A Dorchester man will spend the remainder of his life behind bars for the homicide of a 29-year-old New Jersey girl, who he certain, gagged and set on fireplace alongside commuter rail tracks in Bridgewater greater than seven years in the past.
A Plymouth Superior Court jury on Wednesday discovered Fernando Owens, 51, responsible of first-degree homicide and aggravated kidnapping of Ashley Bortner, 29, of New Jersey, a lady he thought was concerned within the demise of his personal son earlier that day.
On Friday, Judge Elaine Buckley sentenced Owens to life in jail. He is the second of three folks charged in reference to the homicide. Julian Squires, 49, was discovered responsible of the identical counts in June of final yr and is presently serving life in state jail. Shannon Squires, 46, is subsequent scheduled to look in courtroom on July 20.
“I am proud of the work that this jury did to come to a just verdict in this case,” mentioned Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz in an announcement following Owens’ verdict. “They heard the evidence of what transpired during a 24-hour period that day in November of 2015. Fernando Owens lured Ashley Bortner in, kept her against her will, and then, he killed her. I hope that with today’s outcome and some passage of time, Ms. Bortner’s family will find some sense of peace.”
Bridgewater Police responded to a 911 name simply earlier than midnight on Nov. 3, 2015, reporting a fireplace burning alongside the MBTA commuter rail tracks in Bridgewater.
There, they found the physique of Ashley Bortner, who had been “hog-tied,” in Cruz’s description on the time, {an electrical} twine round her neck, her face wrapped in a towel, a gag in her mouth and roughly 70% of her physique burned.
Owens fled to the Dominican Republic following the homicide, however authorities engaged in a world manhunt and he was arrested on March 8, 2016, within the Dominican Republic , in keeping with the U.S. Marshal’s workplace. Marshals returned him to Massachusetts that week to face justice.
Julian and Shannon Squires, the others charged within the case, are a married couple from Manchester, N.H., who prosecutors say misled police about their whereabouts, as telephone information put them close to the scene of the crime across the identical time Bortner’s physique was discovered. Both had been indicted on homicide and aggravated kidnapping prices within the case, with Julian Squires convicted final yr.
Prosecutors say they imagine Owens killed Bortner as a result of he was beneath the impression that she was concerned with the capturing homicide of his son, Dominic Owens, who was shot lifeless earlier the identical day on Shepton Street in Dorchester. Bortner and the youthful Owens knew one another and the daddy known as Bortner 13 instances earlier than he murdered her.
“It was our belief from the outset that the reason why Ashley was murdered by Fernando Owens and others was the fact that they believe she had information regarding Owens’ son, who had been murdered in Dorchester the night before her homicide,” Cruz mentioned in March 2016. “I’m not sure if I’d call it retaliation as much as they were trying to get information, which may have led to retaliation.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”