Maine cop who searched for murder victim honored

Ted Cohen/Patch.com

A Portland, Maine police officer who heads a women's empowerment foundation honoring the memory of a murder victim whose body she helped find 20 years ago has been named one of Maine's outstanding women.

Coreena Behnke, a community police officer in Portland since 1999, was announced Monday as one of 20 women being honored by Hannaford and Maine Coast 93.1 radio for her public service. The Portland Police Department announced the award.

When she was a young officer, Behnke helped lead the search in late October 2001 for Amy St. Laurent when she went missing from the Old Port after a night of partying.

St. Laurent's body was found Dec. 8, 2001, in a shallow grave in woods near the home of the-then suspect's mother in Scarborough.

Jeffery "Russ" Gorman was later convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison for the fatal shooting of the 25-year-old St. Laurent, a Newmarket, N.H. native. Gorman had been the last one to see her alive.

After what was initially a missing person's case took a tragic turn, Behnke "made it her mission to provide women with the building blocks to properly defend themselves against a violent attacker," her award reads.

For the past 20 years, she has been the director of The Amy St. Laurent R.A.D. program, or Rape Aggression Defense, teaching thousands of women, teens, and children how to keep themselves safe. Behnke carries out St. Laurent’s legacy by empowering women across southern Maine.

"This work has not only become my life’s passion, but it has changed my life," the Gorham native said.

Behnke began her law enforcement career with Windham then moving over to Portland in 1999.