A Maine man convicted of shooting a man and a teen, taking their money, and posing for a selfie will serve the rest of his life in prison.
Aaron Aldrich, 47, learned his fate on Friday following the deaths of 16-year-old Mohamed Aden and 21-year-old Mohamed Adan. Aldrich was found guilty in the case in September.
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Judge Jennifer Archer of Maine Superior Court took the defendant to task, according to local ABC affiliate WMTW.
“These young victims were someone’s son, father, sibling, grandson and friend, and their lives were cut short by the selfish act of a greed-filled man,” Archer told the audience.
Victim advocate Brian Hughes discussed the impact of the slayings on the families, stating that Aden’s mother described the funeral process practiced in her culture, which included body washing, according to The Lewiston Sun Journal.
“Just being there for that, seeing her son in the manner he was left in with the injuries, how difficult that was and how hard it has been to overcome that grief and depression,” Hughes told me.
Aldrich’s attorney, Thomas Carey, argued for a 60-year sentence, citing his drug addiction and remorse.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about what happened,” said Aldrich, who testified for himself during the trial, claiming he was ambushed and acted in self-defense. “I’m very sorry. I know it doesn’t make things right, and it won’t bring them back.”
On February 20, 2023, the victims were shot as part of a drug deal at a home on Tripp Lake Road in Poland. Their bodies were discovered the next morning while conducting a welfare check, according to local NBC affiliate WCSH.
According to court documents, a woman told police that Aldrich had left her house the night of the killings and returned around midnight, acting paranoid and looking out the windows.
The witness told police she saw blood on Aldrich’s shoe and a cut on his wrist. The woman departed around 2 a.m. When she returned, Aldrich was gone, and he later texted her a picture of himself with the words “I did something.”
He was arrested in New Hampshire a few days later on unrelated charges before being extradited to Maine to face the double murder charges.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed he used a Hi-Point 995 9 mm rifle in the killings and posed for photos holding cash and bloody evidence, according to The Sun Journal.
“I killed those two. I flanked them. “I flogged them,” Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue told the jury, citing what Aldrich later told a witness. “He has found weaker, smaller, younger boys that he can go and take from.”
