DNA Solves: The Case of Alex James (or Joy Crafts)
Joy (Crafts) Earley (later known as Alex James)
Joy Crafts’ early life and life at UMO
Joy Crafts graduated from Piscataquis County Community High School in 1954. Piscataquis is a largely rural county including Baxter State Park and the foreboding high-point of Maine: Mt. Katahdin. In the southern end of the county there are a handful of towns, including Sangerville, where Joy grew up on a farm with her two parents and three older brothers.
She entered college right away. According to relatives and former neighbors, Joy was, quote, “an extremely sharp gal,” and had a gregarious personality. From a young girl, she had always wanted to be an English teacher. She loved reading and was a fan of Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous middle-English author of Canterbury Tales, and Ernest Hemingway, who had just won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel, The Old Man and the Sea.
She was particularly close to her older brother, Barry, who was about three years her senior, and also attended the University of Maine at Orono at the same time as Joy.
A college friend later said of Joy, she was an “all-American” country girl who was raised in an active family on a Sangerville farm. She was a joiner. In college, she joined the Delta Zeta sorority. Back home in Sangerville growing up, she was a member of the Rainbow Girls (a club for high school girls that was an extension of the Masons) and the Junior Grange (an organization with a particular focus on agriculture in rural communities). Her family wasn’t religious, but Joy persuaded her cousin, Shirley, to join her at Bible camp at a Baptist church. In 1957, Joy made it into the Portland Press Herald because she had been appointed as an officer in a club called the Future Homemakers of America.
According to a college sorority sister, Joy was a loyal friend, someone who might help others with their studies, or who would pick up around the sorority room when no one else would. She wasn’t attention-seeking, and “was a very pretty, happy, friendly person.”
Boy meets girl
While she was home for Christmas break, she met a boy named Drummond Earley, a soldier who was enlisted in the US Army, one year her junior. Drummond, or “Bud” as he was known to his friends, came from a well-known family in the area. His father owned a Dover-Foxcroft car dealership. They hit it off, and continued to keep in touch through frequent letters. During the next year Joy finished her studies at UMO while Bud completed his military service in Korea.
Within a couple of years, Joy’s parents published a marriage notice in the Portland Press Herald. She had accepted a proposal from Bud, and on July 9th, 1960, Joy returned to Maine to get married at the Methodist Church in Dover-Foxcroft on a Saturday summer afternoon. The reception was held at the church, and not long after the ceremony, the newlyweds went on a honeymoon together. They announced that upon their return, they would live together on Pleasant Street, near town, in Dover-Foxcroft, close to Bud’s family. Bud was 22 years old, and she was 23, and they were back in their home state, getting ready to start a family.
Bud had graduated from high school at Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft in 1956. He had lettered and was a star player in baseball as a pitcher and in football as a quarterback.
After his three years of service, including a year in Korea (shortly after the war), he went to work as a salesman at a new-car dealership called McDonald Ford in his hometown. Bud was an avid reader and started each day with the Bangor Daily News. In the evening, he would sit down and enjoy a Zane Grey novel. Zane wrote primarily westerns, including “The Lone Star Ranger”, “Code of the West”, and “The Vanishing American”. Bud loved cutting wood, and mowing grass, and being outdoors. He had a green thumb, and would always do a little farming, giving away surplus produce to friends and those in need. He was especially proud of his “Early Girl” tomatoes, which he grew in honor of his sisters, who shared his last name: Earley.
Dusty and Scott arrive
Almost immediately Joy became pregnant and was likely showing when she returned to her own high school in Piscataquis County to teach grammar classes to freshmen. Though she wasn’t there long, one of her students who later became a school superintendent, remembered her as a “no-nonsense kind of person.” He said, “You worked—she had high expectations of you.”
In March of 1961, she gave birth to her first child, Drummond Earley, named after his father and grandfather. The third generation Drummond became known as “Dusty” as he grew up.
Within a year or so, she left her alma mater to teach at the high school Bud graduated from: Foxcroft Academy. Though she didn’t even finish her first year because she was pregnant again. In April of 1963, Joy and Drummond had their second and final child: a boy who they named Scott Earley.
Problems mounting
According to her cousin, it was around this time—in her mid-20’s—that Joy started to show signs of mental illness. She was diagnosed with paranoia. And things with Bud seemed to be volatile. In July of 1966, Bud Earley was charged with assault and battery against his wife. The charge was later dropped by the prosecution. Though we don’t know the reason for this, it is common for domestic violence victims to later recant their testimony, which will usually result in a prosecutor dropping the case.
A year later, Bud Earley was charged with a DUI. He was arrested by Bangor police on July 13th, 1967. And that same month, Joy filed for divorce after 7 years of marriage.
Joy began teaching at Dexter High School. It was also reported that she became a social worker but left the job after an elderly patient died by suicide.
Joy and Bud give it another go
In November of 1968, after a year and a half of being divorced, Joy and Bud reconciled and were married again by a notary public in Sangerville.
After commuting from Dover-Foxcroft to Bangor for three years, Bud moved his family to an old farmhouse in Hudson, a town north of Bangor, and it cut his commute in half. He was working at Pine State Volkswagen as a sales manager. By the time they moved, Joy’s brief teaching career was over, and she concentrated on raising their young sons who were 7 and 9.
The best man from their wedding later said of the married couple, “they kept to themselves for the most part.” An old friend of the Earley family and a former Justice of the Peace in Bud’s hometown, said that “She was kind of a loner, but he was too.” Although they still didn’t socialize much in Hudson, there were trail bikes and snowmobiles for the boys, and Joy spent much of her time ferrying the children to ball games.
Dusty and Scott grow up
And that’s where their children, Dusty and Scott, spent most of the formative years. Bud enjoyed hunting, fishing and playing golf with his sons. He was always up for a game of catch or doing target practice on the range with them. The years went quickly, and in May of 1979, the elder son got into the Bangor Daily News as the salutatorian of his graduating class. Dusty made the National Honor Society (which is for exemplary performance on the PSAT), participated in baseball, basketball, and the chess team. He went on to his parents’ alma mater, University of Maine at Orono, and studied geology, and went on to earn his doctorate.
Scott, too, graduated with high honors, and went on to pursue a career in academia, earning his doctorate as well, and became a professor.
Joy’s mental health deteriorates
With the boys out of the house, things began to take a turn for Joy. She stopped taking her medication, and took off. She went traveling solo around the western states until she had exhausted some money that she had come into from the sale of some property. In August of 1984, she was committed to the Bangor Mental Health Institute, where she lived for 14 months. Dr. Roger Wilson diagnosed her in 1985 as being psychotic and suffering from paranoid delusions. 3 months into that stay, Joy and Bud divorced again—this time for good. Joy was 47 years old, and Bud was 46, and they both had a lot of life ahead of them.
A new life as Alex James
Joy’s brother said that she started going by a new name around this time—Alex James. Her name change was part of the divorce decree. No one later interviewed by the Bangor Daily News had any explanation as to the meaning or origin of the name Alex James. For Bud, she was a, quote, “completely separate person” than Joy Crafts, the young woman he had courted in his early 20’s. Bud later said, “She had a very serious problem for many, many years. And unless you live with someone like that that, it’s very hard to understand. They can be more normal than you [when they take their medication]. She was quite a lady.”
For continuity, we’ll use “Joy” to refer to Alex, but to be clear, Joy’s legal name from this point forward was Alex James.
At some point in 1985, Maine’s Department of Human Services petitioned a court to take legal control over her because she reportedly was refusing to take medications. When she resumed taking them a month later, the application was withdrawn. She was able to live on her own and function independently when she took her meds.
In 1985, Joy’s father died, and four years later, her mother died. In both of their obituaries, and in the obituaries of other family members who later died, Joy is always referred to as Joy, and not by her new name.
She was quite alone and lived by herself in Brewer. Her primary income was from government disability payments. Joy didn’t have a car, so the apartment she chose for herself was close to the city. She walked most places, but would sometimes use the bus system. Occasionally one of her sons or brothers would come by to check on her.
Accidental fire claims Joy’s apartment
In February 1992, Joy was dealt another blow—the apartment house where she lived in Brewer at 86 Elm St burned down. Another tenant’s oil-soaked rags spontaneously ignited. All four tenants escaped with only the clothes on their backs. Joy started over again, and found another apartment just up the road at 449 South Main St. This would be the final stop on Joy’s journey.
Joy’s neighbors remember her fondly
Neighbors of Joy said that she was unfailingly polite, but often withdrawn or nervous. One neighbor said, though “she was not a total recluse, she kept to herself most of the time.” Often Joy would leave the lights in her apartment on all night—perhaps a sign of her vigilance. The neighbor who knew Joy best, an elderly woman named Gertrude, tried to engage her in conversation and ply her with a slice of pie, but even she knew little of Joy’s history. Despite her reticence, none of her neighbors had any ill will toward her, and Gertrude called her “an awful good neighbor.” She had no pets, no old friends to visit her, no music emanating through her walls and floors. The few people who saw inside her apartment found none of the books that she once loved as a young woman. A former landlord said, “She was all by herself, and she liked it that way.”
The evening of Friday, June 16, 1995
On the morning of Friday, June 16, 1995, Joy went about her ordinary schedule. She rose early and walked to nearby Tozier’s Market. Mary Jo Tozier said that she was there waiting for the store to be opened, and that she bought bottled water, a newspaper, and a pack of generic cigarettes, and maybe a coffee or a donut. She then went to the laundromat where she gave the morning attendant a few small pieces of candy as they chatted and drank coffee for about an hour. When her clothes were ready, she brought them back home. It’s not clear what else she did that day, but at 4:30PM, Joy was seen by her neighbors leaving her apartment building wearing at typical outfit of hers: blue-and-white striped slacks, a black top, a green nylon jacket, and white sneakers. She was carrying a multi-colored cloth bag that she used as a purse. And at 6:00PM, she was seen in the vicinity of Bangor Mall, which was the last time Joy was seen alive.
A man makes a terrible discovery
The next morning at 6:45AM on Saturday, June 17th, a man went to his storage unit in a run-down industrial area called “Ammo Industrial Park” and discovered Joy’s body, about 10 feet from the road, in the grass. The 58-year-old woman was nude and was obviously dead. He called the police immediately. The area was a 4-mile drive from her Brewer apartment. It was across the Penobscot River on the Bangor side, and technically in the town of Hampden, which is why the Maine State Police were immediately dispatched. The State Police take the lead in all homicide investigations outside of Portland and Bangor, and this fell just outside of Bangor. Ammo Industrial Park is an area that was formerly part of Dow Air Force Base. It’s flat and sprawling; its asphalt pavement is ridden with cracks and potholes; rusted-out storage buildings creak in the wind, and weedy patches of grass proliferate. When it was part of the air force base, the area was called “the old ammo dump.”
Autopsy
That Saturday afternoon, Joy’s body was taken to Augusta to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. The cause of death was determined to be a knife wound to the throat, but it was not her only injury. She had been raped, strangled, stabbed, beaten in the head and chest, and her throat was slit. Police called it “overkill,” a term used to describe the actions of someone who continues to assault their victim after even they have died. Two vaginal swabs were taken and sent to the FBI DNA laboratory.
Police investigation
Police went to her neighbors and questioned them, but no one had seen anything suspicious. Whoever took Joy did so while she was out and about in town, likely on foot. Neighbors were bewildered by the crime because Joy was so cautious and nervous around other people. Mary Jo Tozier said, “She wouldn’t have gotten in the car with me, and I’ve known her for a couple of years.” Several people who knew Joy said that they would see her waiting for the city bus and offer her a ride, but she never accepted.
That evening, the local news reported on the murder and asked the public for help. Her license said she was 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighed 155 pounds, had brown eyes with glasses, and graying hair. The police said that they got about a half dozen calls by Sunday afternoon. One tip came in that she was seen alive at 7:30PM on Friday near Dunkin’ Donuts on Main Street in Bangor. The man who discovered her body had been in Ammo Industrial Park the night before, and he said that the area where her body was found was clear at 8:00PM. The window of time that the police focused on was between 8:00PM Friday night and 6:45AM Saturday morning.
Police: outlook is bleak
On Sunday, Detective Sergeant Barry Shuman with the Maine State Police told the Bangor Daily News that there were no suspects in the case, and he had no idea what the motive was.
On Monday, state police searched two motels and dumpsters near the Ammo Park on Odlin Road, just over the Bangor city line—probably on the theory that the perpetrator was a visitor and staying near where the body was found.
On Tuesday, Joy’s obituary was published in the Bangor Daily News under her legal name, Alex James. Barry Shuman told the press, “It does appear that this was a random attack, and that makes the investigation more complicated.” That afternoon the state police had gotten a tip that someone was camping in the area, so they searched Ammo Industrial Park with a helicopter, looking for signs of a campsite. But by 9:00PM, they called off the chopper after not having found anything. State Police told the press that investigators from Bangor, Brewer and Hampden as well as six state police detectives were all working on the case.
Joy’s ex-husband questioned
The next month, in July of 1995, Joy’s ex-husband, Bud, was interviewed. He was living in Bangor at the time, not far from where Joy had lived, and no doubt police looked at him as a person of interest. In an excellent article by reporter John Ripley for the Bangor Daily News, Bud reflected on his life with Joy. He spoke frankly about their second and final divorce and her becoming Alex James. He said, referring to the differences between Joy Earley and Alex James, “That woman was not my wife.” He said he had no regrets about their separation. Every so often, Bud would see her around town, but he never stopped to talk, fearing that it might dredge up old problems.
John Ripley walked readers through her life and revealed that one of her older brothers also suffered from a similar malady.
Douglas Littlefield’s small crimes
Douglas Littlefield was 24 years old at the time of Joy’s death, and for the previous year he had been making the newspaper in the brief “court news” sections, and developing a rap sheet. In May of 1994, he was convicted of assault. A year later, in April of 1995, he was convicted of theft. A month after that, in May of 1995 he was convicted of operating a vehicle after suspension. And at the end of May of 1995, he was convicted for a second assault.
November 1995 - Mary’s violent attack
The following survivors’ accounts are graphic in nature, but they are important. Without these brave women coming forward to tell their stories, a serial predator may never have been caught.
In the middle of a cold November night in 1995, a 30-year-old woman who I’ll call Mary heard a knock on the door of her apartment on Union Street in Bangor. Thinking it was the married couple next door, she turned the locks to greet them. But to her surprise, a stocky man in his mid-20’s forced his way inside her apartment, and viciously took control.
Mary fought back, and as she struggled, he punched her in the mouth so hard that she lost several teeth. She later told the Bangor Daily News, “He threw me on my bed and I was too weak and bloody to resist. He raped me ... even as I screamed for help.”
He threatened to come back and kill her if she told anyone, but Mary courageously and defiantly ran two miles in her nightgown and bare feet to the police department at 1:30 in the morning.
Mary had no health insurance at the time and couldn’t afford to fix her teeth. During the 3 years it took her to save up for dentures, she said she was teased about her gap-toothed smile.
As a side note, the lack of compassion in Mary’s life made me sad. I can’t imagine making fun of somebody for this, especially knowing what caused it, but even if I wasn’t aware of her situation... you never know what people are going through... Mary needed kindness.
December 1995 - Jane’s violent attack
Less than a month later, on December 5th of 1995, Douglas Littlefield attacked another woman.
She lived in the Bradford Commons apartment complex near Husson University in Bangor. It’s a large and dense property with numerous 2- and 3-story buildings separated by parking lots. She was older—the Bangor Daily News described her as elderly. I’ll refer to her as Jane. Sometime between 1:30AM and 3:30AM, Jane was walking near the laundry room when Douglas came up on her—catching her off-guard—and struck her in the face.
He dragged her to his car and drove away. He raped her and threw her out of the moving vehicle on Pushaw Rd, a rural drag north of Bangor. Jane then walked back to her apartment or a nearby home and called the police.
A detective with the Bangor Police said Jane was so traumatized by the incident, it was difficult to interview her. Initially, they weren’t even sure whether she had been sexually assaulted or not. She was taken to the hospital and treated for her injuries.
A few days later, a follow-up story was published in the Bangor Daily News, and they released information about the suspect. Jane must have been able to provide a more detailed account to the police.
Jane’s attacker was described as a white man with short dark brown hair in his late 20s or early 30s, between 5’6” and 5’8” tall with a stocky build and about 150 lbs. No description of the car was given. Unfortunately, Jane’s attacker fit the description of many young men in Bangor. Accompanying the article was a composite sketch of the suspect. You can see that sketch and more at murdershetold.com.
In the next year, Douglas made the court news in the newspaper a couple more times. In November of 1996 he got a DUI conviction, and the next day he was convicted of a violation of privacy and fined. He had escaped justice for a year in both Mary and Jane’s attacks.
November 1996 - Jon McLeod’s assault
On November 21st, 1996, Douglas beat 67-year-old Jon McLeod so badly he could barely open his eyes during an interview with police a few days later; repeatedly bashing Jon’s face into the pavement on State Street in a drunken rage. A friend of Douglas’, another man in his early 20’s, was also involved.
But Jon couldn’t ID Douglas, and he remained free.
January 1997 - Beverly’s violent attack
Less than 2 months later, Douglas committed the crime that would be his undoing. A 61-year-old woman who I’ll call Beverly lived on Holyoke Street in Brewer, just a few doors down from his own home. Beverly was a grandmother, and a nurse. She was generous with neighbors and had a big heart: she’d even helped Douglas and his girlfriend out with a cup of sugar or a box of mac and cheese from time to time. Another neighbor said, “She’s just like your Grammy. She’s real nice and you just want to hug her.”
Around 10:00pm on January 12th, 1997, Douglas knocked on her door. She recognized his voice. He had even been in her apartment once before when she allowed him to use her phone. When she opened the door, she saw Douglas standing there in just gloves and underwear. She tried to slam the door on him, but he forced his way in where he then began beating her and choking her. After raping her in her bedroom, Beverly and Douglas ended up in the kitchen in a fight, and she began throwing and breaking dishes, trying to get somebody’s attention. Douglas threatened her, shouting he was going to kill her, but Beverly gouged his face with her fingernails and rings before grabbing hold of a knife and scaring him away. He threatened to come back and kill her if she told the police. Beverly called the police anyway.
Douglas Littlefield apprehended
When police arrived, they found Beverly with blood on her face and bathrobe; her lip was swollen and bloody and her eyes were bruised. She directed them to Douglas’ apartment, and police found him there, just a block away: he was drunk and “very angry,” and there were scratches on his face and hands.
According to the affidavit later written by a Brewer detective, Douglas’ mother arrived at the scene and told her son, “I hope you go away for a long time.” Police arrested him and took him to Penobscot County Jail. The next day, 25-year-old Douglas Littlefield appeared before a judge and was charged with a felony-level gross sexual assault.
Even after the attack, Beverly still lived in her home on Holyoke, but according to a neighbor, “she wasn’t the same person she used to be.” They said, “Just look at her. It makes you want to cry.”
Police collect DNA
The spokesman for the Maine State Police, Steve McCausland, later told the press that they immediately took note of the similarities between Beverly’s attack and Joy’s murder. They took a blood sample from Douglas to test against the physical evidence in Joy’s case.
Beverly and Douglas’s neighborhood
In the first article that appeared in the Bangor Daily News about the crime against Beverly, it was revealed that the landlord of Douglas’ building had evicted him. This affected his girlfriend and their son, too. They all lived together. The press asked around about Douglas. He was a big guy, husky, and baby-faced and worked as a mover for Parker Bailey & Sons Movers in Brewer.
The neighborhood he lived in was “quiet, middle class, with a lot of kids as well as older people.” Neighbors told the press that people were friendly, and that when the kids were out playing someone would always bring cookies down. One neighbor said that Douglas was creepy and that, “he never spoke and was real strange.” Another woman said that they didn’t have a phone. Strangest of all, they said that “his girlfriend and son never left the apartment. She would never visit and have coffee.” Neighborhood children weren’t allowed to play with the boy. She recalled just one time the boy was out, but as soon as Douglas pulled in the driveway, the girlfriend quickly grabbed her son and took him inside.
The landlord notified all the tenants about the violent sexual assault in case he was released from jail. And once the neighbors learned of the terrible crime against Beverly, the mood changed. One woman said, “Now we are all jumpy, always checking the locks, listening for unusual sounds, and not so ready to help a neighbor out.”
A break in Joy’s case
It was on March 5th, 1997, that the state police got the break that they needed in Joy’s case. A supervisor from the FBI’s DNA lab called the state police crime lab to let them know that they had found a match between Douglas and the semen recovered from Joy’s body. He was still in jail at this point, and two detectives interviewed him that evening. They then charged Douglas the next day with murder.
Douglas charged with Joy’s murder
The next day reporters saw Douglas approaching the district courthouse in the blinding snow. He wore an orange jumpsuit and untied work boots. His ankles were shackled. While waiting in the court’s benches, he told the detective, “I called my mother. They are all supporting me.” The judge read the charges against him, and he made no plea—likely waiting to get an attorney. The judge ordered him held without bail until trial. Steve McCausland broke the good news to the press about the DNA match, and revealed that over the past 20 months since Joy’s murder, police had sent samples from seven men to the FBI lab hoping for a match. The other men had histories of sexual assaults and were geographically close-by.
The press revealed that Douglas, at the time of Joy’s murder, had lived just a few houses away from her on South Main Street—just a quarter mile up the street on the same side of the road. It wasn’t until after Joy’s killing that he moved to Beverly’s neighborhood on Holyoke Street.
Joy’s ex-husband responded to the news, saying, “This gives it some closure, but it doesn’t really change things.”
Douglas charged with Jane and Mary’s attacks
3 months later, a grand jury indicted Douglas for his other crimes again Jane and Mary. Again, the physical evidence had connected him and the press reported that Douglas had admitted to the police that he was responsible.
The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Michael Roberts, said,
“All of the cases I know of involve a significant degree of violence. It appears that in each case the violence is connected to his desire to prevent the victim from identifying him. In each case, he took measures so that the women would not look at him. He’s a big man and he used a degree of violence well beyond what was necessary to compel the act of sexual assault.”
A week later, Douglas pled not guilty to the new charges. That brought the total to five incidents and five victims. There were 4 rape charges, 1 aggravated assault charge, a kidnapping charge, and the most serious charge: murder.
The DNA era
Right as this criminal proceeding was unfolding, Maine was entering a new era of criminal forensics. Up to this point, all of Maine’s DNA testing was sent out the FBI lab, but in June of 1997 the Maine State Police opened their own DNA lab and hired two DNA analysts. A year and a half prior, in January of 1996, Maine state law was amended to mandate that anyone convicted of a serious crime would be required to submit a DNA sample to law enforcement. In Maine and around the country, DNA was being heralded as the most significant advancement in criminal forensics since fingerprints, and Douglas’ apprehension was shining example.
Insanity defense?
In December of 1997, 9 months after Douglas had been charged, he had changed his plea to “not guilty by reason of insanity” on at least one of the charges. His attorney had hired a psychiatric evaluation by an expert from Harvard University and they had blown through the initial $6,000 that was previously approved. On December 16th, he asked for an additional $8,100. The judged balked at the request, and said she would research similar cases before determining how much additional money she would approve for the defense’s expert witness.
1998, Douglas in jail pending trial
It's unclear how this was resolved, but there were a few significant changes in 1998. Douglas got a new defense attorney. He ended up dropping the insanity defense, and he asked his attorney to seek a plea bargain agreement from the state. There were two different prosecuting entities. The Attorney General’s office had jurisdiction over Joy’s murder and rape charges, and the Penobscot County District Attorney’s office had jurisdiction over all of the remaining charges from Bangor and Brewer. All of the charges would be tried together, and he was scheduled to go to trial in February of 1999.
Douglas takes a plea deal
If he were convicted of all charges, and the judge sentenced him to the maximum for each charge, he would serve life in prison plus 160 years. His defense attorney wanted the AG’s office to take life in prison off the table in exchange for his guilty plea. After some negotiation, Douglas appeared in court on January 13th, 1999, and took the deal, which eliminated the need for a trial. He pled guilty to the rape and murder of Joy. He also pled guilty to the three rape charges, one kidnapping charge, and an aggravated assault. The state’s prosecutor outlined the case against Douglas and recounted the horrific details of Joy’s death. He entered the photographic evidence into the record in lieu of detailing the extensive injuries. The judge accepted the pleas and ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Douglas before she would rule on sentencing.
After the hearing, Douglas’ attorney said that he felt remorse for his actions and wanted to expedite the case to spare the victims the trauma of a public trial.
Douglas’s sentencing hearing
Five months later, on June 5th, 1999, Douglas returned to superior court to get his sentence. He was dressed in a white-and-blue-striped cotton shirt and a pair of jeans. His hair was cut short and neat. Reporters remarked of his broad shoulders and stocky build that he looked more like a college football player than a rapist and murderer. When the judge asked him if he had anything to say, he replied, “No, your honor.” His attorney said, “[Douglas] still wants to know why these acts occurred [himself]. He can only attribute it to a drunken state of mind. But he hopes counseling in jail will bring answers.” Douglas’ family didn’t attend the hearing. He reportedly told them to stay home to spare any more pain. His attorney said, “He really just wants this to be over and serve his time.”
The survivors then were given the floor to speak to the judge, and to speak to Douglas directly, but only one of them took that opportunity. The 30-year-old woman, Mary, who it was revealed at sentencing was disabled, recounted what he had done to her and then said, “I see him every night in my dreams. Please see that he never sees the light of day again.”
The family of Joy Earley was present at the sentencing but did not wish to speak.
The state planned to stress that the victims were always vulnerable. Always alone. Often older women. Done under the cover of darkness. He was a predator.
The judge sentenced him 70 years for the murder and 25 for the other crimes, for a total of 95 years, slightly less than what the prosecution recommended. And the time was to be served consecutively.
With allowances for reduction in the sentence under the state’s “Good Time” law, Douglas will likely serve 67 years. It is unlikely that he will ever be free.
His defense attorney told the press, “All I could do was argue that maybe he should have some hope, some light at the end of the tunnel. This is effectively a life sentence for him.”
He said that though he may appeal the sentence, Douglas hadn’t asked him to do so.
Inmate #34746
It’s still not clear exactly what happened that Friday night when Joy was taken. I imagine her having a summer evening stroll in the fading sunlight, walking toward a beautiful sunset, when a car pulled up and parked down the road from her. A man emerged, busying himself with some papers, but once she got closer and he looked at her, she knew something terrible was about to happen. He forced her into his vehicle and took her to a desolate industrial park, where she was subjected to his drunken rage, and she was killed.
Joy was just 58 years old and had many years ahead of her. She was doing well and living independently. She was a creature of habit, and had an active life, close to a downtown. She was quiet, polite, and cautious. And her life was taken in an inexplicable act of violence.
The only solace was that her killer was brought to justice because of the courage of a survivor.
Though Douglas was convicted of numerous rapes and violent crimes, I can’t help but think there are other victims out there, other crimes that were unreported. His girlfriend and young son... Did they suffer his wrath, too?
Today, Douglas is inmate #34746 in the Maine State Prison in Warren. He hasn’t left jail since he was apprehended on January 12th, 1997. It has been 25 years since he was last free, and according to the Department of Corrections, his earliest release will be September of 2068, when Douglas will be 97 years old.
I hope that every night when the latch on his steel door clicks into place, it reminds him of what he took.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence or assault, help is available 24/7. Visit RAINN.org or call their confidential help line (800) 656-4673.
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Joy lived at the Elms during her years at UMO
Delta Zeta sorority at University of Maine Orono; Joy pictured (but not sure where she is in the photo!)
Joy (Crafts) Earley (aka Alex James), on her wedding day to Drummond “Bud” Earley
70 Pleasant St, Dover-Foxcroft, ME (Joy & Bud’s first home)
Bud’s first job was in Dover-Foxcroft at McDonald Ford Sales
Joy’s son, Drummond “Dusty” Earley III
Joy (Crafts) Earley (aka Alex James)
Ammo Industrial Park, Hampden, ME, where Joy’s body discovered
495 South Main St, Brewer, ME (Douglas Littlefield’s home, just down the street from Joy, who also lived on S. Main St)
Douglas Littlefield, ~40 years old, prisoner #34764
Sources For This Episode
Newspaper articles
Various articles from the Bangor Daily News, Portland Press Herald, Biddeford Journal Tribune, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel, and Sun-Journal, here.
Written by various authors including Renee Ordway, Jeff Tuttle, John Ripley, Leanne Robicheau, Susan Kinzie, and Victoria Brett.
Photos
Photos from Google Maps and various newspaper articles.
Credits
Vocal performance, audio editing, writing support, and research by Kristen Seavey
Written by, research, and photo editing by Byron Willis
Murder, She Told is created by Kristen Seavey