Mass. man guilty in rape, murder of Maine woman by AP, Bangor Daily News, 23 Jul 2002

Mass. man guilty in rape, murder of Maine woman THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PORTLAND - A Massachusetts man was found guilty Monday in the 1994 rape and murder of a South Portland woman. The Cumberland County Superior Court jury returned the verdicts against Foster Bates of Attleboro, Mass., after about eight hours of deliberations over two days. He was convicted of murder and gross sexual assault. Prosecutors said Bates forced 22-year-old Tammy Dickson to have sex, then strangled her with a belt and left her body hog-tied in her apartment. Dickson's body was found by a former boyfriend, who let himself into her apartment Feb. 20, 1994, after friends said they hadn't heard from her for about three days. Police arrested Bates last year after advances in DNA technology enabled them to match a sample of semen found in Dickson's body with a blood sample taken from Bates around the time of the killing. The defense argued that someone else killed Dickson, noting that DNA from two other men also was found in her apartment. Bates initially had denied having sex with Dickson. He testified last week that they had had consensual sex but was that afraid he of had lied ruining because his mar- he| riage. Bates also said he feared changing his story later because it would make him appear guilty. Bates said he moved to Maine from Taunton, Mass., in 1991 to play basketball at the University of Southern Maine. He transferred to Southern Maine Technical College the next fall, where he studied in the Criminal Justice Technology program. Bates hired Dickson, his upstairs neighbor, to watch his baby while he was at school and his wife was in the hospital. Within a few weeks, he testified, they also began meeting in his apartment to have sex. His sentencing has tentatively been scheduled for Sept. 6.

The Bangor Daily News

Mass. man guilty in rape, murder of Maine woman by AP, Bangor Daily News, 23 Jul 2002

Mass. man guilty in rape, murder of Maine woman by AP, Bangor Daily News, 23 Jul 2002

The Bangor Daily News