
Trevor Averill, right, and his attorney, Jim Howaniec, turn Tuesday as the jury walks into the courtroom in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn. Averill is accused of murdering his 2-month-old daughter. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
AUBURN — A Buckfield man’s trial for the 2020 death of his 2-month-old daughter began Tuesday morning in Androscoggin County Superior Court.
Trevor Averill, 31, is accused of depraved indifference murder and manslaughter in the death of his daughter, Harper Grace Averill, born April 30, 2020. The punishment for those crimes are a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for the murder charge and up to 30 years in prison for the manslaughter charge.
“On July 26, 2020, after four days in the Barbara Bush Hospital pediatric intensive care unit, Harper (Averill) died after being removed from life support,” Assistant Attorney General Suzanne Russell said during her opening statement.
“The last person who had sole care of Harper before she lost consciousness was her father, Trevor Averill,” Russell said.
Averill, who pleaded not guilty when a grand jury handed down an indictment Sept. 8, 2021, appeared in court alongside attorneys Jim Howaniec and Verne Paradie for opening statements before a jury. Assistant Attorneys General Russell and Lisa Bogue, prosecutors for the case, led the state’s opening statement.
Russell said Harper Averill died after suffering a skull fracture, spinal injury, a rib fracture and other injuries consistent with being violently shaken.

Assistant Attorney General Suzanne Russell makes her opening statements Tuesday during Trevor Averill’s trial in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn. Averill is accused of murdering his 2-month-old daughter. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
“You will hear testimony from physicians, specialists, you will see X-rays, PET scans, MRI scans that show Harper had a left cranial fracture of her head with acute subdural bleeding,” Russell said. “She had acute bleeding in different areas and layers of her brain, her spine and her eyes.”
In the defense’s opening statement, Howaniec challenged the state’s narrative that first responders and initial medical personnel at Central Maine Medical Center saw apparent injuries on Harper Averill consistent with abuse. Howaniec assured the jury that the upcoming two weeks of expert testimony will show Averill had no hand in the death of his daughter.
“Trevor Averill is innocent. He’s presumed innocent, and he will continue to be innocent unless and until 12 of you decide otherwise,” Howaniec said to the jurors. “If you have any doubt about whether Trevor Averill murdered Harper, any doubt, any reasonable doubt — not that some Martian came down to do it — you must find an opportunity. That’s the way our system works.”
Howaniec said Averill was awakened around midnight of July 22, 2020, to the cries of a hungry Harper Averill. He said Averill fetched the infant and a fresh bottle and began feeding her. When he put the bottle down and began burping the infant, she began gagging and stopped breathing.
A short time later, an Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputy responded to the Averill home for a report of a 2-month-old in medical distress. Deputies and rescue personnel performed life-saving measures on Harper Averill before she was transported to CMMC in Lewiston.
Averill was arrested shortly after his September 2021 indictment at his Buckfield home where he was living with his daughter’s mother.

Trevor Averill, right, talks with his attorney, Jim Howaniec, before the start of Averill’s trial Tuesday in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn. Averill is accused of murdering his 2-month-old daughter. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
Initial witnesses included Harper Averill’s pediatrician, several first responders, a former dispatcher and a CMMC pediatric hospitalist.
Harper Averill’s pediatrician, Dr. Margaret Curtis, said the only concerns the parents had were brought up at the infant’s 60-day well child check. The concerns were constipation and a single episode of the presence of blood in the infant’s mouth. Curtis said the blood was likely from a cyst common in infants at her development stage.
The court played for the jury both the 911 call reporting the infant’s medical episode and body camera footage from a deputy during the response to Averill’s North Parish Road residence in Turner.
Former dispatcher Christopher Duval could be heard on audio taking information from Harper Averill’s mother for first responders and directing the infant’s parents on performing chest compressions. Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputy Victor Barr recounted his experience responding to Averill’s residence and taking over life-saving measures from the infant’s parents.
Barr said the parents had stopped performing chest compressions when he arrived, so he resumed them while awaiting another deputy’s arrival with a medical kit. Harper Averill was “gray, ashy and cold to the touch” and was gagging, Barr said.
When the second deputy, equipped with a body camera, arrived with the medical kit, the two provided oxygen to the infant while continuing chest compressions and awaiting Turner Fire Rescue. Barr said he found a bruise on the side of the infant’s chest consistent with a thumbprint; however, he did not photograph the alleged injury.
Turner Fire Rescue paramedic Stephen Bennett estimated the infant went 14 minutes without oxygen by the time she was stabilized. She was “gray in color” when he arrived on the scene, had a faint pulse and was struggling to take shallow breaths, he said.

Trevor Averill waits Tuesday for his trial to begin in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn. Averill is accused of murdering his 2-month-old daughter. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
As Harper Averill’s breathing improved with the use of a pediatric bag valve mask, her color became pink and circulation improved though blood pressure was still down, Bennett said. Buckfield paramedic Norman Richardson helped place an endotracheal tube and IV to further stabilize Harper Averill.
Neither Bennett nor Richardson observed bruising or injuries on the infant’s chest, head or sides.
Dr. Joseph Anderson, a pediatric hospitalist, was on duty when Harper Averill arrived at the CMMC emergency department. He said the infant had wet and coarse-sounding lungs, low blood pressure and pupils that were slow to react to light.
“It was clear from the door that she would not be staying at our hospital,” Anderson said, adding that all work at CMMC was to stabilize the infant for transport to Maine Medical Center. He said he did not order an MRI or CT scan because he did not want to delay her transfer.
Though Anderson did not give a diagnosis, he noted that among the possibilities for the infant’s ailment was nonaccidental trauma.
“It’s always at the back of your mind when there is no good explanation for the sickness,” Anderson said.
The trial resumes Wednesday and is scheduled to last at least two weeks, court officials said.
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