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ALFRED, Maine » A woman accused of stabbing a stranger in a Maine supermarket after allegedly planning for a month to attack people at random pleaded guilty to murder today over the objections of her lawyer.
Police charged Connor MacCalister with killing 59-year-old Wendy Boudreau at a Shaw’s in Saco in August. MacCalister, 31, was born Tanisha Hopkins and previously identified herself as a transgender man but asked to be referred to as a woman in court.
She entered the guilty plea in York County Superior Court over her attorney’s advice that she plead not guilty and use an insanity defense.
MacCalister told police she had gone to the store to kill "several random people," according to an affidavit. Court records show that MacCalister said she was "off my meds" at the time of the stabbing inside a supermarket near the ice cream freezer.
Police have said there is no indication Boudreau and MacCalister knew each other even though they’re both from Saco.
The court affidavit said MacCalister was angry with life and had been planning the attack for a month.
MacCalister did not enter a plea at a previous court appearance in which a judge ordered her to undergo a mental exam. The judge did not set bail in the case during the prior appearance. A grand jury indicted MacCalister last month.
