Tyler Witham-Jordan (Photo courtesy Two Bridges Regional Jail)
Ten months after the Christmas Day death of Edgecomb 3-year-old Makinzlee Handrahan, the Maine State Police have charged a 29-year-old Edgecomb man with homicide.
Tyler Witham-Jordan was taken into custody at his residence on Friday, Oct. 6 and transported to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset, where he remained in custody Wednesday, Oct. 11.
Witham-Jordan has been identified as the former live-in boyfriend of Makinzlee Handrahan’s mother. The two shared a residence off Route 1 in Edgecomb.
According to information from the Maine Department of Public Safety, the Lincoln County Communications Center received a 911 call around 7:37 a.m. on Dec. 25, 2022 reporting Handrahan was not breathing.
Handrahan was subsequently transported by Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service to LincolnHealth’s Miles Campus in Damariscotta, where she was pronounced deceased. Maine State Police detectives and evidence response technicians worked late into the night on Christmas Day and spent the entirety of the next day, pursuing the investigation at the scene.
On Dec. 28, Maine State Police identified Handrahan as the victim of a homicide.
On Dec. 27, while the investigation was ongoing, Handrahan’s mother obtained a temporary protection from abuse order against Witham-Jordan. In a handwritten narrative accompanying her filing, the woman said Witham-Jordan was “verbally, mentally, and physically abusive,” and described abusive and manipulative behavior including assault, belittling comments, and at least one threat of suicide.
The Wiscasset District Court dismissed the protection order in January, at the mother’s request.
At an initial court appearance in Sagadahoc Superior Court in West Bath on Tuesday, Oct. 10, Justice Daniel Billings accepted the state’s recommendation, setting bail for Witham-Jordan at $250,000 and attaching conditions of no use or possession of and search upon reasonable articulable suspicion for alcohol and illegal drugs, and to have no contact with minors under the age of 16.
Appearing via Zoom from the Wiscasset jail, Witham-Jordan spoke to answer the judge’s questions acknowledging he understood the charges against him and that he was aware of his rights.
Witham-Jordan’s defense attorneys, James P. Howaniec and Jesse Archer, did not oppose bail conditions but urged the court to schedule a Harnish hearing, expedite a bail hearing, and to compel the state to turn over discovery materials immediately.
A Harnish hearing is a preconviction bail hearing during which the state has the opportunity to obtain a judicial finding of probable cause, and the defendant is afforded the opportunity to rebut the state’s case against them.
Despite the length of time between Handrahan’s death and Witham-Jordan’s arrest, the state had not obtained an indictment, Howaniec said. He suggested it is potentially significant the state has not asked for a Harnish hearing either.
“You know there’s been no indictment here for some reason,” Howaniec said. “Why, I don’t know. It’s been 10 months. I’m assuming there have been multiple grand juries that have passed since then.”
Despite asking the state repeatedly for information, Howaniec said it was just this past weekend the defense received the 33-page affidavit containing information the state has known for months.
Based on the affidavit, Howaniec said the state’s case appears to be a matter of fitting square pegs into round holes.
“We’ve made repeated requests for information, and we have what we think is an affidavit here that has a theory that Tyler was, you know, withdrawing from drugs and somehow killed this…girl, and that’s all we know about the case,” Howaniec said.
Howaniec said is not likely Witham-Jordan can come up with $250,000 bail, but he should be released on bail. While the state has kept Witham-Jordan in the dark, Witham-Jordan has been quietly living with his mother, posing no risk to anyone, Howaniec said.
“He wildly denies these charges,” Howaneic said.
Archer forcefully urged the court to turn over discovery materials immediately. Because of the specific nature of the allegations, Witham-Jordan is currently housed in a high-risk pod by himself for 23 hours a day, Archer said
“With an investigation that’s been going on almost a year, it makes no sense why the court wouldn’t order the state to disclose what discovery it has right now,” Archer said.
Representing the state, Maine Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman said the state is not opposed to setting an agreeable schedule for discovery in the near future.
Billings said he would ask the Lincoln County Courts clerk to schedule a bail hearing as soon as possible, stipulating the hearing would involve conduct a de novo review.
