Notorious: Maine Crime in the Public Eye, 1690–1940

"Slayer Kelley" (1927)

James P. Kelley murdered Mrs. Lillian Grace Woodsum Casey in her Clark Street apartment in Portland on July 11, 1927. After a quarrel over a pawned Christmas gift, Kelley stabbed her in the heart.

"Slayer Kelley," as he was known in the newspapers, surrendered to the police shortly after and was held without bail following his arraignment on July 27. Despite expectations to the contrary, Kelley pled not guilty in a crowded court.

Kelley's defense argued that Lillian's death was an accident, but the jury only took 2 hours to deliberate and find him guilty. In October of 1927, the court sentenced him to life in prison. Stone-faced throughout the reading of the verdict, Kelley passed out when the guards placed him in handcuffs.