ALFRED — An woman charged with killing her husband by stabbing him in the chest in his Acton driveway in February 2017 after she learned he had been awarded custody of their two children has changed her plea to guilty.

Kandee Collind, 48, formerly known as Kandee Weyland, entered a guilty plea to intentional and knowing murder at York County Superior Court on Monday morning. The guilty plea avoids a trial, which had been set to commence Sept 17.

Collind faces a minimum of 25 years in prison. Following the hearing, her attorney, Clifford Strike, said a plea agreement caps the sentence at 32 years. Collind is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 19.

“She wanted to spare her children the trauma of a trial, which I think is honorable and the correct decision,” said Strike following the hearing. “She is at peace with her decision.”

According to a court affidavit prepared by Maine State Police Detective Corey Pike, Collind told York County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Tom Searway that both of the children were in the car with her when she pulled into the driveway, crashed into a pick-up truck parked there, and that she and her former husband, Scott Weyland, had a confrontation. The children allegedly witnessed the stabbing.

The affidavit noted that one of the couple’s two minor children called 911 at 12:55 p.m. on Feb. 22, 2017, and said Collind had stabbed Weyland in the chest.

Nine minutes later,  Searway arrived at 1097 Milton Mills Road in Acton, where Weyland had been living with his mother.

Searway allegedly found Collind administering CPR to her former husband outside on the ground. She was crying hysterically, and allegedly told Searway that she had stabbed him in the chest, and that he had pulled out a knife as well.

An autopsy revealed Weyland died of a stab wound to the chest, with penetration of the heart.

In court on Monday, Collind, showing no emotion, quietly responded “yes,” when York County Superior Court Justice Wayne R. Douglas asked if it was her intent to plead guilty to the charge.

Strike acknowledged that had the case gone to trial, the state could have proved its case against Collind.

The confrontation was sparked by a letter Collind received a few days after the couple’s divorce was finalized on Feb. 17, 2017, which awarded primary physical custody of their two children to her ex-husband.

According to police, Collind was taken into custody on the day her husband died and she was taken to hospital for evaluation. She was treated at Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford for minor lacerations, and according to the affidavit, was found to be concealing a small knife stuck in her abdomen.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.

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