A Maine man who murdered both of his parents in cold blood has been relocated to the women’s prison in Windham after identifying as a woman, a Maine Department of Corrections spokesperson confirmed Thursday.
Andrew T. Balcer, 24, was sentenced to 40 years in prison after he stabbed both of his parents and the family dog to death in 2017.
At the time of his incarceration, he was listed in MDOC records as a male, but that changed in November.
“Ms. Balcer was transferred to the Women’s Center on 11/29/2022,” MDOC Policy and PowerDMS Assistant Jenna Heald said in an email.
Heald initially told The Maine Wire and Reduxx journalist Jennifer Gingrich, who was the first to report on MDOC reclassifying Balcer as a female inmate, that MDOC would not reveal whether it had transferred him into a female facility.
But after The Maine Wire asked Heald to identify the Freedom of Access Act statutory exemption allowing her to withhold such public records, she relented.
The 6’2″ 245 lb Balcer, who now goes by Andrea, will now be housed in a women’s facility until 2051.
Balcer was listed as male as recently as September, according to archived versions of MDOC records.
According to news reports, Balcer reportedly told his parents before her murdered them that he preferred to live life as a woman. While he later claimed their refusal to support his new gender identity was the motivation behind the double murder, friends and neighbors told Maine media outlets at the time that the Balcers were very supportive of their child.
The chilling 911 phone call Balcer made after killing his parents emerged during his trial in 2017. On the call, Balcer is jocular and manic, excitedly explaining to law enforcement that he “snapped” before stabbing his mother in her sleep. He says the father came because he heard the mother screaming, and that’s when Balcer also murdered him.
“I stabbed the fuck out of him,” Balcer said, of his father, before bursting out in laughter.
“I stabbed the dog too,” he said. “It was barking.”
It’s not immediately clear what other accommodations Balcer may be receiving from MDOC.
MDOC Commissioner Randell Liberty changed state policy in 2020 to require state-run correctional facilities to provide clothing items consistent with an inmate’s gender identification, including push-up bras and chest binders.
According to the policy, Balcer is eligible to receive a push-up bra that would give the appearance of breasts, along with other medical accommodations.
Although Maine’s Medicaid program, which covers healthcare for most inmates in the state, has been covering cross-sex hormones and sex reassignment surgeries for the poor since 2019, MDOC officials haven’t said whether Balcer is receiving taxpayer-funded medical treatments as part of his gender transition.
