Man pleads not guilty to attempting to kill wife, lover
8/23/08 | 4 comments

Man pleads not guilty to attempting to kill wife, lover


By Judy Harrison
    BDN Staff

BANGOR, Maine — A bright pink scar ringed the neck of an Eddington man Friday when he pleaded not guilty to trying to murder his estranged wife and the man he reportedly believed was her new boyfriend in June before trying to slit his own throat.

Ryan D. Witmer, 32, pleaded not guilty in Penobscot County Superior Court to aggravated attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, aggravated assault, burglary, violation of a protective order, domestic violence stalking and assault.

He was indicted earlier this month by the Penobscot County grand jury.

A trial date has not been set.

Witmer is being held at the Penobscot County Jail and is expected to undergo psychological evaluations before seeking a bail hearing.

He allegedly attacked his 36-year-old wife and a 41-year-old teacher and part-time karate instructor she was seeing Sunday, June 30, as her three children, ages 7 months to 9 years, were sleeping upstairs. The children were uninjured.

Witmer’s wife suffered defensive wounds to her forearms, according to court documents. The male victim has been released from the hospital and is expected to recover, according to the Penobscot County District Attorney’s office.

The teacher suffered 11 stab wounds to the back. Before both his lungs collapsed from his wounds, he managed to prevent Witmer from injuring his wife more severely, according to police reports.

Witmer allegedly used an automatic garage door opener he kept when he and his wife separated last month to get into the home on Stone Wall Drive in Orrington. He then kicked in a locked door, according to court documents.

When the man went to investigate, Witmer allegedly began stabbing him with a knife and saying, “Die. Die. I’m gonna kill you.”

As the teacher lay wounded, Witmer allegedly turned to his wife. He grabbed her, turned her around, threw her to the floor and started trying to stab her, according to court document.

The other man pulled Witmer off her. Witmer then drove the knife into his own chest before raising it to his throat and slicing it open, according to court documents. The teacher allegedly knocked the knife out of his hand, according to court documents.

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Comments
4 comments on this item
On 8/25/08 at 4:24 PM, Amanda_Believes wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

This is worse than any tabloid I've ever read in my life. . . some. . of that might be in a statment somewhere. . . but my god. . . you should rethink what is put in the paper sometime. Ryan is not that much of a monster. Maybe the MARRIED guy sleeping with someone else's wife is though!

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On 8/26/08 at 11:32 AM, misslepew wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Amanda... so this monster has a right to kill his wife and the married man just because they are having an affair... WOW... you comment really blows me away. There are many SANE courses of action he could've taken instead and what he did was in no way excusable because of what they were doing. Domestic abuse is WRONG under any circumstances. How would you liked to have been the one that had to explain to the children had their dad killed their mom why they were now orphans? Get EDUCATED!!!

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On 9/23/08 at 8:27 PM, bigsi1 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Too bad that when he stab himself and slit his own throat he didn't finish the job and kill himself!!!!!! Now the tax payers have to pay for him to be in jail and his ex-wife and friend have to live in fear that he may get out. People like Witmer are low life losers. Those poor kids are going to require psyco therapy for years because of his selfish actions.

Like I said, too bad you he didn't slit his throat a little deeper and saved all of us a lot of trouble!!!!

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On 10/2/08 at 11:09 AM, lindzypab182 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Well misslepew and bigsi1....I am a good friend of Mr. Witmer and know the state of mind he was in for several months before this incident....I can tell you first hand this was not the act of a vindictive man, but an act of a man not able to mentally control his feelings and actions...I saw him at work the day before the incident and he was not in good spirits due to his bad frame of mind...due to several things going on in his life other than his wife being an awful person and cheating on him for months...therefore I do not believe what he did was right or wrong but just and act of a person not in the right frame of mind meaning INSANE by all means...I mean how much does one person need to take before snapping??? FYI Amanda is very EDUCATED!!! Also wishing and hoping that someone would die so your tax dollars don't have to pay for there stay is very rude and ignorant..you have no idea what is really going on in this case and his wife is filthy rich and can afford counseling for her and her kids...they would need it with out this incident happening any way...

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