On a cold January morning in 2008, the life of Katie Lynn Cabana, a 29-year-old Caucasian mother of three, was tragically cut short in her Marshfield, Maine, home. In the pre-dawn hours of January 23rd, her former boyfriend, 25-year-old Richard W. Widdecomb Jr., forced his way into her residence, forever altering the lives of those within.
The events that unfolded were born from obsession.
Widdecomb, who had been separated from Katie for about five months, had been seen loitering outside her house for hours at a time in the weeks leading up to the incident. In the early morning, armed with a rifle, he parked at a nearby abandoned house and approached her home on foot through the woods. Inside, Katie was with her three children and a new acquaintance, 41-year-old Aaron Settipani.
Awakened by screams, Katie's nine-year-old son entered the room to see Widdecomb holding the rifle. His mother pleaded with Widdecomb not to harm her in front of her children. As she attempted to call the police from a bathroom, she emerged and was shot in the back by Widdecomb. He then went outside and shot Settipani, who was in his truck, once in the head and once through the arm and chest. Returning to the house, Widdecomb shot Katie a second time as she lay wounded on the floor. During the horrific ordeal, Katie's six-year-old daughter was also shot in the foot. Both Katie and Aaron managed to call 911 during the attack, their pleas for help capturing the terror of their final moments.
Following the brutal attack, Widdecomb fled to his own home in Machias, where he barricaded himself inside. After a standoff that led to the evacuation of nearby homes, he surrendered to a state police negotiator later that morning. He was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. Richard W. Widdecombe Jr. later confessed to the killings. In February 2009, he pleaded guilty to both murders and was subsequently sentenced to two concurrent life terms in prison. During the sentencing, it was revealed that he listened to his victims beg for their lives before he killed them.
