York Beach murder suspect Jeffrey Buchannan faces March trial if plea deal talks stall

Max Sullivan, Portsmouth Herald
·4 min read

YORK, Maine — A man who pleaded insanity for killing his son’s mother at York Beach may settle the case before his trial.

Attorneys met on Feb. 1 for a settlement conference in the case of Jeffrey Buchannan, who is accused of killing his 35-year-old girlfriend Rhonda Pattelena at Short Sands Beach. Their son, Jaxson, was 2 years old at the time.

Jeffrey Buchannan sits at the York County Jail for a court appearance Tuesday, March 30, 2021, via videoconference. He faces a murder charge for allegedly killing Rhonda Pattelena, 35, the mother of his son.
Jeffrey Buchannan sits at the York County Jail for a court appearance Tuesday, March 30, 2021, via videoconference. He faces a murder charge for allegedly killing Rhonda Pattelena, 35, the mother of his son.

Buchannan has been held in prison facing a murder charge since his March 26, 2021, arrest. Buchannan faces either an indefinite stay in a state psychiatric hospital if his insanity plea is accepted or a minimum of 25 years in prison if the case went to trial and he was convicted.

While a trial has been scheduled for March 18, court documents from a conference hearing last week indicate a settlement could take place sooner. Attorneys are now scheduled to meet Feb. 12 to discuss terms of the settlement.

“Parties negotiated,” Justice James Martemucci wrote on Feb. 1 after the day’s conference. “Probability of settlement is fair.”

Buchannan, 33 at the time of the murder, entered a plea in March 2022 of not criminally responsible by reason of insanity. One of the main reasons for the delay was a court order that Buchannan undergo a mental health evaluation, exacerbated by a backlog in criminal cases due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Surveillance footage captures attack at York Beach

Buchannan and Pattelena, both from Bedford, Massachusetts, were visiting York Beach on March 26 the day the killing took place. Their son Jaxson was was not with his parents. His mother had taken Buchannan to York Beach to show him her favorite beach, her family said at the time.

York police responded to Short Sands Beach at 4 p.m. that day after receiving multiple 911 calls of a man assaulting a woman. They found Pattelena already deceased behind a large rock and were told by witnesses they saw Buchannan walk away from the scene, police said.

A memorial with flowers, pictured here on Friday, April 2, 2021, has grown in recent days as mourners remember Rhonda Pattelena, 35, of Bedford, Massachusetts, who police said was killed March 26 at Short Sands Beach in York, Maine.
A memorial with flowers, pictured here on Friday, April 2, 2021, has grown in recent days as mourners remember Rhonda Pattelena, 35, of Bedford, Massachusetts, who police said was killed March 26 at Short Sands Beach in York, Maine.

Buchannan was arrested by police near Railroad Avenue, according to an affidavit.

When police interviewed Buchannan, they said he told them about coming to York with his girlfriend. He described seeing his girlfriend make hand gestures while a man ran toward them, and that he felt threatened and “blacked out.”

Video surveillance from a nearby business appears to show Buchannan strike Pattelena while her back is turned to him, followed by several more strikes.

Officers from the York Police Department and the Eliot Police Department documented the scene and collected evidence, including a rock that appeared to have been used as a weapon in the assault, according to the affidavit.

An autopsy completed by the Maine medical examiner determined Pattelena's death was a homicide caused by blunt force injury to the head, according to the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit.

Buchannan had committed crimes against Pattelena previously, according to the Boston Globe. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to assaulting and kidnapping Pattelena, along with her two other sons, according to the newspaper. The Globe reported he was sentenced to two years in prison after Pattelena told police he attacked her and wouldn't allow her children to leave her home in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

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Pattelena remembered as a 'beautiful soul'

Pattelena was remembered by loved ones at a candlelight vigil at York Beach the week after her death.

Rhonda Pattelena with her and Jeffrey Buchannan's 2-year-old son, Jaxson.
Rhonda Pattelena with her and Jeffrey Buchannan's 2-year-old son, Jaxson.

She was remembered as a "beautiful soul " who "always loved her hair and nails to be done," according to her obituary.

Pattelena had worked as a nursing assistant at Urgent Care and was the mother of three children. Her sons from prior relationships, Bobby and Noah, were 17 and 14 at the time of her death.

A GoFundMe page raised $53,541 to go towards paying for funeral expenses and to support her children.

“I believe in justice, and I believe in people being held responsible for their actions,” GoFundMe organizer Melissa Matranga wrote on the page. “There will be #JusticeForRhonda.”

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If you need help

As a community service, the following information is published with stories in which domestic and/or sexual violence is alleged:

Help available in York County, Maine: Caring Unlimited, based in Sanford, Maine, offers individualized safety planning services to anyone impacted by domestic abuse, supporting thousands throughout York County each year with free programs. The Caring Unlimited hotline is available 24 hours per day: 1-800-239-7298. For more information, visit caring-unlimited.org.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York Beach murder suspect faces March trial if plea deal talks stall