Moose crash victim dies
Nathaniel Cady, a 22-year-old Linneus man, succumbed to serious injuries following a car crash with a bull moose on Route 2 Sept. 19. Cady’s two young children, who were in the car at the time, were not injured. They were examined at Houlton Regional Hospital (HRH) and released.
Initially, Cady was transported to HRH in critical condition before being flown to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where he remained until his death on Sept. 22.
According to the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department, Cady tried unsuccessfully to avoid a collision after the moose stepped into the path of a 1999 Ford Ranger driven by Eric Carr, 59, of Island Falls. Carr was traveling westbound and escaped serious injury following that crash.
Shortly after the first accident, Cady’s 2000 Toyota Corolla hit the moose who had walked into the eastbound lane. Cady’s vehicle then went down an embankment and hit a tree. The Houlton Fire Department had to remove Cady from the vehicle before he was taken to the hospital.
Boutilier murder trial begins
Opening statements in the Holly Boutilier murder trial began Monday in Bangor where Colin Koehler stands accused in the 2009 fatal stabbing of the 19-year-old Oakfield woman. Koeler has pleaded not guilty to knowing or intentional murder.
At the time of the murder, Boutilier’s father lived in Oakfield where, according to his landlord, Holly was living “off and on.” Various news reports stated that the former Dyer Brook student was homeless at the time of her death.
A transient discovered Boutilier’s lifeless body on Aug. 9, 2009 in a shack along the Penobscot River, according to police reports. Following a brief standoff with Bangor police, Koeler was arrested two days later at his apartment.
Justin Ptaszynski, 28, of Bangor, claimed he saw Koehler inflict the deadly blows with a curved Japanese-style knife. Ptaszynski eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution following an earlier charge of murder and hindering apprehension or prosecution. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but six years suspended.
A motive in the slaying is not clear at this time. However, Assistant Attorney General Donald Macomber said on Monday that Koehler had practiced stabbing a figure drawn on plywood. Macomber also stated in court that Koehler pretended to stab Boutilier when she visited his apartment with Ptaszynski the night before her death. Defense attorney Richard Hartley refuted the claim saying “Colin Koehler did not kill Holly Boutilier.”
The jury is expected to begin deliberations Friday following closing statements and instructions from the judge.
Two held in alien case
After pleading guilty, a Canadian man has been sentenced to approximately 102 days of time served for bringing an alien into the U.S.
Nicholas Olmstead, a 25-year-old Woodstock, N.B. resident, may return to Canada within days for taking Luis Cabral De Resendes, a 41-year-old Portuguese national to a Houlton motel without going through the port of entry. Olmstead said De Resendes told him he did not have a passport and they could enter the U.S. by using a road blocked with a gate near a location known as Starkey’s Corner.
According to court documents, after stopping at a convenience store, Olmstead spotted U.S. Border Patrol agents, and told them a man had paid him $20 to drive across the border and take him to a motel. Also according to court documents, De Resendes was charged with illegal re-entry into the country following his 2008 deportation.
Following their arrests and guilty pleas in July, both men remain in custody without bail.
