A Maine man traveled across the state line between Maine and New Hampshire in 2016 to abuse a girlfriend who eventually killed herself, prosecutors said.
Nelson Jean Dion, 53, of Kittery, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of interstate travel to violate a protection order, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank.
Dion was initially charged with felony aggravated assault in April 2016 for assaulting his live-in girlfriend. It is unclear what the status of that charge is now.
A state judge in York County also granted the girlfriend, who is not identified in court records, a protection from abuse order that forbade Dion from having contact with her.
But after Dion was released on bail from the York County Jail, investigators say, he traveled repeatedly between Maine and New Hampshire to have contact with the woman and continued to be abusive to her.
Then on June 30, 2016, the girlfriend jumped from the Piscataqua River Bridge that carries Interstate 95 between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery. She died the next day. On her phone, which was left in the vehicle she drove to the bridge, investigators found the girlfriend’s last text message to Dion.
“You’re right, I’m no good,” she wrote to Dion. “Your truck is on the bridge.”
Two FBI agents then interviewed Dion under the premise that they were investigating a separate crime that occurred at the girlfriend’s place of employment, unrelated to the domestic violence charges. In that recorded interview, Dion admitted he traveled between Maine and New Hampshire to have contact with her, according to federal court records.
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