Maine man to plead guilty to murdering stranger in grocery store: lawyer

By Dave Sherwood

PORTLAND, Maine (Reuters) - A Maine resident accused of fatally stabbing a stranger in the ice cream aisle of a grocery store will plead guilty on Thursday to murder, his attorney said.

Connor MacCalister, 31, confessed to stabbing Wendy Boudreau, a 59-year-old mother of five, shortly after his arrest in August in Boudreau’s hometown of Saco, saying he was "angry at life," according to a police affidavit.

MacCalister, originally identified in police reports as female, said he had planned to begin a series of random attacks on strangers with a "small elderly female whom she knew wouldn't resist."

According to the affidavit, MacCalister told police he spotted Boudreau in the parking lot of a Shaw's supermarket, then followed her into the ice cream aisle, where he grabbed Boudreau from behind and slit her throat.

Boudreau, who had been stabbed in the neck and face, was taken to a hospital but died soon afterward, police said.

MacCalister was pinned to the floor by two shoppers at the store, who kicked away the knife and waited for police to arrive, the affidavit said.

When asked by another shopper why he had committed the crime, an apparently calm MacCalister, who was dressed in camouflage with his head shaved, replied: "I'm off my meds. She looked at me wrong," according to the affidavit.

After his arrest, state prosecutors requested that MacCalister undergo a psychological exam.

Robert LeBrasseur, MacCalister’s attorney, declined to comment on the results.

"Once you plead guilty, the case is over," he said on Wednesday.

(Editing by Scott Malone and Peter Cooney)