A Skowhegan woman charged last year in connection with the New Hampshire murder of her brother’s ex-wife has filed a notice of intent to plead guilty to murder.
Michele D. Corson, 44, formerly of Water Street in Skowhegan, filed the notice through her lawyer on April 18, according to a clerk at administrative offices of the New Hampshire Superior Court Center in Concord. She faces possible life in prison.
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Corson, a mother of three adult children who managed a consignment shop on Madison Avenue in Skowhegan, is charged with being an accessory and a co-conspirator in the death of Amanda “Amy” Warf on March 7, 2013.
Warf, 36, was the ex-wife of Corson’s brother, Aaron Desjardins, 37, of Epping, N.H.
Desjardins, who was charged with murder, also has filed a notice of his intent to plead guilty, according to several news sources in New Hampshire.
Warf’s body was discovered by firefighters called to a fire at an abandoned cement factory in Exeter, N.H.
“It’s alleged that he killed her by slicing her throat, severing the carotid artery,” said New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell in April 2013. Authorities said Warf was killed at the site her body was found.
Corson is charged with taking a gun from Skowhegan to New Hampshire to help her brother kill Warf after her brother asked her to in a text message, Morrell said last year.
Morrell said the gun was an automatic .32-caliber German Mauser pistol. She would not say how the gun was used in connection with the homicide.
Sarah Desjardins, Aaron Desjardins’ wife, is alleged to have sent the text, according to court documents. Sarah Desjardins is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder and one count of conspiracy to commit hindering apprehension or prosecution.
Morrell said Corson and Sarah Desjardins are both charged with conspiracy to commit murder, but there will also be individual charges against them.
It was unclear Monday what the status of the charges against Sarah Desjardins is. Morrell did not return calls for comment on the case Monday. Assistant New Hampshire Attorney General Jay MacCormack said he could not comment on the case until there is a hearing and he would not say if a hearing has been scheduled.
Corson’s court-appointed attorney, Andrew Cotrupi, of Hampton, N.H., was unavailable for comment Monday.
Corson waived a probable cause hearing last year. The probable cause hearing could have outlined the facts and circumstances of the charges that set the stage for her arrest last year at her home on Water Street in Skowhegan.
Corson is being held in the Strafford County House of Corrections in Dover, N.H.
Aaron Desjardins originally denied that he killed Warf.
In an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader two days before his arrest, Desjardins said he was at home with his wife, his sister and his son when the body was found. Warf is the child’s mother.
Morrell said Corson’s charge of being an accomplice to first degree murder is the same level of crime as is a felony murder charge in New Hampshire. It is punishable by life in prison without parole.
The conspiracy charge is also a felony, punishable in New Hampshire by 15 to 30 years in prison, Morrell said.
With the plea agreement in place, it was unclear Monday what Corson’s sentence will be. Terms of the plea deals have not yet been made public.
Corson’s son and daughter said in April 2013 that the charges against their mother don’t add up.
“I’m not sure what they have it based on, there’s something that doesn’t quite make sense,” her son, Bryant Corson, then 22, said. He said his mother had been in New Hampshire earlier last year helping to care for her brother’s 15-month-old son.
Corson was the manager of Dragonfly Fashions & Decor, a consignment store that opened in January 2013. Bryant Corson and her daughter, Cassandra Corson, then 18, of Norridgewock, also worked there. The store is now closed. The space has been remodeled, but remains vacant.
Cassandra Corson described her mother in April 2013 as “just happy-go-lucky.”
Doug Harlow — 612-2367 dharlow@centralmaine.com Twitter: @Doug_Harlow
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