ALFRED — John Durfee, bailed from York County Jail Thursday night, claims he was not the driver of the vehicle seen leaving the area after his wife was found unconscious on the side of Route 91 in Eliot Oct. 13.

Durfee, who was wanted by York Police on a felony charge of eluding an officer, said in a telephone interview this morning he was on his way back from Gatlinburg, Tenn. and had checked into the Turnpike Motel on Alewive Road when Kennebunk Police came knocking on his motel room door just after midnight Wednesday. Durfee said he intended to meet with his Kennebunk lawyer and turn himself in, but police arrived before that could happen.

Durfee and his wife Nancy both declined to say who was behind the wheel of the vehicle seen by witnesses driving away when she was found on the side of the road.

“It wasn’t me who drove off,” said Durfee. “I wasn’t there. Nancy will testify to that.”

Nancy Durfee this morning said she asked the driver of the vehicle to stop the car so she could answer a call of nature and doesn’t remember falling. She said had forgotten her purse and cellphone in the car.

She said she and John have been married for more than 40 years.

“He didn’t hurt me,” she said.

While Eliot Police Chief Theodor Short has said police are not sure a crime had taken place, he said last week he’d like to question John Durfee about the incident and speak with Nancy Durfee again. Short said police spoke with Nancy Durfee after she regained consciousness, but she had little recollection of what had transpired, although she told police she and John had lunch in Boston that day. Short said there were no signs of bruising or other physical trauma.

Eliot Police put out word they were looking for the vehicle registered to Nancy Durfee at the time, and 10 to 15 minutes later York Police attempted to stop it on Route 1, but the vehicle sped away and led police on a chase back through Eliot and ultimately into Dover, N.H. Police stopped the pursuit there because of traffic congestion in the area, said York Police Sgt. Thomas Baran.

Both John and Nancy Durfee were witnesses in the murder trial of Jason Twardus, who was convicted Oct. 1 of killing his former fiancée, Kelly Gorham. During the trial, defense counsel Dan Lilley painted John Durfee, who testified to using the drug PCP, as an alternate suspect. Gorham had rented an apartment from the couple on the second floor of a garage they owned behind their home on Waterboro Road.

John Durfee this morning said he was on his way to Florida when he got word police were looking for him and was in Gatlinburg when he turned around and headed back to Maine.

Nancy Durfee said she spent the week in Foxwoods in Connecticut, and said the family has had to post no trespassing signs at their Waterboro Road home because an investigator attached to Lilley’s office had been on the property.

Kennebunk Police Lt. Anthony Bean Burpee said officers were checking license plate numbers parked outside the motel ”“ something he said police regularly do outside motels and in parking lots, when they discovered the Durfee vehicle. Burpee said three officers knocked on the motel room door, and John Durfee was arrested without incident. He was taken to Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford to be checked for arm pain unrelated to the arrest, and then to York County Jail in Alfred, where bail was set at $5,000. He was released Thursday evening.

Durfee was arrested by Biddeford Police in September on charges of violation of conditions of release, possession of marijuana and obstructing government administration.

Last week, Lilley said he filed a motion to extend the time period in which he can request a new trial for Twardus ”“ prior to the incident involving the Durfees.

“This will be added to the mix, if there’s enough to make it relevant,” Lilley said. “We’re interested in what happened to her. I have my own theories.”

— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.