Trial and Error

Jul 11, 2010

MADAWASKA – The boys would play on the train tracks near their neighborhood, climbing ladders on the sides of the freight cars and jumping from one to the next.

In a yearbook photo from Dennis Dechaine’s junior year at Madawaska High School, the teenage Dechaine, left, holds a camera that he used when he was on the yearbook staff. “The camera was bigger than him,” said his childhood friend Carol Waltman.

Courtesy photo

Jesse and Carol Waltman of Madawaska were childhood friends of Dennis Dechaine and remain among his supporters today. Carol Waltman is the founder of Trial and Error, the group advocating for Dechaine’s freedom.

Matt Wickenheiser photo

Down across the flood plains of the St. John River, they’d launch into the air on Tarzan swings that stretched from tall trees across old gullies.

One, Jesse Waltman, had moved to town when he was in fifth grade, after his dad died in Vietnam. The other, Dennis Dechaine, was 9 years old and had lost his mother to cancer. The two became best friends.

But in 1988, Dechaine’s life took a dark turn. He was 30 when he was charged with the murder of 12-year-old Sarah Cherry. Dechaine has been incarcerated since his 1988 arrest.

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Additional Photos

Dennis Dechaine,1976 senior class photo

Steve Young, a good friend of Dechaine’s from Madawaska, said “he represented to me what people say about the work ethic of people from northern Maine.”

Matt Wickenheiser photo

Retired Madawaska High School guidance counselor Roger Martin knew Dechaine as a student. “I’ve never been able to accept that Dennis could have done this,” he said.

Matt Wickenheiser photo

Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell contributed to this report.

By Matt Wickenheiser 

Staff Writer

July 11 2010