Edgecomb man charged with murder of girl in 2022 appears in court

WISCASSET, Maine – The Edgecomb man accused of killing a 3-year-old child nearly two years ago appeared for a hearing in a Lincoln County courtroom Tuesday.

Tyler Witham-Jordan has been charged with murder with malicious indifference in connection with the death of three-year-old Makinzlee Handrahan on Christmas morning 2022.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors debated Tuesday in Lincoln County Superior Court over what evidence the judge should present to jurors in Witham-Jordan's trial, which is scheduled to begin in the next two months.

According to court documents, the child died of blunt force trauma. Court documents show that investigators also found Witham-Jordan's DNA under the victim's fingertips, on a broken hairbrush found in the bathroom, blood stains on the bathroom wall, blood and other DNA on a shirt, on a towel, on the victim's diaper, and DNA collected from other locations in the house.

Defense attorney Jim Howaniec filed a motion to exclude DNA evidence from the case, stating that Witham-Jordan lived in the home and that his DNA could likely be found in several locations.

Howaniec claimed that it was not unusual to find blood stains in the bathroom and stated that Witham-Jordan foughtmwas associated with drug use and that he frequently used needles to inject heroin in the bathroom. He argued that blood from Witham-Jordan's needles could easily be the source of the blood stains in the bathroom.

Howaniec explained that other DNA samples collected at the crime scene were not relevant to the case because forensic scientists cannot determine when DNA might be deposited on a surface or object.

He also argued that the DNA evidence should not be admitted in court, further claiming that prosecutors did not have enough compelling evidence to prove that Witham-Jordan committed the crime.

“This is how innocent people are convicted of crimes. The state has a theory about what happened, but they have absolutely no evidence that this guy committed this crime,” Howaniec said. “They have no evidence. There is no witness. There are no informants in the prison who have come forward.”

Prosecutor Jennifer Ackerman disagreed, saying that it was common practice to use DNA evidence in a case like this.

“We heard from Detective Moore, in the report, that [the child’s mother’s] “There was no DNA found on the hairbrush, there was no DNA found on the diaper, there was no DNA found on her fingernail,” Ackerman said, explaining why DNA evidence should be admissible in court. “So that's certainly relevant if the defendant is pursuing an alternative suspect theory.”

Howaniec suspected that Witham-Jordan and the victim's mother were the only adults in the house at the time of the murder.

He said that the victim's mother had mental health issues and that she allegedly suffered from bipolar disorder. He also said that she had a history of blackouts and was unable to remember her actions.

Howaniec also strongly criticized the mother's earlier statements to investigators about her memories of the events leading to the child's murder.

Howaniec went further and filed a motion to release the medical records of the victim's mother, claiming that she was likely responsible for the murder of her own child.

“The only thing we agree on in this case is that it was a murder,” Howaniec said, explaining that he and prosecutors agree on one point. “This young girl did not die by accident. She was brutally and cruelly murdered. I think we also agree with the state on one point, which is that there is no evidence of an intruder in this case, and I think we largely agree that none of the three other children in the household committed the murder. So that still leaves two adults in the household. One of them probably murdered Makinzlee Handrahan, and one of them has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.”

Howaniec's request to subpoena the child's mother's medical records was strongly criticized by Ackerman.

“This is character assassination,” Ackerman said. “And that's basically what he's trying to do. … These are confidential records for very important reasons, and they're not to be reviewed at will to see if there's anything there. There's nothing there that could be used for this wholesale character assassination that he's trying to do.”

The judge denied the motion to subpoena the records and the motion to exclude the DNA records.

Court clerks said they would have a better idea of ​​what day the trial would begin after Oct. 17.

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