AUBURN – It took a jury an hour and a half Thursday to find a Canton man guilty of raping, robbing and strangling Donna Paradis, a 38-year-old pregnant mother of two, and burying her body in a shallow grave last October.

Richard Dwyer, 45, hung his head and closed his eyes as the verdict was read. It was the most emotion he’d shown during the four-day trial. At one point, as the jury was polled, Dwyer glanced back at Paradis’ dozen friends and family gathered in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Jeannette Kontos, Paradis’ 18-year-old daughter, was there when the verdict was read: Guilty of murder, sexual assault and robbery.

“I thought, ‘OK, that’s three. We’ve won,'” she said afterward.

Defense lawyer George Hess said he would appeal the verdict.

Dwyer, who continued to be held without bail in the Androscoggin County Jail, is tentatively set to be sentenced on Oct. 17. He faces up to life in prison for the murder and up to 30 years each for sexual assault and robbery. Maine does not offer parole.

At sentencing, Marchese plans to bring up Dwyer’s criminal history, which dates back to his 18th birthday in 1981, when he served six months in jail for unlawful sexual contact. He returned to jail in ensuing years on charges that include burglary and theft. In 1987, he was convicted of robbery for a heist at Norstar Bank in New Auburn.

The jury was not allowed to hear about Dwyer’s criminal history during the trial, but the judge can consider it during sentencing.

Paradis, who was seven and a half months pregnant, was last seen alive on Oct. 23, 2007, when she left her day job at Affiliated Computer Services on Lisbon Street in Lewiston and went to a local Northeast Bank to get $400. Paradis’ body was discovered by police about three weeks later, on Nov. 12, in a wooded area behind the Promenade Mall on Lisbon Street.

She was found naked, strips of material looped and knotted around her wrists and neck. A pickax, shovel and clothing – including maternity pants that were smudged with dirt, entwined with a pair of women’s underwear and turned inside out – were found nearby. Paradis had been buried under large chunks of concrete and dirt.

Paradis lived on Pierce Street in Lewiston and worked two jobs, including an evening shift at the Sun Journal. Because she had no car, she walked to work, rode with a friend or took the bus. She had started looking for a car in the weeks before she disappeared.

The state contended that Dwyer, who worked with Paradis at ACS, lured Paradis behind the Promenade Mall after work by telling her he had a car she could buy. The state said Dwyer then raped and murdered her and stole the $400 she had brought with her to buy the vehicle.

The state presented its case over two and a half days. Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese showed video surveillance tape of Dwyer buying a shovel and flashlight from Lowe’s in Auburn and a pickax from Wal-Mart in Auburn the evening Paradis disappeared. At Lowe’s, he paid for the shovel and flashlight with a $100 bill.

Paradis had withdrawn four $100 bills from Northeast Bank.

Marchese also presented forensic evidence, including DNA that was consistent with both Paradis’ and Dwyer’s found in samples taken from Paradis’ sexual assault kit, on a cloth strip found knotted around one of her wrists and on an ACS-issued lanyard and empty plastic ID sleeve found in Dwyer’s vehicle. Dwyer’s fingerprint and Paradis’ DNA were also found on the flashlight Dwyer had bought at Lowe’s and had taken to his girlfriend’s apartment the night Paradis disappeared.

The defense presented its case over about two hours. It attempted to discredit the state’s evidence and suggested that others could have been responsible for the killing.

Dwyer had told police he left work early and drove around – possibly to Lake Auburn – then went home. He said he later went to his girlfriend’s apartment when the killing was thought to have occurred. He did not testify during the trial.

Although Paradis was pregnant, Maine does not have a law that would have allowed Dwyer to be charged with the death of her unborn son.

On Thursday, Kontos, Paradis’ older daughter, said her mother had not yet chosen a first name for the baby, but his middle name would have been Alexander.

Kontos and her family said they were relieved by the verdict but wouldn’t have closure until Dwyer was sentenced.

“I don’t think (Paradis) is at peace yet because we’ve still got one more step,” Kontos said.