Mrs. Cornish denied any responsibility for the murder upon being questioned, but evidence for a motive surfaced when it was revealed that she was engaging in multiple affairs.
She was executed by hanging in December 1645 in York, but denied any involvement in the murder up to the time of her death.
They were discovered by Officer William Lawrence, who threatened to arrest them but was shot in the head with a .32 caliber revolver by Wilkinson.
Ewitt was able to flee to England and avoid prosecution, while Wilkinson was caught and arrested after about a week and was hung for his crime.
He died slowly by strangulation due to a poorly tied noose, a fact that was later used by the anti-death penalty movement in Maine to successfully argue for the elimination of the death penalty, making Wilkinson the last person to be executed by the state of Maine.