ALFRED – Pausing often to take deep breaths, Lisa Gould told a judge Thursday that she believed she would die at the hands of her ex-boyfriend on the morning of Nov. 9, 2009.

Gould said Gary Traynham was drunk when he ambushed her in her Sanford apartment. She claims he raped her, choked her and abducted their 2-year-old daughter, triggering Maine’s first Amber Alert.

Additional Photos

Gary Traynham makes his initial appearance in York County Superior Court after his arrest in November 2009. He has been jailed since then. Press Herald file photo

“I just kept begging and begging,” Gould said during Thursday’s bail hearing for Traynham in York County Superior Court.

“I fought for my life that day. Every single moment, I fought,” she said.

Traynham’s attorney, though, says Gould’s story doesn’t add up. There are several inconsistencies within the various statements that Gould made to police, Amy Fairfield said during Thursday’s hearing.

Fairfield also noted that the results of a rape test done within a few hours of the alleged incident showed DNA from Gould’s latest boyfriend, and not from Traynham.

“It’s just as likely that it didn’t happen,” Fairfield said, trying to persuade Justice G. Arthur Brennan to allow Traynham, 39, to go free on bail as he awaits trial.

After hearing testimony from Gould, three Sanford police officers and the nurse who conducted the sexual assault exam, Brennan said he hopes to issue a written decision next week.

No date has been set for the trial. Traynham faces felony charges of gross sexual assault, aggravated assault, burglary and criminal restraint.

Sanford police responded to a call from the Timber Ridge apartments on the morning of Nov. 9, 2009. They found Gould crying and disheveled, with blood on her mouth and ear. She also had abrasions and bruises on her neck, chest and arms.

Gould told police that her ex-boyfriend had assaulted her and left with their daughter, Hailey. The couple had broken up recently and Gould had filed papers seeking a custody hearing for the girl.

Gould said Traynham was hiding in the apartment when she and Hailey returned home from a trip to the grocery store around 9:30 a.m. She said Traynham took her into the bedroom, where there was a bottle of vodka, a long knife and a roll of duct tape on a bedside table.

After the alleged rape, Gould said, she pretended to play along with Traynham, telling him they should all go to a park together.

When they walked into the parking area, Gould said, she got the attention of a maintenance man. Gould said the two men exchanged words, and Traynham took off with Hailey in a friend’s pickup truck.

In response to the incident, state officials issued an Amber Alert, releasing descriptions of Traynham, Hailey and the truck that Traynham was driving. The alert went out via television, radio, Internet sites and message boards on the Maine Turnpike.

The Amber Alert program is a partnership of law enforcement, broadcasters, transportation agencies and the wireless communications industry to activate an urgent bulletin in the event of a child abduction. Although the national program had been active for seven years as of last fall, it had never been triggered in Maine.

Traynham and Hailey were found the next day in Milton, N.H., by a deer hunter, Michael Grant. Grant saw the pickup truck off to the side of a logging road, and he recognized it from the Amber Alert.

Grant told police that he and Traynham talked for about an hour before the two men and Hailey walked to a nearby house, where police were called and Traynham was arrested without incident. He has been in jail since that day.

Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at:

tmaxwell@pressherald.com

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