Published November 20, 2014
A man who pleaded guilty to murder in the disappearance and death last year of a Maine woman whose toddler daughter was found abandoned in her car was sentenced Thursday to 50 years in prison.
Anthony Papile, 29, said his actions "were atrocious."
"I can't tell you how truly sorry I am for what I've done," Papile said in Carroll County court. "I stand here a broken-hearted and sorry man. I'm going to live with the pain and the shame of being the monster in their lives. I don't ask forgiveness because I don't deserve it."
Papile, of Ossipee, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Krista Dittmeyer, of Portland, Maine. Her body was found in Cranmore Mountain ski area's snowmaking pond in Conway, about 50 miles northwest of her hometown. The cause of her death was prolonged cold-water submersion.
Dittmeyer's car was found idling in the ski area's parking lot the morning of her disappearance with her 14-month-old daughter unharmed inside. Prosecutor Jane Young said Thursday that Papile left the car's heat on and the lights flashing in the hopes that someone would find the girl.
Dittmeyer's body was found four days later a quarter-mile away in the pond, which Papile, a former ski area employee, had helped build.
Her mother, Lanell Shackley, said tearfully that she was "the most kind and loving mom" to her little girl.
"That day in April, Anthony Papile took away my daughter, a sister, a mother and a kind and loving friend," said Shackley, who is caring for Dittmeyer's daughter, now 2 years old.
Prosecutors said Dittmeyer was lured to the apartment of a friend, Michael Petelis, also of Ossipee. Young said Papile clubbed her in the head three times as she was climbing the stairs. Prosecutors said the pair had plotted to steal drugs and money from her.
Prosecutors said Papile and Petelis bound Dittmeyer's legs and torso with duct tape and put her in the trunk of her car, which Papile drove to the ski area.
"The defendant parked near the snowmaking pond, submerged her underwater and pushed her away from the land," Young told the judge.
Prosecutors said another man, Trevor Ferguson, of Tamworth, agreed to give Papile a ride home from the ski area in exchange for money and drugs.
Petelis and Ferguson each were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit robbery. Their cases are pending.
Ferguson's lawyer, John Clothier, said his client has no court appearance scheduled but added, "There should be some news in his case coming fairly soon." Petelis' lawyer, Ted Barnes, said he had no comment.
Papile's sentence could be cut short by about seven years if he earns his high school diploma and completes college-level degrees in prison.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/nh-man-gets-50-years-in-death-of-missing-maine-mom