The murder of Dorothea Burke
Stockton Springs, Waldo County, Maine · 1984
Overview
Dorothea Burke, 63, a retired sardine-plant worker well known in Stockton Springs, Maine, went to a family wedding reception in Prospect on Saturday, June 23, 1984, while preparing to celebrate her birthday. Prosecutors later said she left around 9:15 that night to go dancing and ended up at a bar in Bucksport, where she was last seen. When she did not come home, her family reported her missing the next day. On June 28, construction workers found her body on Meadow Road in Stockton Springs. She had been beaten to death. State Police interviewed Kirt Damon, then 20, beginning that day, and he denied any part in her death. Police searched his mother's car and found confetti from the wedding and cigarette butts of Burke's brand, but nobody was charged for 36 years. Prosecutors said the case was finally pulled together by Maine State Crime Laboratory work on fibers and confetti and by Damon's former wives coming forward to tell the state what he had told them. A Waldo County grand jury indicted Damon, 57, for murder on September 22, 2020. On February 11, 2022, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison with all but 12 suspended, followed by four years of probation.
How it was solved
Investigators had a person of interest from the first day. What they lacked, for 36 years, was a way to prove it. According to the Bangor Daily News, State Police interviewed Kirt Damon, then 20, beginning the day Dorothea Burke's body was found, and he steadfastly denied any involvement. Police searched his mother's red Chevette, and the prosecutor told the court that they collected confetti from the passenger seat and cigarette butts of the brand Burke smoked. Nobody was charged. The Maine State Police Unsolved Homicide Unit began in 2015, and WGME lists Burke's case among those it has prosecuted. In 2020 detectives took the case to a Waldo County grand jury. WABI reported that police did not say what led them to Damon. At the 2022 plea hearing, prosecutors explained what had changed. Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea said work at the Maine State Crime Laboratory on fibers found on Burke and in items at the scene, and on the confetti, established the link, and that this, together with Damon's former wives coming forward to share what he had told them, pulled the case together. Prosecutors said Damon had told friends and family that he and a friend backed a car over Burke, moved her body and took her money, and also that her death was an accident. They said her injuries were not consistent with being run over. The friend, they said, died at sea in the early 1990s. Zainea said the state also had new information from witnesses who had been nervous about testifying against Damon. Damon pleaded not guilty to murder on September 23, 2020. On February 11, 2022, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years with all but 12 suspended. Coverage of the case does not mention DNA evidence. NEWS CENTER Maine reported the sentence as 12 years; the Bangor Daily News and WABI describe it as 20 years with 12 to serve.
Sources
- Waldo County man pleads guilty to killing Maine woman in 1984 (February 14, 2022)
“Over the years, though, advancements in forensic science — and more witnesses, including Damon’s ex-wife, coming forward to tell police about things Damon had told them — allowed the state to finally prosecute the case.”
- Man indicted for Maine cold case murder from 1984 (September 23, 2020)
“and Maine State Police were part of the initial investigation in 1984.”
- Maine man gets 12 years in prison for 1984 killing (February 11, 2022)
“Forensic evidence included red fibers found on Demon's shirt, along with confetti from a wedding reception that both he and the victim attended that day.”
- Unsolved Homicide Unit Makes Arrest in 1984 Stockton Spring Murder (September 23, 2020)
“Damon was taken into custody Tuesday evening at his residence in Stockton Springs and taken to the Waldo County jail.”
- Man arrested for 1984 murder of woman in Waldo County (September 23, 2020)
“She was reported missing the next day after she failed to return home.”
- Maine man arrested for decades-old cold case murder (September 23, 2020)
“Her body was found on Meadow Road in Stockton Springs five days later on June 28, according to the database.”
- Maine police make arrest in decades-old cold-case killing (September 2020)
“Dorothea Burke, 63, of Stockton Springs was last seen on June 23, 1984, at a Bucksport bar. Her body was found several days later by construction workers.”
- Man pleads guilty in decades-old Maine cold case killing (February 11, 2022)
“He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge during a court appearance on Friday. WABI-TV reported he was later sentenced to 20 years in prison with all but 12 years suspended.”
- 'One day it will get solved': Revisiting Maine's cold case unit a decade later
“The Maine State Police Unsolved Homicide Unit officially began in 2015.”