Kailie Brackett, 40, of Sipayik has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for the murder of Kimberly Neptune of Sipayik in April 2022. The sentence was issued by Judge Robert Murray on May 10 in Washington County Superior Court. Brackett also was ordered to pay $952.56 as restitution for the benefit of the Victims Compensation Board, which paid for funeral expenses. She had been found guilty of Neptune's murder following a nearly two-week trial in December.
      While an appeal of the conviction was expected, state prosecutors have not received any information yet about one. A request for a new trial that had been submitted by Brackett's attorney, David Bate of Bangor, was withdrawn on May 1.
      Prosecutors Donald Macomber and Leane Zainea, assistant attorneys general, had sought life imprisonment, while defense attorneys Bate and Jeffrey Toothaker requested a 45-year sentence. In their sentencing memorandum, the prosecutors stated that the murder involved "torture and extreme cruelty," with Neptune having been stabbed 484 times, the most in Maine's history, according to the medical examiner's office. They also said that Neptune was conscious for a period before she bled to death, with her hands sustaining injuries that a doctor characterized as defensive wounds. Even after she died, Brackett continued stabbing and cutting her, they stated. They also noted that Brackett has an extensive prior criminal record, with convictions for robbery, burglar, theft, forgery, drug possession, endangering the welfare of a child and eluding an officer. The only mitigating factor they noted is that Brackett has a minor child.
      In their sentencing memo, the defense attorneys stated that two wounds to Neptune's neck and chest caused her death and the remaining knife wounds were delivered after she had passed out or had died. They also noted that Brackett had not been previously convicted of crimes where actual violence was used.
      Donnell Dana Jr., 40, also had been charged with Neptune's murder, but the jury had been unable to reach a verdict in his case, and a mistrial was declared. The Maine Attorney General's Office then decided to enter into plea negotiations, resulting in Dana pleading guilty to a Class C felony charge of hindering apprehension and receiving a deferred disposition of one year. During that period Dana cannot break the law, possess alcohol or drugs and must submit to random testing and a substance abuse evaluation. He is not allowed to be at Sipayik unless for court and is to have no contact with certain individuals. If he abides by those requirements he will face a Class D misdemeanor charge of hindering apprehension, which is subject to a sentence of up to one year, with credit for time served. Dana has already served 19 months in jail. If Dana does not follow all of the requirements he can be sentenced to up to five years in prison on a Class C felony charge of hindering apprehension.
      Dana's attorney, Jeffrey Silverstein, has stated that the hindering apprehension charge came about because, a few days after Neptune's death, the child of Dana and Brackett broke their wrist and needed surgery in Bangor. As the two were packing a car for the drive to Bangor, a woman a couple of houses away saw them remove garbage bags from the house at Sipayik. The state's theory was that they were removing evidence related to the killing for disposal, according to Silverstein.
      Neptune's body had been found wrapped in a blanket inside her apartment on Thunder Road at Sipayik on April 21, 2022. According to the police affidavit, state police detectives were told by people they interviewed that Dana and Brackett allegedly had gone to Neptune's apartment to rob her and ended up attacking her and stealing Xanax, jewelry and money.
      In their sentencing memo, the prosecutors note that among the evidence presented during the trial was a threatening comment Brackett made at a convenience store on April 20, 2022, that Neptune was going to pay. They state that she went to Neptune's apartment at Sipayik that night, stabbed her 484 times and was seen walking away on a neighbor's surveillance camera early the following morning. Later that day she was caught on surveillance cameras using Neptune's bank cards at two ATMs and the Family Dollar in Eastport.
      Neptune's murder and the trial of Bracket and Dana have been traumatic for the close knit Sipayik community. Following the murder and the arrest of Brackett and Dana a week later, the community held a somber remembrance walk to Split Rock, with over 100 people from Sipayik and surrounding communities joining together to show support for her family. Along with carrying signs reading, "Justice for Kim," many wore red in remembrance of all the missing and murdered Indigenous women across the nation.