbing to death Tara L. Bell, 27, on or about Dec. 17, 2001.

The selection of a jury took place Monday in Superior Court in Houlton.

More than 100 prospective jurors were questioned by Assistant Attorney General William Stokes, who will prosecute the case for the state, and by Kirk’s attorney, Peter S. Kelley of Caribou.

A jury of four men and 10 women, including two alternates, was selected. The trial is expected to last all week, with Justice E. Allen Hunter presiding.

Bell’s body was found at about 6:30 a.m. that December day on the kitchen floor of her Libby Road home by a woman who had brought her children to Bell’s home. According to an autopsy report, Bell died as a result of multiple stab wounds.

Kirk was arrested four days later, on Dec. 21, 2001, at her mother’s home on Route 1A in Limestone. During her arraignment in February 2000, Kirk pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease.

She is being held without bail at Aroostook County Jail in Houlton.

Bell was the mother of two daughters, ages 3 and 6. The older child had spent the night at her grandparents’ home next door. The 3-year-old was asleep in her bed at home when her mother’s body was discovered.

The child care provider was separated from her husband, Troy Bell, who was living at his wife’s former child care center on Bog Road in Caswell at the time his wife was slain.

Kirk’s children, who were in the custody of their father at the time of the slaying, reportedly went to Bell’s child care business.

Police first questioned Kirk the day after the murder as a possible witness. At that time, they noticed wounds on her hands, possibly from a struggle.

DNA obtained from blood found at Bell’s home later was found to match Kirk’s. That plus other evidence collected at the scene led to Kirk’s arrest.