BANGOR, Maine — The mother of a slain 15-year-old girl testified Monday that when her daughter, Nichole Cable, did not answer her phone or return a text message on May 13, 2013, she knew something wasn’t right.
“I was scared,” Kristine Wiley of Glenburn testified Monday afternoon. “I felt something was wrong.”
An emotional Wiley testified on the first day of the jury trial of Kyle Dube, 21, of Orono at the Penobscot Judicial Center. Dube’s mother, Tammy Dube of Orono, also took the stand.
Dube is accused of luring Cable out of her mother’s home in Glenburn on Mother’s Day nearly two years ago by using someone else’s identity on Facebook, then killing her in an abduction gone wrong. Dube allegedly planned to kidnap the girl, hide her, then find her and play the hero.
Cable’s body was found late May 20, 2013, in a wooded area of Old Town. The teenager died of “asphyxia due to compression of the neck,” according to Dr. Margaret Greenwald of the state medical examiner’s office. Greenwald is to testify later this week.
Dube has pleaded not guilty to one count each of kidnapping and murder in the May 12, 2013, death of the Old Town High School student. Dube created a phony Facebook page using the identity of Bryan Butterfield, his then-girlfriend’s former boyfriend, to convince Cable to leave her Glenburn home and meet him, according to the prosecution.
In addition to Wiley and Dube’s mother, Cable’s best friend, Butterfield, neighbors of the Wileys, and a Penobscot County sheriff’s deputy testified Monday.
Wiley said that she met Dube at least once about a month or two before her daughter died. He came to her home with her daughter and Cable’s best friend, Haleigh Robertson. She said that Nichole Cable was not allowed to date a boy older than 17.
Wiley testified that she questioned Dube, who was then 19, about his relationship with her daughter. He said they were just friends, Wiley told the jury.
The victim’s mother testified that at 8:43 p.m. on Mother’s Day she gave her daughter permission to walk down their road, Spruce Lane, to Hudson Road to meet a cousin of Robertson, to get some “smokes.” Wiley said that she knew her daughter smoked cigarettes and marijuana but was not allowed to do so in the house or on the property.
Weeping, Wiley said it was the last conversation she had with her daughter.
After consultation with Dube, his attorneys chose not to cross-examine Wiley. She was dismissed as a witness and took a seat next to her husband in the gallery.
Wiley and her husband, Jason Wiley, appeared in September 2013 on the “Dr. Phil” show to warn parents about the dangers of the Internet, according to a previously published report.
Tammy Dube testified that she met Cable two or three weeks before she died when her son brought her to the house. The defendant’s mother said that Sarah Mersinger, her son’s then-girlfriend, was not home at the time.
Mersinger spent most nights at the Dube home, Tammy Dube said. She and every other member of the household used Tammy Dube’s computer, which was seized by police. She also said that Mersinger used Kyle Dube’s cellphone and wore his clothes.
Dube’s former girlfriend is expected to be called as a witness for the prosecution.
Cable’s friend Robertson, 18, of Old Town testified Monday morning that she and Cable liked “to party — drink and smoke marijuana together.” The girl, now a senior at Old Town High School, said that she and Cable started smoking marijuana after Kyle Dube took them to an outdoor party in Dixmont a few months before Cable died.
She testified Monday that the night her friend disappeared, she received a text from Cable that said she was going to meet Bryan Butterfield. Robertson said she did not read it when it was sent — between 9 and 10 p.m. — because she was sleeping.
Robertson also said that on May 13, 2013, she tried to connect with Butterfield on the Facebook page she and Cable had used to communicate with him previously, but it had been deleted.
Butterfield told the jury that a few weeks before Cable died he reported to Bangor police that someone was using his identity “to talk to underage girls” on the Internet. Butterfield testified that he did not learn that police believed it was Dube until after he was charged.
He also said that his breakup with Mersinger had been “messy.” At one point, he considered seeking a protection from harassment order against Mersinger but did not go through with it. Butterfield heard from his friends that Dube wanted to “kick his [butt].”
Two neighbors of the Wiley family testified that they heard a woman scream on the night of May 12, 2013, between 9 and 10 p.m. when they were out walking their dogs. Neither called police that night.
The defendant was questioned at least twice by investigators but never confessed to killing Cable, according to court documents. He allegedly told his then 16-year-old girlfriend and his brother that he had slain Cable and dumped her body in Old Town.
Last week, Superior Court Justice Ann Murray ruled that the defense team could not name Mersinger as an alternative suspect in the case. During cross-examination of witnesses Monday, defense attorneys Stephen Smith of Augusta and Wendy Hatch of Bangor asked questions about Mersinger’s attitude toward Cable and her access to Dube’s personal possessions and information such as date of birth and Social Security number.
Just before jury selection began Feb. 12, it was revealed in court that Dube had been offered but declined a plea agreement. The details of that agreement were not discussed.
Plea negotiations are common. Because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, a judge must ask a defendant if he or she was offered a deal before going to trial.
The trial before a jury of eight men and seven women, including three alternates, is to resume Tuesday with testimony about the forensic examination of the computer seized from the Dube home.
One male juror was dismissed before the trial began. Information about why he was dismissed has not been made public.
If Dube is convicted of murder, he faces between 25 years and life in prison. He is being held without bail.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and would like to talk with an advocate, call 866-834-4357, TRS800-787-3224. This free, confidential service is available 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in Maine.