2 inmates say woman admitted shooting boyfriend

AUBURN – Witnesses for the state told jurors during Tuesday’s testimony in Androscoggin County Superior Court that a Washington County woman accused of murder admitted to them she had shot her boyfriend.

Two women, both of whom spent time in jail with murder suspect Katrina Bridges, 22, told the jury that she confessed to them that she had shot her boyfriend, Christopher Ingraham Jr., 23.

Bridges was convicted in September 2001 of Ingraham’s murder. He was shot in the back of the head and left to die at the couple’s Jonesboro home in the early morning hours of Jan. 3, 2001.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court vacated Bridges’ conviction in August and ordered a retrial, saying that statements she made to police should not have been heard at her first trial. The justices ruled that police should have read Bridges her Miranda rights before questioning her on Jan. 3, 2001.

While at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Windham, Jayme Gibson, 20, and Bridges allegedly discussed the crimes for which they were serving time.

Gibson testified Tuesday that she told Bridges, “I hit somebody in the head with a tire iron.”

“At least you didn’t finish the person off like I did,” Bridges responded, according to Gibson.

Gibson also said Bridges had talked to her about a supposed suicide pact between herself and Ingraham.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Jeffrey Toothaker said his client most likely was trying to act tough when telling such stories, saying “she’s small, fragile, tiny – not the toughest girl in the world.”

Doreen Patrick, 43, also an inmate at the Windham facility, testified that it’s common for people to try to act tough to fit in when they’re new in jail, especially when they’re small and get picked on a lot. Patrick has been in prison for the past 20 years after being found guilty of murder.

Patricia Ingraham, the victim’s mother, was called on to describe the relationship her son had maintained with his family in the months before his death.

“In the spring of 2000, [Chris Ingraham] told us Katrina was pregnant, it was his baby, and he was going to do the right thing,” Patricia Ingraham said.

But there were problems when the couple tried to live with Ingraham’s parents in upstate Bath, N.Y., and Bridges was told by Chris Ingraham’s parents she no longer could be at the house unsupervised, according to Patricia Ingraham.

After moving to Maine with Bridges in April 2000, Ingraham returned to New York only once before his death, according to his mother. He communicated with his family only through the mail and his mother described their relationship as strained.

Once in Maine, Ingraham got a job at the Cutler Naval Station commissary.

Co-workers who took the stand Tuesday said Ingraham often spoke of problems with Bridges’ behavior, saying she needed counseling and that if it weren’t for their son, Logan, he would move back to New York. They said Ingraham also questioned Logan’s paternity.

Other witnesses reported seeing Bridges driving around Washington County during the morning of Jan. 3, 2001.

A surveillance video that placed Bridges at the Machias Irving station at 4:45 a.m. was entered into evidence by the prosecution Tuesday.

Carol Smith of Jonesboro testified she spotted Bridges’ black Nissan Pathfinder on the Look’s Point Road while she was having coffee with a friend between 5 and 6 a.m. and again while on her lunch break at about 12:15 p.m. She said the black Nissan Pathfinder “came flying out of Bridges’ driveway” and almost broadsided her.

Previous testimony from Raymond Getchell of Whitneyville, who was too ill to appear in court, was read Tuesday and placed Bridges at his woodlot on the Marshfield Flats Road at about 12:30 p.m.

Bridges was carrying her son, Logan, then 4 months old, and asked Getchell for a ride to her mother’s house, saying her vehicle had broken down. However, Getchell said Bridges did not want him to take her all the way up Ellen Bridges’ driveway and that he dropped her off just before reaching the house.

The trial before Justice Ellen Gorman and the 14-member jury resumes at 9 this morning.