Thayne Ormsby

This is one of those cases that after researching I am left wondering if full justice was served. It is one of those cases that involves a confession that law enforcement officials say matched the evidence and the scene but then other things seem to contradict those statements. While researching this case I was left thinking about a recent local case for me. The case involving the death of Aleah Beckerle recently went to trial in my town. Like the case of Thayne Ormsby, the defendant in the Beckerle case was said to be of lower intelligence and maturity and a confession was elicited. It also appears that in both cases that while the defendants were involved in some way, many believe that the defendants were less involved than their confessions would imply and that the person who “pulled the strings” face little or no consequences for their actions. But, as if often the case, I seem to be getting ahead of myself.

On June 23, 2010 Jason DeHahn's brother had been looking for him. He had gone to the home of Jeffrey Ryan in Amity Maine a few times thinking he may find Jason but had received no answer at the door. On his third visit there on that evening he had taken a flashlight and shined it inside the home. When he looked in he saw what he thought was blood and called his father, Robert. When Robert arrived the two men went inside the home and found the body of ten year old Jesse Ryan. The two DeHahn men called the police. Once there law enforcement first found the body of fifty-five year old Jeffrey Ryan in a shed just outside the home and then a short time later found the body of thirty year old Jason DeHahn. The cause of death of all three victims was multiple stab wounds. In the case of Jason DeHahn, his throat had also been cut.

As is the often the case authorities started questioning people in and around the area. Amity is a farming and logging town that has a population of only a few hundred people so everyone pretty much knew everyone else. The next town over, only about a mile away, was Orient and authorities went there to talk to the Strout family. Robert and Joy Strout lived in the home. Whether their grown daughter, Tamara lived there also is not completely clear. It seems that it was common knowledge that the Strout family and Jeffrey Ryan did not get along. Tamara Strout and Jeffrey Ryan shared a sixteen year old daughter, Mariah, together. Also living in the home at that time was twenty year old Thayne Ormsby.

There seems to be no argument that Thayne had a troubled life. He had been removed from his mother's home when he was twelve by authorities. Information states that he was removed because he was being physically abused, but it was not actually specific as to who was abusing him. After his removal he went to live with an uncle until about the age of seventeen, when he dropped out of high school his senior year. It was not exactly clear where he went to live, or what he did from then until he moved in with the Strout family just a few months before the murders at the Ryan home. It was said that Thayne's mother, Maria had long been friends with Tamara Strout. Allegedly Thayne had moved into the home to help the disabled Robert and Joy Strout do things around the home. It was also said that Thayne was going to help the couple renovate another home they had and that the plan was for Thayne, Tamara and Mariah to move into the home when it was finished.

Then, three days after the bodies had been discovered Jeffrey Ryan's truck was found. It had obviously been stolen at the scene and had been set on fire. The truck was of little help forensically but at the Ryan home authorities had collected beer bottles and cigarette butts. Initially DNA tests would come back as an “unknown male.”

It was not completely clear as to just how Thayne Ormsby because such a fast suspect in the murder investigation. It was said that when investigators went to the Strout home for the first time Thayne was present and although it does not seem that authorities questioned him in any way, they felt he acted strangely. Sometime after that first interview with the Strout family Thayne Ormsby left Orient. When questioned about it Robert Strout initially stated he had no idea where he had gone. However, sometime after that Robert Strout would tell a new story.

Strout would tell authorities that on the night of June 22^nd Thayne Ormsby had returned to the home covered in blood and had told him that he had killed Jeffrey Ryan and the other two victims. According to Strout, Thayne had stated that he had done so because Jeffrey Ryan was a drug dealer and that after murdering him he had gone up to the house where he saw Jason DeHahn and Jesse Ryan. Strout claims that Thayne stated that DeHahn had ran out of the mobile home and towards the road and that he had chased him down, killing him and putting his body into a ditch (some story says bushes) at the end of the driveway. Then allegedly Thayne once again returned to the home and tracked down Jesse Ryan who most believe had attempted to hide and murdered him also. Strout would tell authorities that Thayne had threatened him and his family and forced him first to help him burn Jeffrey Ryan's truck, then Thayne's clothing, as well as get rid of the murder weapon. Then after investigators had come to the home once Strout claims that Thayne all but “forced” him to get him out of town. He “confessed” to authorities that he had taken Thayne to his son's home in Dover New Hampshire nearly five hours away.

Authorities went to Dover and spoke with Thayne Ormsby. He willingly gave investigators a DNA sample. Information is a bit sketchy but it appears that a few days later Ormsby was brought back to the Dover police station where he gave a confession to the crime, as well as it had already been determined that his DNA matched the “unknown male” DNA found at the crime scene. Thayne was arrested and taken back to Maine where he was charged with three counts of first degree murder and one count of arson.

There seemed to be several theories on what the motive may have been in this case. The most “popular” motive revolved around the idea that Thayne believed that Jeffrey Ryan was a drug dealer despite the fact that there appeared to be no evidence of this. Some reports state that Thayne told authorities that Robert Strout had given him this information. Other reports that state that Strout told investigators that Thayne told him that Jeffrey Ryan had owed his father $10,000 from a drug deal, but that could not be confirmed either. There are some that believe the true motive may have been related to the fact that Jeffrey Ryan did, or may have had an issue with the fact that Thayne Ormsby was planning to live in a home in which his sixteen year old daughter resided. Allegedly Thayne had only spoken to or seen Jeffrey Ryan one time prior to committing the murders. There did not seem to be any indication that Thayne saw any drug activity personally so regardless as to how he allegedly came to the conclusion that Jeffrey Ryan was dealing drugs it seems that information had to have come from someone else. I am harping on this quite a bit because of things that would transpire later.

Robert Strout was also arrested at some point and charged with “hindering apprehension” and arson helping get rid of evidence and transporting Thayne to his son's home to avoid capture. He was released on bail but then in August of 2011 he was charged with violating his bail conditions as well as charged with “aggravated furnishing of scheduled drugs.” I find it interesting that Thayne Ormsby, who was said to have a much lower maturity and intelligence level than his twenty years, told authorities it was Strout who told him Jeffrey Ryan was a drug dealer and then Strout himself is arrested for drugs. According to reports Strout “sold” 170 Oxycodone pills to his twenty-four year old grandson and another girl that was with him and was busted by the Maine Drug Enforcement Officers. I read the statute of this charge and there are several factors that could have made this an “aggravating” charge but without further details I am unsure if one of those factors could have been a prior similar charge or just what category in which the drug deal fell. It is possible that through the investigation that it was discovered this was not the first time that Strout had provided his grandson with these pills to sell and that may have made the aggravating charge. Robert Strout it seems would quickly make a deal with prosecutors that would require him to testify against Thayne Ormsby for a reduced sentenced. He would plead guilty to the charges in October of 2011 but would not be sentenced until after Thayne's trial. It appears as if once again he was released on bail.

Thayne would go on trial in April of 2012. The jury would consist of seven men and five women. As the trial began the jurors were only told that Thayne had pleaded not guilty to the crimes of which he had been charged. They were not told that he also pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the same charges. It appears that in Maine the jury first was to determine whether a defendant is guilty of the crime and then, in cases such as these, they were to determine whether he was “criminally responsible.” They are not informed apparently going in about the second plea. This is something that I had never heard of before, but I have to say that on the surface I like the idea and something I want to look more into at some point. It is always interesting to me to learn about new laws or ways of doing things.

The prosecution had several things on their side. In my opinion the most important thing they had was the beer bottle and cigarette butt found at the crime scene that was said to have matched Thayne's DNA. They also had the confession that he had given upon his arrest on videotape which was shown to the jury. There was apparently a witness, although I found nothing on who it may have been, that alleged seeing a truck that resembled Strout's near the area in which Jeffrey Ryan's truck had been burnt and two men in the area. This seemed to be some of the information that led them to the Strout home and in the direction of Thayne. Beyond that, it is not clear what else the prosecution had aside from the statements that Robert Strout had made to them. Among those statements was one in which Strout claimed to have seen Thayne just after the murders “covered in blood.” There was an article that stated that a “key witness” had informed police they had seen Thayne covered in blood around the time of the murders and it seems to me that while he was not named in the article this was likely Strout. The article seemed to be written prior to the trial. Surprisingly despite his plea agreement with the prosecutors, and the fact that he was seen outside the courtroom preparing to testify at the trial, the prosecution did not call Robert Strout to the stand.

Defense arguments were a bit sketchy in their clarity. It is not clear whether they admitted that Thayne was at the scene or not, but it does seems that they were implicating Robert Strout as being more involved than had been stated. Prosecutors had alleged that the knife used in the murders had been disposed and not found but showed the jury one they believed to be similar. The defense argued that Robert Strout's car had been searched in the investigation and that a serrated knife had been found under the seat of his car but had not been properly looked into as being the murder weapon.

Despite Strout not testifying and giving his version of events on April 13, 2012 the jury convicted Thayne Ormsby on three counts of murder and one count of arson. It was then that the jury learned there would be a second phase to the trial. They had already determined, at least from the evidence they had been given that Thayne had committed the crime but now they had to determine if he was “criminally responsible.” In essence this amounts to an “insanity” plea which are rarely successful and this case was no exception. The jury returned on April 19^th and stated their belief that he was in fact criminally responsible.

Thayne Ormsby was given three life sentences for the murders and fifteen years for the charge of arson. In Maine when a life sentence is imposed it means “life” and barring a successful appeal the defendant remains in the prison system for the rest of their natural life. An appeal was filed in 2013 and the conviction and sentence was upheld. A new appeal was filed in June of 2018. Much of the argument revolves around Robert Strout and the fact that the defense continues to argue that he was not adequately looked at as an alternative suspect. While I may believe that claim and also believe that Strout was much more involved in the crime than has been legally proven I honestly do not expect the appeal to get very far. Part of that lies with the fact that Robert Strout died in December of 2015.

For his part it appears, aside from the fact that he died a few years later, Robert Strout made out like a bandit in this case. On May 23, 2012 he faced sentencing. It appears that this sentencing settled all of Strout's legal issues relating to the murders as well as his drug charges. Officially he was given a ten year sentence but the judge suspended all but four years of that. Just how much he was required to serve of that time is unclear. It appears as if his wife, Joy, died in September of 2013.

This case gives me a bad taste in my mouth. First, no matter who you, I or the state of Maine believe to be most or more responsible three people, including an absolutely innocent ten year old child, were brutally murdered. Secondly, it appears that by all accounts it seemed to be common knowledge that the Strouts did not get along with Jeffrey Ryan in any way, shape or form and yet there were reports that after the murders Strout, despite allegedly knowing Thayne had committed the murders at the time, went to the media praising Jeffrey Ryan as a person. This seems completely contradictory not just to what was known about their relationship prior to the murders, but what he admitted later to knowing at the time. If Jeffrey Ryan, who was the father of one of Strout's grandchildren, was as wonderful as he had portrayed to the media then why did he allow his alleged murderer to get away. Of course Strout claimed that Thayne had threatened him and his family but it appears that the second the heat got too hot on Strout he was squealing like a pig on Thayne. Thayne Ormsby was not a large person and this had come into play for some of the family members, especially those of Jason DeHahn. It seems there are a few that do not believe that Ormsby alone could have or would have been able to overpower DeHahn who was only only described as large and strong.

Personally I have to wonder why a young man, who by all accounts barely knew Jeffrey Ryan, would go and not only murder him “because he was a drug dealer” but murder two other people at the the home, one being a child, and how he would do so all alone. It seems unreasonable that while Thayne was allegedly chasing Jason DeHahn out of the home and into the yard that ten year old Jesse Ryan did not either, efficiently get out of the home, call the police or hide. Something feels off with this for me. I am also skeptical of the fact that while it was common knowledge that the Strout family had issues with Jeffrey Ryan that Robert would talk to the media talking about what a good person he was. In my opinion it comes off as trying too hard to get attention away from him, which in turn makes him look even more suspicious.

In the end it appears that this case is ending like so many other cases. We have a story, or two, of what allegedly happened at the Ryan home but reality is that in most cases there are bits of truth in those stories but not everything is as it was told. In the end it does not appear that the full story will ever emerge.