HARTFORD, Conn. — A grand jury found a Hartford, Conn., man guilty of murdering his longtime girlfriend on Thursday.
According to a press release from Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss, 49-year-old Rondon Athayde was on trial for the December 13, 2018, beating death of his long-time girlfriend, 41-year-old Ana Cordeiro, at their home on Bear Mountain Road in Hartford.
Maine State Police Troopers and Detectives from the Major Crimes Unit worked with the Maine Attorney General's Office to investigate, arrest Athayde, and bring this case to trial.
The trial, held at the Oxford County Superior Court in Paris, started on Tuesday. Assistant Attorney General Robert Ellis told the jury that Athyade beat Cordeiro at least 43 times with a metal rod while the couple’s two young children were home.
Moss said the trial lasted three days and took the jury 25 minutes to return the guilty verdict, Moss said.
Athyade will be sentenced at Oxford County Superior Court on August 31. The couple’s children are living with family.