FARMINGTON – A state prosecutor argued in his opening statement Tuesday that evidence will prove it was Thomas H. Mitchell Jr. who killed Judith Flagg, 26 years ago in her Watson’s Heights Road home in Fayette.
Mitchell, 52, formerly of South Portland is charged with intentionally or knowingly murdering Flagg on Jan. 6, 1983.
One of his defense attorneys, Greg Dorr said the DNA evidence was contaminated with so many people coming in and out of the house that night. Dorr argued that it also could have belonged to others including Mitchell’s father, Thomas Mitchell Sr. who lived in the home but had died prior to the Flagg’s buying it.
He also said there were three pubic hairs found on Flagg’s clothing that didn’t belong to Flagg, her husband, Ted or Mitchell.

Flagg, 23, was found dead by her husband, then 25, when he entered the dining room and flipped on a light and saw his wife’s body lying on the kitchen floor, hand clenched around a telephone beneath her body, Deputy Attorney Bill Stokes said.
The couple’s 13-month-old baby son, Chad, had been lying on his mother’s body and climbed off her when his father arrived home after working a double shift at a paper mill in Jay.
Flagg picked up his son, who was wearing blood soaked clothing and then walked into the baby’s room where it appeared a struggle took place, Stokes said.
The diaper pail was knocked over, items from a table in the room were on the floor and others were in disarray, he told the Franklin County Superior Court jury.
There was also a large blood stain on the carpet, he said.
Flagg also noticed footprints in the snow leading to and away from the kitchen door, a door not used regularly. Friends and family entered through a door near the garage from the driveway,
Judy Flagg’s body was fully clothed and there were stab wounds in her chest and slash marks on her hands, wrist and fingers where she attempted to fight for her life, Stokes said.
State police detectives took casts of the footprints in the snow and later seized Mitchell’s shoes from his South Portland home he shared with his mother and aunt, Stokes said.
Advances in DNA technology connected evidence of a gray fiber found in a broken split fingernail and other DNA evidence gathered from Flagg’s nail clippings that matched up to Mitchell’s DNA to the point of identification, Stokes said.
Stains on the baby’s right shirt cuff also tested positive for semen, with the results showing Mitchell could not be excluded, Stokes said.
Evidence will prove that Mitchell orally raped Flagg and then stabbed her to death, Stokes said.
“Evidence is going to show Judy Flagg fought for her life and her baby’s life,” Stokes said.
Two state witnesses, a retired South Portland Police Department officer and Ted Flagg took the stand before lunch. Cross examination of Dorr is expected to begin about 1 p.m.