Construction worker guilty of girl’s murder

SKOWHEGAN – A jury deliberated two hours Wednesday before finding a construction worker guilty of murder in the bludgeoning death of a Brunswick teenager whose body was found buried near his home.

Olland Reese, 20, faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced for the death of Cody Green, 16, who prosecutors say was beaten with the blunt end of a steel hatchet found in Reese’s home after she disappeared in May 2002.

Members of Green’s family were heard sobbing after the verdict was announced in Somerset County Superior Court. They told reporters the tears were joyful.

Susan Goulding, Green’s mother, said the family can begin to heal now that Reese has been convicted.

Defense lawyer Andrews Campbell, who during the trial tried to convince jurors that investigators planted evidence in an attempt to frame Reese, said he will appeal the guilty verdict.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said she was not surprised by the verdict given the overwhelming evidence in the case.

Green’s body was found a month after her May 26, 2002, disappearance in a shallow grave behind the home where Reese was living with his mother.

Prosecutors presented evidence at the trial that blood carrying Green’s DNA was found inside the Bowdoin home where Reese had been living.

Reese gave investigators several accounts of what happened the night she disappeared. At the trial he testified that he had nothing to do with the murder and that he regretted giving misleading statements to investigators.

Reese also testified that he never noticed the bloodstain that state police investigators say they found on a wall in his mother’s home.

Marchese has asked for a psychiatric evaluation before Reese is sentenced. No sentencing date has been set in the case.