BANGOR (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- The step-brother of the man accused of brutally killing Joyce McLain back in 1980 testified his brother had a 'crush' on the 16-year-old and that the two had spent time at the family's home earlier in the week McLain was murdered.
Sammy Powers took the stand late Thursday afternoon. Powers lives in Florida now, but grew up in East Millinocket with his parents and step-brother, Philip Scott Fournier.
Fournier is accused of beating 16-year-old Joyce McLain to death behind Schenck High School in East Millinocket back in the summer of 1980.
Powers says he and Fournier had a great relationship growing up, saying that they were "like best friends."
As a teen, Powers worked at the high school with McLain's sister Wendy and that the two were friends. Powers recalled visiting Wendy and Joyce with his step-brother earlier in the week she was murdered. He says Fournier tagged along with them and they spent a couple hours chatting on the McLain's front porch.
He testified he remembered Joyce was getting ready to go for a run and spoke with them for a couple minutes on her way out of the house. He believes on the way home, Fournier mentioned that he 'liked' Joyce, describing it as a 'crush'.
According to the court documents, Fournier's step-father told police that after this encounter, Fournier had mentioned he wanted to stop smoking and take up jogging.
The weekend McLain was found naked and brutally beaten behind her high school, Powers had plans to go camping in Baxter Park with friends. However, the rainy weather ruined their plans and they ended up staying home. He remembers his uncle showing up to the house the morning after McLain went missing, saying there was a lot of commotion downtown.
Turning on a radio, Powers tuned in to a local radio station. He testified he then heard about a local gas station being broken into and that oil truck was stolen. He says it was also when he first heard about McLain being missing. Powers would later learn that it was Fournier who had stolen the truck and crashed it. According to police documents, Fournier said he was trying to kill himself.
That accident would leave Fournier in a coma for eight days. Fournier's defense has stated that accident left him with severe head trauma that has greatly impacted his memory. However, when Powers was asked about this by prosecutors, he said there was "nothing wrong" with Fournier's memory when he went to visit him in the hospital after he came to.
Prosecutor's were starting to ask Powers about sharing sleeping quarters with his step-brother in 1981. Alluding to things Fournier said while he was asleep that were possibly incriminating. Powers was cut off before being able to testify any further due to the defense questioning where 'sleep-talking' fell into Maine law.
The judge asked both sides to figure it out and report back Friday morning.
In addition to Powers, two investigators that were some of the first on scene also took the stand. Retired Maine State Police Detective, Ronald Graves, remembers getting the call about McLain's body being found around 8 a.m. on August 10, 1980.
When he arrived, he remembers seeing McLain's body under a blanket, but says other officials quickly asked for it to be removed.
As crime scene photos were shown of McLain's naked body, the teen's family wept. Detective Graves explained that McLain had marks, bruising, between her shoulder blades, her hands were tied behind her back. She was lying on her stomach, naked, her head placed on a rock, tongue sticking out of her mouth.
Graves explained that he did not observe any blood or debris on her body, just sneakers and socks.
McLain's clothing would be found not far from her body, hidden in a rock wall. Retired Police Trooper Dennis Mclellan and his K-9 'Ben' found the items shortly after they started tracking. Ben also led Mclellan to an imprint near McLain's body, which investigators linked to the ceramic insulator found yards away from her.
The insulator was large and damaged, but did not have any blood or debris on it. However, investigators did believe it to be a possible murder weapon.
Ben also led investigators to a bucket outside of a nearby home. Inside were McLain's underwear. Mclellan says the K-9 quickly led him to the end of the driveway and stopped. Saying this meant the scent ended there and it was possible the person jumped into a car and drove off.
Detective Graves testified that over the years, the crime scene remained under surveillance over the years and there were multiple murder suspects. Including Gary Boynton, who the defense stated had scratches on his body, which cause many to believe he was involved.
According to court documents, Fournier confessed to murdering McLain shortly after her death. He first told his pastor, who alerted his parents. When he was brought to Bangor's police station to confess, officer's did not take Fournier's testimony seriously. In fact, they didn't even write down the conversation.
Almost a year later, Fournier would meet with Detective Graves and other officers, to again confess to the crime. Graves said this time the story was different than the one he supposedly made prior.
Graves testified, Fournier claimed he had been with a group of three boys who wanted to "gang-rape" McLain, but she fought back. He says Fournier went on to tell him that he remembered hitting the teen over the head with the insulator, but just once. It was after Fournier says she kicked him and that he knew he "shouldn't have done it, somebody said she deserved it."
Fournier's defense grilled the former detective on this information. Asking Graves why this confession wasn't enough to lead to an arrest. To which Graves replied, "it didn't match the what was found at the crime scene."
The defense then asked why Fournier became a lead suspect when there were several others investigator's had been tracking. At one point, even involving the F.B.I. The answer to that question was not clear.
However, court documents show that Fournier was the only person who knew a key detail of the investigation -- that McLain was on her period. He allegedly told police in his very first confession that he didn't have sex with her because it was the wrong time of the month.
Detective Graves said he was not made away of that detail until the medical examiner's office told him. He explained it was a detail that they would have "kept secret, in case someone wanted to come forward and confess."
Fournier's defense was quick to question the officer's tactics in keeping sensitive information private, showing a newspaper article from the 'Katahdin Times' with the headline 'Murder Weapon Found' days after McLain's body was found -- a piece of information Graves says was never released to the public.
The state has a couple dozen witnesses that are left to testify. If Fournier is found guilty, he faces 25 years to life in prison.