Dark Downeast - The Murder of Bessie Selek (Maine)

Episode Date: March 13, 2023

MAINE, 1999: On the night of April 20, 1999, 41-year old Bessie Selek was walking along Route 202 near the Waterboro-Lyman, Maine town line when she was hit and killed by a passing vehicle. The driver fled the scene, leaving Bessie there to die on the side of the road not far from her own home.Detectives zeroed in on her boyfriend, Raymond Wood. They’d had a tumultuous relationship. A long history of domestic violence and abuse. Maine State Police were certain that Raymond was their guy. During an intense interrogation by two State detectives, Raymond Wood even confessed to the crime.But as the investigation continued, it appeared the evidence wouldn’t so easily fit the foregone conclusion reached by police, and the confession by their primary suspect wasn’t exactly proof that he did it.If you have information regarding this case, please contact the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit - South at [phone] x9 or toll free at 1-800-452-4664. You may also report information about this crime using the leave a tip form. View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/bessieselek Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTokTo suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case

On the night of April 20th, 1999, 41-year-old Bessie Selleck was walking along Route 202 near the Waterboro-Lyman-Maintown line when she was hit and killed by a passing vehicle. The driver fled the scene, leaving Bessie there to die on the side of the road, not far from her own home. Detectives zeroed in on her boyfriend, Raymond Wood. They'd had a tumultuous relationship, a long history of domestic violence and abuse. Maine State Police were certain that Raymond was their guy.

During an intense interrogation by two state detectives, Raymond Wood even confessed to the crime. But as the investigation continued, it appeared the evidence wouldn't so easily fit the foregone conclusion reached by police, and the confession by their primary suspect wasn't exactly proof that he did it. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is the case of Bessie Selick on Dark Down East. Small and feisty, strong.

She had a sharp tongue. She was a brat, one friend said with a chuckle, and also one of the nicest people you ever met. These are just a few of the ways that those closest to her described 41-year-old Bessie Selick. Bessie was born and raised in Chicopee, Massachusetts, and by all accounts, she had a rough life. She confided in friends that she'd been in violent relationships. She'd also spent time in jail. But for all the challenges she endured, Bessie was trying to change her course in life, and was doing a great job of it too. Bessie and her boyfriend, Raymond Wood, reportedly moved to Maine in 1994. They had been living in Providence, Rhode Island,

where Raymond said he operated a jewelry store. He once saw someone shot out in front of the store, and Bessie was mugged not long after. Maine seemed like a great place for a safer life. They lived together in a mobile home that Bessie owned just off Route 202 in Waterboro. Everyone knew that Bessie Selick loved cats and had at least 20 of them herself. She prided herself on their care and was particular about them venturing outside where they lived so close to a busy road. She'd walk alongside the cats as they explored the yard, but always herded them back towards the safety of the house before they could enter harm's way. According to the Portland Press-Herald, Bessie once considered finding some of the kittens a new home, and she put a free kitten sign out

front of the house, but she took it down soon after. She couldn't bear the thought of giving any of her cats away. She had a big heart for animals in that way. Bessie worked at Linflex Industries and was a hard worker and applied herself to any new task that came her way. The company manufactured footwear components like insoles and heel lifts and other materials used in the assembly of shoes. Bessie's supervisor told Gregory Kiesik of the Portland Press-Herald, quote, She cemented, she logoed, everything she did, she did well, end quote. Bessie and her boyfriend Raymond were known to have a troubled relationship.

There are several documented incidents of Raymond's abuse and violence towards Bessie. She'd show up to work with black eyes and bruises, one time even missing some teeth. Court records show that Bessie had Raymond arrested for assault and attempted to file a protection from abuse order against him. Gregory Kesick reported for the Portland Press-Herald that Bessie wrote a letter to the Biddeford District Court as part of that filing, stating that Raymond, quote, "'Has threatened to burn my trailer down to the ground "'and has become very abusive, verbally and physically,

"'to the point I had to go stay with a friend "'out of fear of him.'" She continued, "'I feel like my mind is going to snap soon end quote. Bessie did not complete that filing for the protection from abuse order, though. According to the Press Herald, she left the courthouse before answering questions from a judge, so the order was denied. Beyond the multiple incidents of domestic violence, some leading to charges and some not, Raymond Wood had quite the criminal history. The Journal Tribune listed off several violations, violating bail, failure to

answer to a summons, carrying a pistol without a permit, placing a bomb in a building, driving to endanger, and multiple OUIs. Bessie once put up her land as collateral for Raymond's bond after he was arrested for stealing a car in Florida. When he returned home out on bail, Bessie refused to share her bed with him and pointed at the couch. The Press-Herald reports that Raymond allegedly pushed her into a wall, scaring her and her friend who was staying at Bessie's house with her two kids. Bessie later asked the court to revoke his bond in that case. She feared him and the possibility that Raymond would skip bail and she'd lose everything. In August of 1998, Raymond was

ultimately arrested for domestic violence abuse against Bessie, but he never showed up for his court appearance. Due to staffing issues, as the Portland Press-Herald reports, the warrant for his arrest was not filed for months. It wasn't on record, and Raymond wasn't arrested in December of 1998 when police responded to another domestic incident at Bessie and Raymond's house. The Press-Herald notes that Bessie's employer actually paid to bail her out of jail following her arrest for her own charges in that domestic incident. However, the charges against both of them were later dropped.

That was the ongoing state of their relationship in April of 1999, when Bessie Selelleck lost her life. On the night of April 20th, 1999, one of Bessie's co-workers had driven her home from work. The co-worker remembered seeing a chem-clean work van parked out front of Bessie and Raymond's house. That was where Raymond worked, and he was known to drive the company van, and so he must have been home as Bessie walked inside to greet him and her beloved cats. Sometime around 9.15 that night, something caused Bessie to leave the house and venture out for a walk along a route that she knew well. She wasn't far from her home when tragedy struck. On the morning of

April 21st, 1999, word of a fatal accident began to circulate around the small communities of Lyman and Waterboro. A pedestrian hit and killed on Route 202 where Route 5 splits off. Around 9.20 p.m. the night before, someone driving a utility vehicle or truck struck a woman from behind as she was crossing the street. The early investigation indicated it was a hit-and-run accident. The story made the morning news, just before Bessie Selleck should have been arriving for her shift at work. Employees at Linflex immediately thought of Bessie. She didn't have a driver's license or her own transportation, and so she often hitchhiked along Route 202 to get to work or wherever she needed to go. When she didn't show up by 6.45 a.m. on April 21st, it was all but confirmation

that the unnamed woman from the news report was their co-worker, their friend, Bessie Selleck. The early investigation treated Bessie's death as the result of a hit- 30 to 35 miles per hour and was struck either while she was already on the ground or as she was falling to the ground. Investigators theorized that Bessie may have been jumping for cover to avoid the oncoming vehicle. Police canvassed the homes along the route Bessie was known to walk and where her body was found in search of witnesses who saw or heard anything relating to the accident. The initial media reports at the time reported that witnesses had seen an SUV or truck with a broken headlight speeding away from the scene of the collision around 9.20 p.m. The investigation continued as police searched for that vehicle and for Bessie's

next of kin. According to the Press Herald, on the morning of April 21st, Bessie's boyfriend, Raymond Wood, started work as usual and settled into his task for the day. He was restoring a cane-bottom wooden armchair. One of Raymond's co-workers told reporter Gregory Kiesik that Raymond didn't seem any different from any other day. Quote, he just went about his job like usual. End quote. But by noon, things went sideways. York County Chief Deputy Maurice Ouellette entered chem clean looking for Raymond Wood, and Raymond was arrested on the spot. He told his co-worker as he was led out of the building that it was nothing serious. He'd get it straightened out, and he'd be back to work the next day.

Raymond's initial arrest that morning was actually for an unrelated outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court on a traffic violation. The Bangor Daily News reported that after he was taken into custody, though, detectives then arrested him at the county jail for the charge of manslaughter in Bessie Selleck's death. Manslaughter indicated that the hit and run that killed Bessie Selleck was not intentional or premeditated. But as detectives continued to probe the series of events leading to Bessie's death, they realized that the evidence told a different story. Two days into the investigation, the charge against Raymond Wood was changed to murder. A police affidavit filed with Biddeford District Court detailed Raymond's version of what happened on April 20th.

He first told police during an interview that he got home from work that day around 3 p.m. and fell asleep until Bessie got home two hours later. They started arguing about money at some point that night. Their electric bill was high and unpaid. And amidst the dispute, Raymond decided to take off for the night. He hopped in his company van and headed for work. He told police he spent the night there. Police did try to find Raymond on the night of the accident to notify him of Bessie's death, but they didn't locate him until the next morning, when they found him at Chemclean, his place of employment. The company's 1987 Ford van that Raymond usually drove was parked out front.

York County Chief Deputy Maurice Ouellette reported that the van had minor damage to the right front corner. The affidavit also stated that the van was examined by State Police Detective Lance McLeish, who found what appeared to be blood and hair in the right front wheel well. According to the affidavit, detectives confronted Raymond about the hair and blood.

They pressed him for more information about that night, apparently skeptical of his story, and Raymond began to fold. From the affidavit, quote, After a period of denials and claims of memory loss, Wood went on to state that a short distance from their residence, eastbound on Route 202, he observed Selick waving her hands as she stood off the right side of the road. Wood stated that he steered the brown Ford van towards the direction of where Selick was positioned and accidentally struck her with the vehicle. End quote. He told police he turned around and drove past Bessie, continuing on to Chemclean. Raymond couldn't explain to police why he didn't stop or why he didn't call for help when he knew he struck his girlfriend with the car.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marquis told Giselle Goodman of the Journal Tribune, quote, our review of the circumstances seemed to indicate that the appropriate charge was murder. We felt it was more appropriate to be charged as an intentional doing, end quote. Raymond appeared in court on April 23, 1999, for a hearing, but he did not enter a plea to the charge of murder at that point. As he left the courtroom, he told waiting reporters outside, Raymond was held at the York County Jail in Alfred as he and his attorney attempted to get bail granted. A tough ask, given the circumstances. Katie Cornell Smith reported that at Raymond's bail hearing, the prosecution told the court that Raymond would not be able to continue working for ChemClean

because a firearm owned by the company was found in Raymond's possession. He also wouldn't have anywhere to live because the home he once lived in was in Bessie's name. For those reasons, and the fact that Raymond had no real ties to Maine, the prosecution did not want Raymond to be granted bail. But Raymond's attorney tried to argue that Raymond had had it hard enough. He lost his girlfriend, his home, and his job as a result of the accident. Judge Andre Janelle was not persuaded, ruling that because of Raymond's extensive criminal history and lack of ties to Maine, he was a flight risk, and so no bail was granted. Raymond Wood did ultimately enter a plea of not guilty to the charge of murder,

despite having supposedly confessed to detectives more than once that he hit and killed Bessie Selick with his van. But the investigation was still ongoing, because a confession is not enough evidence to successfully prosecute a case. Detectives needed the evidence to corroborate Raymond Wood's confession. And that actually wouldn't be easy to do. Raymond Wood's attorney, Joseph Robileski Jr., was clear in his view of the state's case against his client.

They didn't have one. As quoted in the Journal Tribune, Robileski said, Once again, it looks like the state has the wrong guy and wants to try the wrong person for murder. End quote. In a court filing, Robileski argued that the evidence in Bessie Selick's case did not support the conclusion detectives had reached in their investigation. Witness statements from at least four people said that they saw a sport utility vehicle or a truck high off the ground with a broken headlight speeding away from the scene. But the vehicle Raymond Wood was driving that night was a brown van and the headlamp wasn't broken. Further,

he argued that the van didn't even have any front end damage that would have been expected in a collision of this nature. The dent on the side that the detective saw that morning after Bessie's death had supposedly been there for months, Robileschi stated. Further, broken shards of automotive plastic at the scene could not be confirmed as coming from Raymond's van. Robileschi also detailed in the court filing that Bessie Selleck's blood alcohol level was 0.28, more than three times the legal limit

for operating a motor vehicle. He claimed that Bessie was seen walking around in the road that night. He also said that according to the defense's own investigation, the skid marks at the site of the crash indicated that the vehicle was breaking at the time of impact. Quote, hardly a case of intentional killing, Robileschi said. Robileschi argued that his client only admitted to hitting Bessie Selleck after police told him they found Bessie's hair and blood on his van, a statement that had not been proven true. State forensics experts

could not confirm that the hair and possible blood taken from the van were even human. Robleski petitioned the court to send off the samples to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Oregon to determine if they were human or animal. Whether those results ever actually came back, proving one way or another is unclear. Robileschi would later repeat, though, that the samples were likely animal. But the biggest point of contention in Robileschi's court filing was that Raymond Wood's confession was, quote, confused, and it would actually become the undoing of the state's case against him. In April of 2000, a year after Bessie Selick was run down and killed along Route 202, a superior court judge ruled that the state browbeat Raymond Wood into confessing to

killing his girlfriend. A majority of his interrogation by state police was ordered thrown out, and his statements could not be used in the case against him. Grace Murphy reported on the ruling for the Portland Press-Herald, which was highly critical of the Maine State Police detectives who obtained the confession and their interview tactics that elicited the confession. From the ruling, quote, the officers repeatedly refused to accept his answers and instead yelled in his face, browbeat him into accepting their version of events, end quote. Raymond Wood had been in the interrogation room for six hours by the time state police detectives started questioning him. The hour-long interrogation

was videotaped, and court records obtained by the Portland Press-Herald detailed how it went down. The detectives removed a table from between them and Raymond, surrounding him as they shouted and swore in his face. They pummeled him with questions, told him that they knew it was Raymond's van, that they already knew Raymond had hit Bessie. Raymond told the detectives that he didn't remember what happened that night, but they told Raymond that all the evidence pointed to him. Not everything the detectives told Raymond Wood during that interrogation was true or accurate. If you're wondering, it is allowed, with a few exceptions, for police to lie and make

false representations to the people they're interrogating. The confession came when Raymond said, quote, you're telling me, okay, evidence is telling me that I did it, okay? That apparently I have to accept, end quote. The judge said that statements made by Raymond Wood after the interrogation got confrontational could not be used in a trial, but other statements Raymond made in other interviews and conversations could remain as part of the state's evidence. For example, the comments Raymond made to a worker at the York County Jail. As reported by the Portland Press Herald, Raymond said to the worker that on the night Bessie died, she told him she was going to

walk down the street to a store. Raymond continued saying that after she left, he backed his car out of their driveway and into the breakdown lane, and it felt like he hit something. The statements were obviously a big part of the state's case against their suspect, and without them, the prosecution took a big hit. What remained was some physical evidence, the possible human blood and hair found on Raymond's work van, and the dent on that van, and then Raymond's history of violence against Bessie. But would it be enough to take him to trial? The state continued to work the case while Raymond Wood remained in jail.

On April 20th, 1999, the one-year anniversary of Bessie Selleck's tragic death, and days after Raymond Wood's confession was thrown out as evidence, an in-memoriam message was published in the Portland Press-Herald. It read, In loving memory of Bessie Selleck, who passed away on April 20th, 1999. One year ago, God took you away. He called you home with him to stay, as I remain here and miss you in every way, hoping and praying to join you someday. May God's embrace be as my love dropping the murder charges against Raymond Wood. When it came down to it, the state just didn't have enough evidence to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that he was responsible for the death of his girlfriend, Bessie Selick. Deputy Attorney General Paul Gouvreau told Gregory Kisik of the Portland Press-Herald, quote, there was insufficient

evidence that we could bring to trial at this time. Without the statements, we could not prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, end quote. Raymond's attorney felt that the dropped charges were inevitable, telling the Journal Tribune, quote, From the beginning, this case was fatally flawed, end quote. But Chief Deputy Maurice Ouellette of the York County Sheriff's Department said that the dropped murder charges didn't change the most important fact about this case. Quote, Gregory Kesick of the Portland Press-Herald spoke with Bessie's mother, Helen Caron, following the dropped charges. She told him, quote,

I'm not happy. How can you let out a man after he has done something like this? He was where he belonged, end quote. Though the charges against Raymond were dropped, they were dropped without prejudice. With new evidence, the state could bring new charges against Raymond Wood, or any suspect at any point. But to this day, nobody else has ever been charged with Bessie's death. Her case is open, and her name remains on the Maine State Police list of unsolved homicides.

Raymond Woods said to Portland Press-Herald reporter Gregory Kesick less than 24 hours after his release, quote, Raymond also said that he never hit a woman in his life, and that the accusations of domestic violence were all false, that Bessie would drink until blacked out and confuse Raymond with her ex-husband, who did abuse her. For the record, Bessie had been charged with making false reports during her relationship with Raymond. The charges, at least in one documented instance I could find, were dropped.

It's in that same interview with Gregory Kasich that Raymond echoed what his attorney had previously argued, that he felt intimidated in the interview with detectives. Raymond explained that he did have a head injury from a past motorcycle accident and that the detectives convinced him he probably forgot he hit Bessie with his van. Raymond had only found out that Bessie was dead soon before or even during that interrogation and he was emotional over the news of the death of his girlfriend. Those were all factors that Raymond said led him to confess that the evidence pointed to him. Raymond was confident that since the state had dropped the murder charges,

they weren't going to charge him again, telling Tammy Wells of the Journal Tribune, quote, Now that the charges were behind him, Raymond wanted to visit Bessie's final resting place in Chicopee, Massachusetts, and he wanted to help police find the person responsible for her death. Within days of his release, Raymond announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Bessie Selick's killer. He planned to pay that reward with money from a life insurance policy Bessie held through her employer. According to the Journal Tribune, Raymond Wood was the beneficiary

of that life insurance policy. The Journal Tribune reported that Bessie Selick took out a life insurance policy about one year before she was killed, and Raymond Wood was the beneficiary, but there was apparently no indication that Raymond knew about the policy until Bessie died. Amidst the investigation, the insurance company withheld the $54,000 payout. When the charges were dropped, Raymond sued the insurance company for those benefits. Bessie's family was furious at Raymond's attempts to collect on the policy, even though he was apparently listed as the beneficiary. Bessie's brother, Lee Caron, wanted to see the money go to their mother, or even for the proceeds to be donated to women's shelters,

but not the man that Bessie's family still believed was responsible for her death. In November of 2000, the insurance company settled with Raymond Wood. The terms of the settlement are not public, but Raymond's attorney is quoted in the Journal Tribune saying that the settlement also included the estate of Bessie Selig. So I imagine the $54,000 payout was divided between Bessie's family and Raymond Wood in some way. Bessie's brother spoke to the Journal Tribune following the settlement, saying, quote, the law was on his side. At some point, you need to close it. It's been a tough one and a half years. At some point, we've got to move on. End quote. In 2002, Raymond Wood was featured in a segment on the ABC program 2020 about involuntary confessions. But the idea of a false confession is hard to grasp. Why would Raymond

Wood, or anyone else, confess to a crime that they later say they didn't actually commit? In a podcast by the New York Times and Serial Productions called The Coldest Case in Laramie, journalist Kim Barker interviewed a man who falsely confessed to the murder of a woman because he believed it would get him the death penalty. He called it suicide by proxy. Ultimately, his confession did not match the evidence, and he now admits that his confession was false. In that same case covered in the Laramie podcast, another suspect was arrested following a confession that sounded similar to Raymond Wood's confession. After a long and at times confrontational interrogation that included false and fabricated claims by the detective,

the suspect, Fred Lamb, conceded that the evidence pointed to him. The charges against him were later dropped. There actually wasn't enough evidence to pursue prosecution. Though the judge in Bessie Selick's case was critical of the Maine State Police detectives' tactics during their interrogation, which was all caught on video, Maine State Police stood by their detectives, while also respecting the judge's decision to throw out the confession. As far as I can tell, Raymond Wood remains a free man, and as such, he deserves the presumption of innocence, unless, or if ever, evidence indicates otherwise.

Bessie Selick's brother, Lee Caron, still believes that Raymond Wood is the man responsible for his sister's death. And it looks like the investigation hasn't totally ruled him out. Lee told Giselle Goodman of the Journal Tribune in 2000, quote, We're devastated as a family. We've been through a year of hell. There's no closure for us because he walks free. Mr. Wood is using his 15 minutes of fame to play the victim. Lee continued, nobody deserves to die the way she did. My sister wasn't an angel. She wasn't perfect, but she was in that loop abused women can't get out of. He is not the innocent victim. End quote. Their relationship was tumultuous, with arrests for domestic incidents and other offenses landing on both sides. Some charges were dismissed and others were not. In the years she was with Raymond,

Bessie often talked about how he physically abused her, and there is documented evidence that she tried to go through the courts to get a protection order against him, but as her brother stated, she was stuck in a loop that many victims of domestic violence experience. They return to their abusers because it's not as simple as just leaving. It could be finances, having nowhere else to go, or fear of escalation. In fact, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the most dangerous time for a victim of domestic violence is when they leave. Only Bessie and Raymond know the reality of what went on behind the closed doors of their relationship,

but Bessie can't speak for herself any longer. All we know for sure are a few plain facts. Bessie Selick is dead. Someone caused her death. And no one has paid for it. In one standalone newspaper clipping from 2000, there's a piece of evidence mentioned that police found at the scene of Bessie Selick's death. I won't say what the evidence was

because I could not independently verify that this evidence existed in any other source material. Since the case is still open, I'm not sure if Maine State Police will let me leaf through the case file to confirm it myself, but I sent the records request anyway. If this piece of evidence does exist,

it seems to literally place the name of a suspect right in the middle of the crime scene. Will the family of Bessie Selick ever receive the answers and justice they deserve after nearly 24 years of waiting? Will Maine State Police ever pursue charges against anyone, some still unknown suspect, or even Raymond Wood once again? It remains to be seen what is next for the case of Bessie Selick. But until then, we'll keep Bessie Selick's name and her story alive. If you are experiencing domestic violence, there is help available. Visit thehotline.org or call 1-800-799-SAFE. If you have information about the unsolved homicide of Bessie Selleck,

please call Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit South at 207-624-7076, extension 9, or leave a tip via the tip form in the show description of this episode. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. Sources cited and referenced for this episode are listed at darkdowneast.com. Please follow Dark Down East on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening right now. And the best way to support this show is to leave a review and share this episode or any episode with your friends. If you have a personal connection to a case I should cover, please contact me at hello at dark down east dot com. Thank you for supporting this show and

allowing me to do what I do. I'm honored to use this platform for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers in cold missing persons and homicide cases. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time.

I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East.