News Release

On Monday, July 29, 2024, at approximately 1:24 PM, the Maine State Police responded to a crash southbound on the Turnpike at mile marker 65 in Gray south of the New Gloucester tolls. The initial investigation has determined that the driver of a 2019 white Ford 150 was traveling southbound when the driver, 39-year-old Robert Padilla of Waterville used the medium to pass the vehicle in front of him. As he was passing the vehicle, a 2025 black GMC 1500, Padilla cut back into the passing lane clipping the GMC. The driver of the GMC suffered minor injuries. Padilla’s Ford 150 went off the road and into a ditch before it came to rest. Padilla then fled from the vehicle crossing southbound and northbound traffic before coming back across the southbound lanes where he ran into the woods. A K-9 team from the Cumberland County Sherrif’s Office arrived and located Padilla after a quick track. Padilla was transported to the hospital for an evaluation. Charges are pending.  

On Sunday, July 28, 2024, at approximately 3:40 AM, the Augusta Regional Communications Center took multiple calls of a wrong way driver going northbound in the southbound lanes of I-295 in Falmouth at mile 10. Troop I Troopers responded as well as local law enforcement partners. The vehicle, a 2012 Ford Fusion made it to mile 22 in Freeport when it started to drive in the construction zone and landed in between the concrete construction barriers (where workers would be if they were working at that time).  The driver, 28-year-old Tatiana Bisimwa of South Portland, was issued a criminal summons for Driving to Endanger and released. An adverse driving report will also be submitted to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The vehicle was towed from the scene. There were no injuries or subsequent crashes related to this event.

On Saturday, July 27, 2024, at approximately 4:00 PM, the Mechanic Falls Police Department requested the assistance of Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit South after the discovery of three deceased individuals at a residence on Highland Ave in Mechanic Falls. Detectives and Evidence Response Technicians responded and spent the evening and overnight hours processing the scene. The deceased were transported to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta where autopsies will be performed to determine cause and manner of death and to positively identify the deceased. There is no danger to the public. No additional information will be released until after the autopsies have been completed.

On Friday, July 26, 2024, at approximately 3:41 PM, the Gardiner Police Department responded to 16 Bartlett Street in South Gardiner for a welfare check called in by a family member. Upon arriving at the residence officers discovered a body of a deceased male outside of the residence. Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit Central along with the Maine State Police Evidence Recovery Team responded and began investigating the death. Both units worked throughout the evening into the early morning hours of Saturday, July 27, 2024. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta conducted an autopsy on Saturday July 27, 2024, and ruled the cause of death was blunt force trauma and manner of death was homicide. The identity of the deceased male is being withheld until further testing can be conducted for positive identification. Major Crimes Central Detectives arrested 52-year-old Gregory Fisher of South Gardiner, charging him with Murder. Fisher was taken to the Kennebec County Jail where he will likely make his first appearance on Monday, July 29, 2024. The investigation is continuing, and further information will be released when available.

During the early morning hours of Thursday, July 25, 2024, the Maine State Police responded to the theft of an ATM that was inside Tubby’s Ice Cream shop on Main Street in the town of Wayne. Through their investigation Troopers identified and located the suspects at a house in the town of Livermore Falls. Discovered with the suspects was a significant amount of the money from inside the ATM. The ATM was located in a vacant lot away from the house. Arrested and charged with the Theft are 47-year-old Joshua Souther of Livermore Falls, 44-year-old Jason Reckards of Livermore Falls. 37-year-old Brittany Boivin of Jay was arrested on obstructing government administration and violation of conditional release. All three were transported to the Androscoggin County Jail. The Androscoggin Sheriff’s Office and Livermore Falls Police Department assisted in the investigation.

On Thursday, July 25, 2024, at approximately 1:30 PM, Detectives with Major Crimes Unit Central arrested 39-year-old John Flower of Rockland. Flower was charged with Hindering, a class B felony, related to the Cushing Death Investigation. Flower was being held at the Knox County Jail on unrelated charges at the time of his arrest. His initial appearance is scheduled for Friday, July 26, 2024, at 1:00 PM at the Knox County Superior Court.

The victim has been identified as 46-year-old Kyle MacDougall of Waldoboro. The cause and manner of death are not being released at this time.

On Thursday, July 25, 2024, at approximately 12:25 PM, Maine State Police Troopers responded to the Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport in Trenton for a report of a plane crash. The single engine aircraft had caught fire upon impact and was destroyed. Two people were on board. The pilot and a passenger were both killed. The deceased will be identified once the Office of Chief Medical Examiner can make a positive identification and next of kin is notified. The NTSB and FAA are the primary investigators of the crash. The State Police was assisted by the Fire Marshall’s Office, the Trenton, Ellsworth and Bar Harbor Fire Departments and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department. 

FAA Statement

This information is preliminary and subject to change. 

A single-engine Cirrus SR22 crashed on approach to Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport in Maine around 12:25 p.m. local time on Thursday, July 25. Two people were on board. The aircraft had taken off from Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide any updates.

• Contact local authorities for the names and medical conditions of those on board.
• The FAA will post a preliminary accident/incident report here usually the next business day.
• After investigators verify the aircraft registration number (N-number), you can search it here.

On Monday, May 20, 2024, at approximately 5:00 AM, the Aurora Fire Department responded to a residential fire at 23 Old Dam Way in Great Pond. Once on scene, the Aurora Fire Department notified the State’s Fire Marshal’s Office as it was determined to be a fatal fire where two bodies were discovered. The Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit North responded to help investigate the circumstances surrounding the fire and the deaths. Both bodies were transported to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner where autopsies were conducted. The OCME identified one victim as the occupant of the residence, 35-year-old Marie Robbins. The OCME ruled the cause of death as undetermined and the manner of death as homicide. The second deceased individual was identified as 38-year-old Ryan Devisme of Aurora. The OCME has determined cause of death as toxic effects of carbon monoxide with the presence of a gunshot wound and manner of death as suicide. The investigation indicates that Devisme set the house on fire before sustaining a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Robbins and Devisme were in a former relationship together. No other information is being released at this time.

On Saturday, July 20, 2024, at approximately 7:33 PM, Maine State Police Trooper Patrick Flanagan was on a traffic stop with his emergency lights activated at mile marker 32 southbound on the Turnpike in Biddeford when his cruiser was rear-ended by another vehicle. The force of the crash caused Trooper Flanagan’s cruiser to spin around and strike the vehicle he had pulled over on the traffic stop. The driver of that vehicle suffered minor injuries. Trooper Flanagan suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a Portland hospital. The driver of the vehicle that struck the cruiser is 25-year-old Xianying Yu of Allston, Massachusetts. She suffered minor injuries and was transported to a Biddeford hospital. She was summonsed for Failing to Keep Right. The circumstances that led up to the crash are under investigation. No other information is available at this time.

*We would like to remind Mainers that Maine law requires drivers to move over or slow down when approaching all stopped emergency, public service, or disabled vehicles on the side of the road.

Shortly after midnight on July 19, 2024, a Maine State Police Trooper was responding to a motor vehicle crash in Gardiner using his emergency lights and siren on the Maine Turnpike in Lewiston. A 2015 Ford Pickup truck operated by 24-year-old Javier Martinez, of Waterville swerved erratically into the Trooper’s lane making contact with the right side of the cruiser causing minor damage to both vehicles. No one was injured in the crash. Further investigation revealed Mr. Martinez was operating under the influence of alcohol.  Mr. Martinez was summonsed for OUI and released pending a court hearing.

In the early morning hours of Friday, July 19, 2024, a Maine State Police Trooper was concluding a traffic stop on Rt. 1 in Gouldsboro and had just gotten back into his cruiser with the lights still activated when his cruiser was sideswiped by a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.  The damage was relatively minor and there were no injuries to either party from the collision.  The driver of the Jeep, 71-year-old Andrew Pratt of Cutler has been the subject of several law enforcement interactions and traffic complaints. An adverse driving report was filed with Bureau of Motor Vehicles by a Trooper on July 4, 2024. Pratt was summonsed for improper passing of a stationary emergency vehicle and another adverse driver report will be filed from this incident.