PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — A New Hampshire man convicted of kidnapping and murder for his role in the 2015 death of a woman whose bound and gagged body was found burning beside railroad tracks in Massachusetts was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Wednesday.
Julian Squires, 48, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was found guilty last week in the killing of Ashley Bortner, 29.
“The murder of Miss Bortner was particularly gruesome and cruel,” Plymouth Distict Attorney Timothy Cruz said in statement Wednesday. “I am pleased that the jury saw the facts of this case and found Julian Squires guilty for his role in this heinous crime.”
Police responding to a 911 call about a fire beside the tracks in Bridgewater just before midnight on Nov. 3, 2015, found Bortner’s body.
The victim, originally from Paulsboro, New Jersey, had been gagged by clothing, her face had been wrapped in a towel, and her hands and feet had been bound, authorities said.
Squires helped another man kill and dispose of the victim’s body, the district attorney’s office said. The other man believed she had played a role in his son’s killing. His trial is pending.
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