BANGOR, Maine — An ex-girlfriend of the man accused of using Facebook to lure 15-year-old Nichole Cable to her death told jurors Monday morning that he confessed to strangling the girl and dumping her naked body in the woods.
Sarah Mersinger, now 18, of Glenburn testified haltingly and, at times, emotionally about her relationship with Dube on the sixth day of his murder trial.
She said that Dube confessed to her after he was interviewed by Maine State Police detectives the evening of May 16, 2013. Mersinger had been interviewed by different detectives the same day.
Mersinger testified that from what she was asked in her interview, she felt police suspected Dube of being involved in Cable’s disappearance.
“I asked him what he had done,” Mersinger said. “He told me that he had killed Nichole.”
She also told the jury that the defendant was “very upset” and crying when he came home from the interview.
Dube is accused of using Facebook to lure Cable out of her mother’s home in Glenburn on Mother’s Day nearly two years ago by using the identity of Bryan Butterfield, a boy Mersinger dated before going out with Dube, then killing Cable in an abduction gone wrong.
He has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and murder in the May 12, 2013, death of the Old Town High School student. He allegedly planned to kidnap the girl, hide her, then find her and play the hero.
Superior Court Justice Ann Murray ruled before the trial began that Dube’s defense team could not name Mersinger as an alternative suspect in their opening and closing statements. Despite that, his attorneys have strongly suggested in their cross-examination of Mersinger and other witnesses that jurors should consider Dube’s ex-girlfriend as a person who may have wanted Cable dead.
Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea gently questioned Mersinger about what Dube had told her in the early morning hours of May 17, 2013.
“He told me that he strangled her at the end of her road,” Mersinger told the jury of eight men and seven women, including three alternates. “He said that he had a mask on when he strangled her. He said he put duct tape on her mouth, her eyes and on her hands and feet.”
Dube told Mersinger that he put Cable in the truck and drove to the woods near Gilman Falls in Old Town. Mersinger testified that Dube said he wasn’t sure if Cable was dead or alive.
“He said he carried her on his back into the woods, then checked her pulse but there was none,” Mersinger said. “He said he took her clothes off so dogs couldn’t smell her,” Mersinger said. “He said he covered her with sticks and leaves, so they couldn’t see her from the sky.”
Mersinger, now a senior at Bangor High School, admitted that she did not tell detectives until May 20, 2013, what Dube had told her. She said that Dube’s mother, Tammy Dube, had advised her not to talk to police.
The calm and poised young woman who took the stand Monday, dressed in a black pantsuit, white blouse and heels, presented a very different picture than the angry teenager who, according to police reports, told investigators during the search for Cable that she didn’t care what had happened to her. Mersinger also told investigators that she “held grudges and was very violent as a human being.” She also admitted telling police she would “kill Dube in his sleep” if she found out he was having sex with Cable again.
When asked by Zainea if she regretted making those statements, Mersinger replied, “Every day.”
Mersinger also told the jury that she had met Dube on Facebook, where they began messaging each other. They began dating in November 2012 but her mother didn’t approve of the relationship.
She testified that she discovered in mid-April that Dube and Cable had been involved in a sexual relationship. Shortly before Cable disappeared, Mersinger discovered the two had been messaging each other on Facebook. Mersinger said she was angry about that.
In late April and May 2013, Mersinger spent 18 or 19 days out of 21 at the Orono home Dube shared with his parents and Dube’s 4-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, Mersinger’s mother, Kathrine Najala, testified just before her daughter took the stand.
Najala said that she did not approve of her daughter’s relationship with Dube, but did not say why. Najala testified that Mersinger spent Mother’s Day with her and that Dube did not pick her up until 11 p.m. He was supposed to have arrived between 9 and 10 p.m.
Mersinger testified that she texted Dube about why he was late. When he arrived and she got in the truck he was driving, Mersinger said his clothes smelled like “a mixture of manure and vomit.”
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Stephen Smith of Augusta, Mersinger denied creating the fake Facebook page and said she did not know Dube’s username or password. She also denied hurting Cable.
Dube’s trial began Feb. 23. It is expected to go to the jury Thursday or Friday. A second police interview with Dube, in which he denies kidnapping and killing Cable, is expected to be played Tuesday.
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, TRS 800-787-3224. This free, confidential service is available 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in Maine.