SKOWHEGAN – Justice Nancy Mills on Wednesday pronounced Shannon Atwood, 38, guilty of murdering girlfriend Cheryl Murdoch, also 38, two years ago in Canaan.

Family members raised their fists in the air on the courthouse steps after the verdict and shouted, “Justice!”

When the verdict was read in the courtroom earlier, Atwood scowled, but showed no emotion, while family members of both Murdoch and Atwood’s missing wife, Shirley Moon-Atwood, sat shoulder-to-shoulder, held hands tightly and began crying.

During the five-day trial last week at Somerset County Superior Court, Mills heard 49 witnesses in a case built largely on circumstantial evidence. Sentencing has not been scheduled but could result in a term of 25 years to life.

In rendering her verdict, Mills said Atwood himself predicted his fate during initial police interviews, telling the detectives, “All your leads lead back to me.”

Atwood killed Murdoch in July 2006 on the same day the couple were supposed to leave Maine and pick up Murdoch’s daughter at her grandmother’s home in Arizona. When they failed to arrive, Murdoch’s mother began searching and eventually reported her daughter missing to the police. During the search for Murdoch, it was discovered that Moon-Atwood was also missing and had not been seen since April 2006.

Murdoch’s body was found in Burrill Woods in Canaan, just five miles from the home Atwood and she shared. She died of blunt trauma to the head.

Moon-Atwood has never been found.

Mills said the discrepancies between testimony of some of witnesses was not of significance.

“Just because the witnesses lead lives different from ours does not mean they are never worthy of belief,” she said.

She said she found Rachel Hooker “particularly credible.” Hooker, a former girlfriend of Atwood’s, testified that on the day Murdoch was killed, Atwood called her 10 times and provided her with directions to a fire pit and campsite where he was staying in Burrill Woods. Maine State Police Detective Bryant Jacques was later able to use those directions to find Murdoch’s body.

Mills said that it was the indisputable facts that convinced her of Atwood’s guilt, including finding DNA evidence belonging to both women and Atwood at the campsite, a piece of rope at the body dump scene that matched rope in Atwood’s barn, and the plan that Murdoch told to many people that she was driving with Atwood to Arizona to bring her daughter home.

Additionally, Mills said, Atwood’s criminal intent could be drawn from his own actions. These included attempting to sell Murdoch’s car, lying about her whereabouts to police and friends, hiding her license plates in his barn, the many calls to Hooker from Murdoch’s phone after she was killed, and finding Murdoch’s destroyed phone in Atwood’s garbage.

Regarding attorney John Alsop’s alternative suspect theory, Mills said there was no evidence to show that anyone other than Atwood was involved in Murdoch’s murder, including Moon-Atwood. “All of the arrows point to Shannon Atwood,” she said.

Mills also gave weight to Atwood’s standoff with police when a search warrant was executed at his home two days after Murdoch’s body was found. Atwood told police later that he had been to prison and “I ain’t going back.”

Atwood served 14 months in the early 1990s for aggravated assault.

Mills said she believed Atwood killed Murdoch between 10:56 a.m. and 4:50 p.m. July 27, 2006. “He murdered Cheryl Murdoch, disposed of her body and then went to the fire pit area and called Rachel Hooker.”

She then ordered Atwood held without bail pending sentencing.

In open court, Mills had high praise for Maine State Police Detective Jeffrey Love and his efforts to find Moon-Atwood through computer records, dozens of personal interviews, visiting every store from Canaan to Newport and viewing hours of videotapes. “I think he would have gone door to door if he had been allowed,” she said.

Mills also commended the defendant’s attorneys, Alsop and Arnold Clark, who were court-appointed. She said the team “offered extraordinary services to their client and the people of Maine, often at great sacrifice to themselves.”

Alsop admitted he was disappointed after the hearing, but added, “That’s the way the system works.”

After the verdict, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson requested a forensic psychological evaluation of Atwood. Sentencing will follow completion of that examination.

Lucille Hoxie, Murdoch’s mother, said after the verdict, “We all know that Shannon Atwood killed Shirley Moon-Atwood. We will find her. I know it in my heart. I question whether there are other victims out there.”

She said the trial had been an extremely difficult and emotional time, particularly for Murdoch’s 15-year-old daughter, Sarah Murdoch. Sarah opted to go to the beach with her uncle Wednesday at Turner Point in Massachusetts, where her mother’s ashes had been spread.

Hoxie, who lives in Arizona, said she will return for Atwood’s sentencing.

State police Lt. Gary Wright said the search will continue for Moon-Atwood and he is hoping that the guilty verdict could prompt someone to come forward with new information.

Sheriff Barry DeLong said after the verdict that he will immediately move Atwood to the Maine State Prison in Warren.

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