City
River Valley
Police arrest second suspect in double murder
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Maine State Police Detective Lt. Brian McDonough fields questions from reporters outside the Gray Barracks Friday afternoon announcing that there has been two arrests made in Monday'd double homicide in Rumford.
RUMFORD — A witness to a double murder was arrested Friday and charged in the Monday shootings of Victor Reed Sheldon and Roger Leroy Day Jr. at their home on Pine Street.
Richard Moulton, 20, of 48 Main St., Mexico, was interviewed by detectives at the Rumford Police Department in the afternoon and taken to Oxford County Jail in Paris. He was charged with two counts of murder. Earlier in the day, Eric Joseph Hamel, 19, of 21 Mexico Ave., Mexico, was charged with two counts of murder stemming from the killings.
Police would not discuss a motive in the case, but said they did not suspect a drug connection. "Drugs really didn't seem to play a huge role in this investigation," Maine State Police Lt. BrianMcDonough said.
A handgun connected to the crime was recovered near the house where the men died, he said.
Sheldon, 22, and Day, 48, were shot to death around 10 p.m. Monday.
Moulton had been cooperating with police in the days following the murder, including helping draft a composite sketch of the sole shooter, describing a white man in his early 20s running from the scene on foot.
He was at the home at the time of the shootings, called police to report them and said he witnessed it.
Moulton and Hamel are expected to make initial court appearances Monday in Oxford County Superior Court. Hamel is scheduled for 1 p.m. Both men were honor roll students at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford; Hamel graduated in June.
He was arrested around 4 a.m. Friday on two counts of murder, following an interview, McDonough said. There was no arrest warrant issued for either of the two men. Unlike Moulton, the first contact police had with Hamel was Thursday night. He became a suspect following several witness interviews during the past couple of days.
McDonough said Friday at a press conference in Gray that Moulton and Sheldon had been close friends and that Hamel had a relationship of some sort with Sheldon. All of the men knew each other in some way,McDonough said.
He said Hamel and Moulton "don't appear to have a huge amount of criminal history," but may have had brushes with the law as juveniles.
Despite the two arrests, the investigation is in its early stages, McDonough said. There is an "immense amount of work" to do, he said. Police were in the process of getting additional search warrants in an effort to gather more evidence on Friday, and more interviews are planned.
McDonough called the two arrests a "huge accomplishment" and cited state and local police with an "extremely well-coordinated" investigation.
McDonough also credited the Maine Forest Service, the Maine Warden Service, the Oxford County Sheriff's Department, the Rumford Fire Department and Florida Light and Power for their help.
Jose Leiva/Sun Journal
Maine State Police investigators work at the home of murder suspect Eric Hamel in Mexico.
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Displaying comments, from newest to oldest
Judging by your screen name
Judging by your screen name "mad Smoker" you need to put down the weed and let this play out.
As far as Mtn Valley High honor standards being low? That must make the commenters who didn't make it a little off in the old noodle or you'd be on the honor roll too.
Rumford. This was bound to happen. What's there? Not a damn thing. Just idle hands.
Pray for everyone involved and their families. All are innocent till proven guilty remember that and the families will suffer the most.
My concern? The victims were ready to meet their maker. We won't know till we get there. I hope all of you will examine your hearts, maybe go to church, hear the word and see if you're on the other roll. The roll that God keeps.
Have a nice day Rumford and Mexico
judging by your stupid and
judging by your stupid and worthless comment about smoking weed you must of went to Mtn Valley High and prob didnt make the honor roll
maybe you smoked a little to much weed it has been already played out i think that you are the one who has idle hands to if it is not edifing than dont comment and if you dont like my comment dont read it move on cya loser
I heard they were all
I heard they were all fighting over a woman.
i dont know either the
i dont know either the victims or the suspects but either way it is a very very tragic and i just feel empathy and sympathy for all the families of both the victims and both the suspects
me
me
verified I would caution people to
I would caution people to stop make derogatory comments on either the victims or the accused here. It could damage both the prosecution and the defense. No one knows why this happened and to comment that something was going on would be unwise!
Given the element of the
Given the element of the people involved in this incident, violence is not suprising. Evidence of this is found in posts on other articles by the people directly involved. Erik Hamel grew up in a dysfunctional family surrounded by physical and mental abuse, sexual abuse and deviance, drug/alcohol abuse, arson, and sociopathic behaviors. Mostly all of his male role models are pathological liers and convicts who are strangers to the truth. This is not an exuse for murder however; killers are made, not born. While most people have the capacity to persevere over less than ideal family circumstances, some do not. Erik was a child who slipped through the cracks and did not get the help he needed early on.
At MVHS an extremely high premium is placed on athletics not academics. For those students who do not fit the high school athlete profile, social life at MVHS can be a living hell. Ask any male student who is not on the football team and they will tell you the same. Just because Erik was on the honor roll does not mean he wasn't at the bottom of the MVHS food chain. Being openly intelligent, introverted, thoughtful, quiet, different, high achieving etc., will most certainly result in being ostracized, especially in a town and high school where small mindedness prevails. Good grades are not the only indication of adequate adolescent adjustment.
Thankfully we live in a country where Erik is innocent until PROVEN guilty, as long as he can afford a good lawyer. I hope everyone can take a moment and put yourself in the shoes of both the accused and victims families. This incident is a tradgedy for everyone involved and hopefully will shine a light on mental health issues that affect adolescents and young adults. The group of people involved in this horrible incident lack the basic skills and human emotions required to be an asset to society.
Judging by the fact that you
Judging by the fact that you are unable to spell his name correctly, I'm guessing that you have very little insight regarding Eric's motives, home life, emotional state, etc. Who are you to point your finger at his family, friends, teachers, and role models? I'm not sure what you were referring to when you wrote, "given the element of the people involved in this incident, violence is not surprising." Violence IS surprising in this situation. Both Eric and Richard are good, caring people who will, hopefully, still have the opportunity to rise above their surroundings.
verified Do you personally know all
Do you personally know all this, as a person who has read all of the info available, I know nothing of the backgrownd of Erik Hamel.
I agree that he is innocent until proven guilty. The same goes for the Moulton boy.
I always wonder why these
I always wonder why these pinheads can't think of any better way to solve their disputes except by violence. It's just typical of our society today. When you disagree with someone, beat them or kill them. Violence is everywhere in the media, TV and movies even glorify it. SICK.
This society deserves to go down like the Roman Empire unless we're all willing to take a stand for intelligent resolutions over violence.
duplicate...sorry...
duplicate...sorry...
Ahh.... the cream of Maine
Ahh.... the cream of Maine society!
I suspected the "witness'
I suspected the "witness' from the start......not sure why but he seemed a likely candidate.
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