BANGOR, Maine (Court TV) — A man apologized to his ex-girlfriend’s daughter in court this week, admitting to killing the victim but saying he never planned it.
Richard Thorpe stands in court during his sentencing on Sept. 1, 2026. (WGME)
Richard Thorpe, 44, was convicted of murder in June after a jury agreed with prosecutors that he had strangled his ex-girlfriend, Virginia Cookson, to death at her home. The victim and defendant had dated before her death, meeting shortly after Thorpe had been released from prison, where he had served time for a domestic violence conviction.
First responders who testified at Thorpe’s trial described finding Cookson “positioned awkwardly” and covered by a blanket. They found an HDMI cord tied around her neck; the medical examiner’s office had to cut it off her body.
Detectives identified Thorpe as a suspect soon after Cookson’s family told them that he had recently shown up at the victim’s home threatening to kill her after the two had ended their relationship.
Thorpe apologized to Cookson’s daughter at his sentencing on Tuesday, WGME reported. “I’m sorry that I killed your mother,” he said. “I didn’t plan it. It wasn’t something I thought was going to happen.”
Video footage showed Thorpe picking up his belongings from Cookson’s home and driving away on Sept. 25, 2024, before turning around and returning to the house, according to Assistant Attorney General Kate Bozeman. He then lay in wait for Cookson to return from work, The Bangor Daily News reported. When Cookson got home, Bozeman said Thorpe beat her, causing a brain hemorrhage, before strangling her to death. “She would have known she was going to die,” Bozeman said. “She would have had conscious suffering and she would have been in absolute terror from what this man was doing to her.”
Judge Ann Murray sentenced Thorpe to life in prison, despite his defense team’s arguments that the killing was not premeditated and that drug use may have impaired the defendant’s judgment, WCSH reported. Thorpe will not be eligible for parole because Maine became the first state to abolish early release in 1976.
Speaking to WGME outside the courtroom after the sentencing, Bozeman said Cookson’s family was pleased with the sentence. “I think that it means a lot to them, knowing that he will never be out in the community again, that he will not harm anyone else the way he harmed their loved one.”
Authorities transferred Thorpe from jail to the Maine Correctional Center after the sentencing, online records show.
