Shaun Tuttle and David Lakin blamed each other for the killing of James McManus.
By Mark LaFlamme
Staff writer

AUBURN – James McManus was beaten, strangled with a rope and run over with his own car before he was stuffed into the vehicle trunk, according to a police affidavit released Friday. The man who called to report the 82-year-old was dead in the back of his Buick on Horton Street Wednesday is now behind bars on a murder charge.

Shaun Tuttle, 21, reported the crime that led to his arrest. David Lakin, 22, was also charged with murder. Both appeared in Androscoggin County Superior Court Friday afternoon where charges were read to them.

Each man blames the other for the death of McManus, who was killed after riding with the two men early Wednesday morning to a remote road in Turner.

Both men claimed to have been passed out inside the car while the other beat and strangled McManus.

While McManus was unconscious, one of the suspects ran over the 82-year-old’s head, according to the court document.

Later, with the body in the trunk, the two men drove back to Lewiston, bought cigarettes at a store and went to a car wash to clean the outside of the Buick, according to Tuttle’s statement to police.

He said the two men left the car on Horton Street at Lakin’s instruction and then they went their separate ways. Tuttle told police he took a shower and then called 911 to report that an old man’s body would be found in the trunk of his car.

Later, police took Tuttle to Horton Street and he pointed out the vehicle that was used in the slaying, police said.

Police said both suspects had blood on their clothing when they were first questioned by Lewiston and Maine State police. What was not clear in the court document was the motive that either or both suspects may have had for killing McManus.

Tuttle and Lakin claimed they had met each other Tuesday night at a bar on lower Sabattus Street hours before the slaying. Lakin knew McManus, though it appeared Tuttle did not.

McManus was known to have sexual relations with younger men and women in the past, according to police records. In some instances he would pay the younger people for sexual favors.

There was no indication in the police affidavit that Tuttle or Lakin was involved in that kind or relationship. However, one local man told investigators that Lakin and another man had planned to rob McManus the weekend before the killing.

Those who knew McManus and his family said there was likely very little money to be stolen. A successful salesman more than a decade ago, McManus had experienced financial ruin shortly after the death of his wife from cancer.

Some acquaintances who no longer live in the area said McManus began loaning money to young people and then socializing with them. He lost his house and moved to Old Carriage Estates in Auburn, where he was frequently visited by police investigating reports of loud music, teenage drinking and prostitution.

Soon after that, McManus moved to downtown Lewiston and was living at 18 Blake St. at the time of his death.

At the Auburn courthouse Friday, there did not appear to be any relatives of McManus present for the hearing.

Lakin and Tuttle each walked into the courtroom with his head down. Dressed in orange jail uniforms, they sat on opposite ends of the bench.

Tuttle never looked up, not even to glance at his father. Lakin stared at three people in the front of the courtroom and nodded his head.

Justice Thomas E. Delahanty II held them both without bail.

A bail hearing was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, but both defense lawyers said they would likely waive the hearing. Lakin was represented Friday by Woody Hanstein. Tuttle was defended by Thomas Goodwin.

The suspects did not enter pleas. That will happen next month if they are indicted by a grand jury.

Lakin had a charge of theft pending against him, according to court records. He was scheduled to appear in District Court in Farmington on March 2, but never appeared.

Delahanty agreed to postpone action on that charge.

Bruce Tuttle said he got a call from his wife minutes before Friday’s hearing. His wife had heard about their son’s arrest on the news. Tuttle rushed to the courthouse in hopes of getting more details about the crime his son was accused of.

“It’s like somebody hit me with bricks,” he said after the hearing.

Bruce Tuttle told reporters he had not seen or spoken to his son in two months and did not know where he had been living.

“He’s bounced around a lot,” the elder Tuttle said.

One couple who live near McManus’ apartment building said, according to the affidavit, they saw the two men pulling hoods over their heads and entering the tenement at about 1:35 a.m. Wednesday through a back door.

Investigators believe McManus was killed a short time after.

Sun Journal reporter Lisa Chmelecki contributed to this report.