The man who is charged with killing a 10-year-old boy and two men in northern Maine appeared at times to be possessed by an evil force that made him erupt in anger, says an Anglican priest who let Thayne Ormsby live with him for two months.

The Rev. Lewis Glidden of St. Stephen The Martyr Anglican Church in Oakland said Wednesday that he sometimes looked in Ormsby’s eyes and saw a demon staring back. Glidden let Ormsby move in with him in December but kicked him out because parishioners were frightened by his angry outbursts.

“Thayne acted like a person possessed at times. He acted like he didn’t have control. He was capable of being very intimidating toward people,” Glidden said.

Nonetheless, Glidden and a minister who baptized Ormsby a year ago said they were stunned to hear that he had told police that he killed the three people.

Ormsby, 20, is being held in the Strafford County jail in New Hampshire, where he’s awaiting extradition to Maine to face charges in the stabbing deaths of Jeffrey Ryan, 55, Ryan’s son Jesse and Ryan’s neighbor Jason Dehahn, 30, in the Aroostook County town of Amity. Their bodies were found on June 23 at Ryan’s mobile home.

It was unclear Wednesday whether Ormsby has an attorney.

According to court documents, Ormsby told police that he killed Jeffrey Ryan because he thought Ryan was dealing drugs.

But DeHahn’s brother suggested that Ormsby was angry because Ryan didn’t want him moving in with Ryan’s 16-year-old daughter and the girl’s mother.

Glidden became acquainted with Ormsby after his small parish joined another church, Holy Trinity in Fairfield, where Ormsby was attending services. The Rev. Jeffrey Monroe, Holy Trinity’s vicar, said Ormsby seemed to be interested in turning his life around.

For a time, Ormsby lived in Farmington, at the home of Republican congressional candidate John Frary, who failed in 2008 to unseat Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud.

They parted ways last year, Frary said, after a disagreement over an overloaded washing machine. Frary said he never saw any “blowups or wild-eyed stuff.”

In December, Glidden agreed to let Ormsby live in his rectory in Oakland, where his church had moved. But he soon realized that he had made a mistake.

While Glidden was in China in January, several women who were doing work in the rectory contacted Glidden to express their fear of Ormsby.

Glidden said a small amount of cash turned up missing and Ormsby disappeared for a week with his car, which Ormsby drove to Ellsworth.

“A demon right out of hell at times had control of Thayne. You would have to see a person’s eyes to see that force taking control,” Glidden said.

When challenged, he said, “Thayne’s expression, his physical expression would change just like flicking a light switch.”

Monroe, who baptized Ormsby on June 18, 2009, said the victims’ families, as well as Ormsby, are in the prayers of parishioners at both Holy Trinity and St. Stephen The Martyr.

“I’m just flabbergasted,” said Monroe, who let Ormsby work at his home in Cape Elizabeth. “I’m just sad, deeply troubled by all of this, because I didn’t see that in him. I felt that he was getting his life together.”

 

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