ALFRED — Jason Twardus has been found guilty of the murder of his ex-fiancee, Kelly Gorham, in a decision released at 10:20 a.m.
He is being held without bail pending sentencing. A sentencing date has not been set. Twardus faces a minimum of 25 years to a maximum of life in prison.
The seven-man, five-woman jury began deliberations at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday and wound down for the day at 5:15 p.m. Deliberations began again this morning at 9 a.m.
Yesterday afternoon, they asked to hear transcripts of the testimony of two witnesses and view a bank photo of Twardus withdrawing money from an ATM machine in Rochester, N.H. early Aug. 8.
In the state’s final argument, Deputy Attorney General William Stokes said Jason Twardus was a man obsessed with Kelly Gorham and consumed with jealousy.
Twardus, a jilted lover, killed his former fiancée in a story as old as time itself, Stokes told the jury in closing arguments Thursday.
“He’s the only one with a motive,” Stokes said. “It is time for justice to be served. It is time Kelly Gorham has justice and it is time for Jason Twardus to have justice.”
Twardus, now 29, is accused of strangling Gorham, a 30-year-old nursing student, and burying her body on land his father owns in Stewartstown, N.H. just miles from the Quebec border, Aug. 8, 2007. They had lived together in Alfred for two years but Gorham broke their engagement in January 2007 and told Twardus to move out in June that year.
Twardus wasn’t counting on the diligence of police in their quest to find Gorham when she disappeared from her apartment, Stokes said. And had police not learned that his father, Brian Twardus, owned land in remote Stewartstown, her remains might never have been found.
Stokes, point by point, refuted the defense’s theory that Gorham was killed by others ”“ namely her landlord, John Durfee, with help from his employee, Calvin Degreenia ”“ and forcefully laid out an overview of the state’s case against Twardus.
Stokes said Twardus was stalking Gorham on the evening of Aug. 6, 2007 when he was parked across the road from the Durfee property. He suggested Twardus walked onto the Durfee property near the treeline. Twardus may have seen Degreenia and Gorham together, he said, as the pair had recently established a relationship, and at that point, realized the romance they’d shared was really finished.
He said common sense shows Twardus was the killer and that he had strangled Gorham in Maine. Gorham had no connection to New Hampshire other than Twardus, he said.
“This is a case about jealousy and obsession and his inability to let her go,” said Stokes.
Twardus claimed he had been fishing at high tide in Biddeford Pool Aug. 6 after stopping to urinate on Kallis Lane. Stokes pointed out it was low tide at the time.
On the last night Gorham was seen alive, Twardus claimed he was fishing alone at Rye Beach.
Stokes asserted Twardus was in Alfred, where he strangled his former fiancée, probably from behind and by surprise, and then took the comforter from her bed, along with some miscellaneous clothing, and placed Gorham in the trunk of his car and drove to Rochester, where he shared a home with his father.
He got cash from an ATM and then drove to Stewartstown, where he buried the woman he said he adored, said Stokes. A video surveillance tape taken from a convenience store in nearby Colebrook places Twardus there at noon Aug. 8, he said. Some have testified the man on the tape is Twardus, others say it is not.
To suggest that Durfee, with help from Degreenia and others, killed Gorham and drove her body to Stewartstown as asserted by the defense, Stokes said, doesn’t pass muster. The land owned by Brian Twardus has no street address and it took a New Hampshire detective, armed with a tax map, two days to find the property, he noted. Moreover, records show Durfee’s cellphone was using towers in Sanford that day, he added.
“John Durfee is a crude and crass man and has many failings and weaknesses,” said Stokes. “No one is asking you to like him or approve of his lifestyle, but you’re being asked to believe they were brilliant masterminds in the greatest frame-up in the history of mankind.
Defense attorney Dan Lilley said the state’s case is full of red herrings.
“There’s a big hole in this case,” said Lilley. “There is absolutely no evidence this woman was killed in our state.”
“This case raises more questions than it solves,” Lilley said, adding there is no evidence to prove that Twardus was anywhere near Alfred the Tuesday night Gorham went missing.
He said inconsistencies in his client’s statements to police can be explained.
“An innocent mis-recollection is not a lie,” Lilley said.
He noted the testimony of a nearby neighbor hearing music and people talking, including a female voice, at 4:15 a.m. Aug. 8 and pointed out that Gorham was the only female on the property.
He reminded the jury that a former tenant had testified she was afraid of Durfee and that he had threatened her and Durfee had sexually harassed a medical assistant later in August.
“Durfee is evil personified,” said Lilley.
Lilley said there is no evidence that shows Twardus was upset after the breakup of his romance with Gorham and that his client had no motive to kill her.
“People don’t kill each other for kicks unless they are on drugs,” said Lilley, pointing out Durfee has testified that he used PCP.
— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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