Jalique Keene and 19-year-old Mikaela Conley, inset, knew each other from Mount Desert Island High School. Photos / AP, Supplied
Jalique Keene and 19-year-old Mikaela Conley, inset, knew each other from Mount Desert Island High School. Photos / AP, Supplied
A man who was captured on video hauling the lifeless body of a former high school classmate into the woods was sentenced to 58 years in prison on Wednesday for raping and killing her.
Jalique Keene was seen on surveillance video carrying the woman over his shoulder as she kicked her legs and then later carrying her limp body into the woods, where she was found last year. The 22-year-old Keene was convicted of murder and gross sexual assault in May.
Mikaela Conley picked keen up from the airport. Photo / Supplied
Keene and 19-year-old Mikaela Conley knew each other from Mount Desert Island High School. Security video captured Keene and Conley on a playground early on June 1, 2018.
Keene testified at his trial that the two fought after having consensual sex but that he didn't remember killing her. On Wednesday, Keene said he took "full responsibility for the death."
Keene, a star running back, and Conley were schoolmates at Mount Desert Island High School. He graduated in 2015, while Conley was still a sophomore.
Police said that on May 31, 2018, Conley had gone to pick up Keene from a Boston airport after he flew back from playing amateur football in Serbia.
They were said to have arrived back in Bar Harbor on June 1 at 1am, at which point they walked to the playground near Conners Emerson School, across the street from where Conley lived with her mother, who reported her missing later that day.
Searchers found Conley's body hidden in the woods near the school on June 2 and Keene was arrested on June 4.
An autopsy showed Conley died from blunt force trauma to her head and strangulation. Keene's DNA was found under Conley's fingernails and inside her body, prosecutors said.
The victim's stepfather said Keene started off as Conley's friend, but turned out to be a "wolf in sheep's clothing."
"I am beyond broken. I am broken beyond repair without my girl. This is my life sentence. Jalique Keene has broken our family," Conley's mother, Danielle Timoney, said.
Jalique Keene appears for sentencing at the Hancock County Superior Court in Ellsworth. Photo / AP
Mikaela Conley. Photo / Supplied
The Bangor Daily News reported that about 50 of Conley's relatives and friends crowded into the courtroom. On the other side of the courtroom, a smaller group of Keene's family and friends wore black T-shirts with a photo of Keene and "We all love you" in large letters.
Keene testified at his trial that the two fought after having consensual sex but that he didn't remember killing her. Photo / Supplied
Barbara Keene, Jalique Keene's adoptive mother, said Conley's death was a tragedy, "amplified by the fact that it came at the hands of a close friend she had trusted." But, she added, the crime "is not the sum total of who he (Keene) is."
