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Man Who Killed Two Waterville Nuns in 1996 Dies

A man suffering from mental illness when he killed two nuns in a Waterville chapel in 1996 and injured two others has died while under state supervision. 

The Kennebec Journal reports that 58-year-old Mark Bechard died Sunday at Hawthorne House in Freeport.  According to the publication, a letter from the state Department of Health and Human Services indicates that Bechard had been diagnosed with ALS, a progressive neuro-degenerative disorder.

Bechard was having a psychotic episode when he went on his rampage in the Waterville chapel. He was found not criminally responsible and committed to state custody.

The Press Herald reports that Bechard spent years in state forensic hospitals and mostly recently had been living in the community under the supervision of the Riverview Psychiatric Center's Outpatient Services team.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.