AUGUSTA, Maine — In October 2019, Melissa Sousa was reported missing after not showing up to work.
Police said she was last seen that morning, bringing her 8-year-old twin daughters to the bus stop. When police went to the home she shared with Nicholas Lovejoy, he wouldn't allow them in and told them Sousa had left.
Hours later, in the middle of the night, officers who were staked out around the corner saw Lovejoy drive off, leaving the girls alone in the apartment.
They stopped him for a broken light over his license plate, found a loaded rifle in the car, and took him into custody. It was when they searched the house after the traffic stop that they found Melissa Sousa's body under a tarp in the basement. Lovejoy was charged with killing her.
Lovejoy's lawyers asked a judge Friday to exclude evidence gained in that search. His attorneys argue that the evidence obtained should be stricken because the officers didn't have a warrant to go inside the apartment at that time.
"If the court determines some of these issues in our favor, [it] potentially could mean the end of the case," Derrick Banda, who represents Lovejoy, said.
State prosecutors declined to speak after the hearing but argued in court that the twins were believed to be left alone in the middle of the night, which was reason enough for police to enter.
"Yes, there was no information that they were in danger, but there also wasn't any information that they weren't," a state prosecutor said.
Justice William Stokes is expected to decide on this matter within two weeks.