Suspect in N.H. slayings complains of treatment
Accused of killing 3 at outdoor store
As the relatives of his alleged victims confronted him in court for the first time, accused murderer Michael Woodbury complained yesterday to a New Hampshire judge of poor treatment in jail.
"I feel like some of the staff here is taking it personally that I murdered three of their citizens, I must be transferred," wrote Woodbury in a handwritten note to Judge Pamela Albee in a Conway, N.H. courtroom, just a day after his chilling admission that he gunned down his victims during a robbery of a store.
In the note, Woodbury complained that guards at the Carroll County jail had put him in a dirty cell, given him a mattress soaked with urine, and assigned him to a cell with "human feces all over cell."
Woodbury is accused of fatally shooting three men Monday at the Army Barracks store in Conway: manager James Walker, 34, of Denmark, Maine; William Jones, 25, of Walpole, Mass.; and Gary Jones, 23, of Plymouth, Mass.
Woodbury told reporters on Thursday that he killed because he needed the cash. Yesterday, he drew a rebuke from Albee after he craned his neck in court to look at news cameras in Northern Carroll County District Court.
"Mr. Woodbury, I'm right here," said Albee. "You may look at me."
After handing over the note, Woodbury said aloud: "In my opinion, it's a little too close to the action. There's various people there with a personal interest." It was not clear what he meant.
Assistant New Hampshire Attorney General Karen Huntress said the note contained complaints, but she would not elaborate.
The victims' families wept and hugged yesterday as they got their first glimpse of Woodbury. Kenny Jones, father of William Jones, recalled his son's close friendship with Gary Jones. The two men were not related. They had been out hiking and stopped at the outdoors gear shop on their way home, when they were killed.
"They were fun-loving boys, hardworking boys. They were like brothers," he said. ". . . We came up here to see the person that did this to our son."
Walker left a wife, a 1-year-old son, and an 8-year-old daughter from a previous marriage. His wife, Tessa Walker, manages an Army Barracks store in Scarborough.
Woodbury was arrested Tuesday, walking along railroad tracks in Fryeburg, Maine, a few miles from Conway.
He is accused of killing the three men less than two months after serving a five-year prison sentence in Maine for theft.
Between his May 4 release and the July 2 shootings, authorities say, Woodbury was on a multistate crime spree, including a bank robbery in South Carolina, burglary and arson in Georgia, car theft in Kentucky, and armed robbery in Tennessee.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. 