Police: Suspect had affair with bar owner Stasulis, who died after being beaten
AUBURN – Leslie Stasulis was bleeding from a 4-inch gash on her head when paramedics found on her on the side of Route 126. Her eye was swollen, her legs covered with cuts.
She couldn’t move. She could hardly speak.
One of the paramedics knelt beside her and asked what had happened. Stasulis, the owner of a Lisbon Street bar, mumbled that she had been beaten and thrown from a car.
The paramedic asked Stasulis who did it. But she didn’t answer.
Days later, Stasulis, a mother of five, died at Central Maine Medical Center after her family decided to take her off life support.
Details of Sept. 11, the night that Stasulis was found in a Sabattus road, were released Friday in a police affidavit.
The report became available after her accused killer made his first appearance in Androscoggin County Superior Court.
Trying to end it
Roger Keene, 40, pleaded not guilty Friday morning to manslaughter, attempted murder and kidnapping in connection with Stasulis’ death.
Justice Thomas E. Delahanty II set bail at $200,000 in property or $100,000 in cash, after a state prosecutor told the judge that Keene has a 10-year criminal history involving domestic violence and terrorizing.
Police say Keene and Stasulis were having an affair, and Stasulis, who is married to another man, had told friends that she wanted to end the relationship.
According to an affidavit written by Maine State Police Detective Richard Fowler, police identified Keene as a suspect after interviewing people who were hanging out with Stasulis and Keene on Sept. 11 at Stasulis’ bar, Leslie’s Place, at 339 Lisbon St., Lewiston
Three stories
The bouncer of the bar told police that Keene went outside at some point during the night, then called the bar on his cellular phone to ask Stasulis to come outside. Stasulis left and never came back, the bouncer and others said.
A former mechanic at Discount Tire in Brunswick, Keene told police three different stories about the events of that night, according to the affidavit.
During his first interview with police on Sept. 13, he denied having anything to do with Stasulis’ injuries. He said he was talking with her outside the bar, then he drove away and saw her walking down an alley.
At the end of that same interview, he changed his story and told police that he took Stasulis for a ride because she wanted to talk to him. During the ride, Keene claimed, the passenger door was open, and Stasulis fell out when he stepped on the brakes.
Keene told police he got out of his truck and looked at her body, then he drove to Cumberland Farms in Lewiston for gas, an orange soda and two packs of cigarettes.
Another interview
In another interview on Sept. 16, Keene admitted that he lied to police, the affidavit says. This time, he told police that he and Stasulis were fighting outside the bar and Stasulis kicked him between his legs and tried to slap him.
Keene claimed Stasulis lost her balance, fell to the ground and hit her head. He told police that he panicked and put her in the back of his pickup truck. During the drive to his house in Litchfield, he heard her moaning, “Help me. Help me.”
He said that he slammed on the brakes, and she fell out of the back.
Keene said he took off when he saw another car coming, then he returned and watched until the ambulance arrived.
Strong family ties
After examining Stasulis in the hospital, the state medical examiner concluded that her injuries were consistent with someone who was assaulted, then thrown from a slow-moving vehicle.
Police say Keene tried to hide evidence of his involvement by changing the tires and making other alterations to his truck.
He has spent the past few weeks in Knox County Jail for violating his probation from a previous conviction of terrorizing another woman.
He will be transferred to Androscoggin County Jail to await his trial.
Defense lawyer Justin Leary attempted to get a lower bail by telling the judge that Keene, a 1982 graduate of Oak Hill High School, has strong family ties and has worked in the area as a dairy farmer and mechanic.
But, after Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese argued that Keene has no reason to stick around because he lives with parents, has an alcohol problem and has no job, the judge agreed that $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 in property was appropriate.
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