The tragic death of 18 year old Linda Maxwell of Calais, found deceased on the shore of the St. Croix River in Robbinston in 1984, has led to the arrest of a prime suspect in the murder since it occurred over 40 years ago. The development in the cold case brings with it a sense of closure for the family and friends of Maxwell, along with the greater Calais community, many of whom participated in an extensive search while she remained missing for two days. Suspect Raymond Brown, 65, who was living in Pembroke at the time and now lives in Bangor, was arrested on May 1, after he was indicted on a murder charge by a Washington County grand jury. He pleaded not guilty during his arraignment on May 2 in Calais District Court.
      "I was over-the-top excited to learn that Linda's family can finally put her to rest," says Heather Henry Tenan, who was an acquaintance of Maxwell and spoke with her the night she died and later became a journalist in part to make an annual appeal to the community to help solve the case. "I was working yesterday when my phone started to blow up with messages about law enforcement finally making an arrest. Forty years is a long time, but I can tell you I wanted to do celebratory cartwheels across the room last night."
      Maxwell, whom Tenan describes as beloved by her parents who had her later in life, was a "normal 18 year old -- soft spoken and kind."
      On the evening of August 23, 1984, she never came home, leading to a massive two day search effort. Then on August 25 a call about a drowning near the Robbinston boat landing came in. When Calais police officer Bill Cody arrived on scene, he found an unclothed deceased body, later identified as Maxwell.
      David Burns of Whiting, who was an investigator with the Maine State Police at the time of Maxwell's death, says that Raymond Brown was a focus of the investigation from the beginning. "He was the last one who was reported to have seen her alive." That evidence was both from witnesses and Brown's own statement.
      Burns relates that on August 23 there had been a gathering of young people for a party at Round Pond in Charlotte. When the group came back to Calais, Maxwell was in a pickup truck with Brown, and he left the group to drop her off in Milltown. "We gathered the facts and gave them to the attorney general's office," which made the decision that there was not enough evidence to bring charges against Brown and that the state police "should just keep investigating."
      Burns says that "the months turned into years, and the years into decades." He retired from the state police, and other investigators picked up the case. Then in 2015 the legislature approved the formation of an Unsolved Homicide Unit. Burns was serving as a state senator at the time, and among those who testified in support of forming the unit were Maxwell's brother and sister.
      Burns says the unit "is very important in reexamining cold cases. It's brought a lot of results." He says that during the past few months the detectives assigned to the case have been "working really hard on it" and had contacted him. They re interviewed witnesses and also spoke again with Brown. They also reexamined Maxwell's body, and the investigators and the AG's office decided there was enough evidence to bring charges. As for whether DNA evidence might have been a factor in making the decision to move forward, Burns does not know, but he does state that at the time of the initial investigation "we weren't doing DNA evidence."
      "I'm very pleased that they moved ahead with the arrest. I feel it's very provable. I'm happy for the family and the people in the Calais area. I think it's time for some closure." Of the cold case investigation, he adds, "Sometimes it takes a long time."
An extensive criminal record
      At the time of the Maxwell's death, Brown was 25 years old and living nearby in Pembroke. He has an extensive criminal record, beginning from when he was 18, according to a criminal background check. In October 1977 he was found guilty of two felony burglary charges and served a year in prison. Soon after he was arrested on the burglary charges, Brown, along with two other inmates, escaped from the Washington County Jail after making a hole in the roof, according to an article in the Bangor Daily News. Brown and one of the other men returned to the jail the next day.
      In July 1981 he was arrested on a misdemeanor criminal mischief charge and fined $50, with restitution required. He was then arrested on misdemeanor criminal threatening and assault charges and a felony possession of a firearm by a felon charge in June 1982. He was sentenced in April 1983 to 90 days in the Washington County Jail on the misdemeanor charges and 18 months in prison on the felony charge, with all but 90 days suspended and with one year of probation.
      Before he was sentenced for those offenses, though, he was charged with attempted theft in Calais in October 1982 and fined $100. Two months later, in December, he was charged with simple assault. In June 1983 he was sentenced to serve six months in the Aroostook County Jail on the assault conviction.
      According to previous Bangor Daily News articles, Brown was found not guilty of a rape charge that stemmed from a July 14, 1984, incident in Washington County, just over a month before Maxwell's death. Two months later, in September 1984, a gross sexual misconduct charge against him was dismissed after a grand jury failed to indict him. In addition, a gross serial misconduct charge was dismissed in September 1985. There are no more charges against Brown listed after that time.
      If convicted, Brown faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. A trial date has not yet been set.