Two Washington County residents who have been charged with murdering a Perry woman pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, according to WABI News.
Kimberly Neptune, 43, was found dead inside her Thunder Road home at about 8:11 p.m. on April 21, according to Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety. Neptune’s body had nearly 500 stab wounds and cuts, according to a police affidavit made available in late June.
Donnell Dana, 39 and Kailie Brackett, 38, both of Perry, were charged with murder in the killing and detained at the Washington County Jail without bail until Tuesday’s court appearance.
At left: Kailie A. Brackett, 38, of Perry; at right: Donnell J. Dana, 39, of Perry
Witnesses told investigators that in the days before the April 21 killing, Brackett had publicly accused Neptune of stealing money. On the day they allegedly went to Neptune’s apartment, Brackett and Dana had planned to rob Neptune of 300 Xanax pills and money, the police affidavit showed.
Brackett was identified as a suspect after she posted photos online of herself wearing clothing similar to a suspect seen on a neighbor’s security camera near where Neptune lived on Thunder Road. Neptune, a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, lived in tribal housing.
Police interviewed Dana, who has a son with Brackett. He told police he lived with Neptune, 43, for a couple of years, but that he moved out in 2021. He said he slept on the couch, and they were never in a serious relationship, if at all. Dana said he takes medications for seizures and could not recall where he was on April 21, according to the affidavit.
When police told Dana his blood had been found in Neptune’s stairwell, where bloody footprints had been left behind, Dana said he had bled in Neptune’s apartment when he lived there the previous year. But police found scratch marks on his chest, and marks on his lower legs and right ear, as if he had recently been in a physical altercation during the interview.
Dana denied killing Neptune, police said.
A witness told police that Brackett told her that it was meant to be a drug robbery in a conversation the day after the killing. Brackett told the witness she and Neptune were “seeing each other.” She called Neptune on April 20 to arrange a night together at Neptune’s apartment and arranged for a babysitter, the witness said.
Brackett showed up at Neptune’s apartment with Dana, the witness told police, but Neptune objected to his being there. Dana then allegedly attacked Neptune. While Dana was fighting with Neptune, Brackett allegedly grabbed items in the apartment including jewelry, money and Xanax, police said.
The witness told police that Brackett allegedly told her “Kim put up a good fight.” She also stabbed Neptune, according to the witness.
In all, Neptune was stabbed 484 times in her legs, stomach, neck and head, according to an autopsy conducted by the state medical examiner’s office. Her brother, who has a key to her apartment, found her dead on the floor of her bedroom, wrapped in a blanket, when he went to check on her at around 8 p.m. on April 21.