On a crisp autumn morning in Hebron, Maine, the life of a 34-year-old Caucasian female named Karen Wrentzel was tragically cut short. It was October 28, 2017, the opening day of the deer hunting season for residents, a day that would end in devastating loss. Wrentzel had only recently moved to the property on Greenwood Mountain Road, with plans to spend the winter caring for her grandmother.
On that fateful morning, she was on her own land, engaged in the peaceful hobby of digging for gemstones, unaware of the danger that lurked nearby.
A local hunter, 38-year-old Robert Trundy of Hebron, was out with his father in the woods that bordered Wrentzel's property. From a distance of about 100 yards, Trundy spotted what he later described to authorities as a "brown thing" moving. Believing he saw the rear end of a deer, he fired his. 30-06 caliber rifle. Immediately after the shot rang out, he heard a scream, a sound he knew a deer would not make. It was in that chilling moment he began to realize something had gone terribly wrong. As he walked closer, he saw a yard rake leaning against a rock and knew he had shot a person.
Wrentzel was struck in the lower torso, a single gunshot wound that caused extensive internal injuries. Despite her grandmother and Trundy's father attempting to render aid and calling 911, her injuries were too severe. An autopsy later confirmed that the gunshot wound was the cause of her death. The investigation that followed quickly identified Robert Trundy as the shooter. He cooperated with the Maine Warden Service, telling them he never saw the full outline of a deer before he discharged his weapon, which was not equipped with a scope.
Robert Trundy was subsequently arrested and charged with manslaughter and failing to provide aid to a person and report a hunting accident. In the end, he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge as part of a plea agreement in which the second charge was dismissed. A judge sentenced him to seven years in prison, with all but nine months suspended, to be followed by four years of probation. For his actions on that October day, which he said cost him his soul, he was also ordered to forfeit his rifle and perform community service focused on hunter safety.
