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A trial is underway for a Maine man accused of killing his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in Edgecomb.
Tyler Witham-Jordan is charged with depraved indifference murder for the death of Makinzlee Handrahan.
On Christmas morning in 2022, Handrahan’s mother, Faith Lewis, called 911 around 7:30 a.m. after finding her daughter cold, stiff, bruised and not breathing.
Dispatchers say they heard the girl’s mother say, “Oh my god, I think my daughter’s dead.”
Her boyfriend, later identified as Witham-Jordan, could be heard saying, “I’m f——d” and “I’m finished.”
First responders say they found bruises all over the little girl’s body.
The medical examiner ruled her cause of death blunt force trauma and said she had internal injuries.
According to court documents, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said there was a Department of Health and Human Services investigation the previous October after Handrahan’s day care reported she had a scratch and bruises, which her mother and Witham-Jordan said were caused by a cat scratch and falling on the stairs. Investigators say there was also purple swelling under her eye at the time.
Police say Witham-Jordan was still living with Handrahan and her mother months later when she was found dead on Christmas.
During opening statements Friday, the state focused on the extent of the child’s injuries.
“Makinzlee Handrahan was not able to speak for herself, but her injuries and the evidence leave a trail, and that trail leads directly and only to this defendant,” state prosecutor Lisa Bogue said.
Much of their case will also center around texts sent between Witham-Jordan and his girlfriend, Faith Lewis.
The defense says those messages paint a different picture of what happened. The defense accuses Lewis of committing the crime instead.
“That seems crazy. It seems impossible, a mother murdering her own daughter, but we’re going to ask you to keep an open mind,” said Jim Howaniec, a defense attorney for Witham-Jordan.
Testimony started Friday morning with a paramedic who responded to the scene.