PALMYRA (AP) – A Palmyra man was charged with killing a 13-year-old boy in a case of domestic violence, state police said Tuesday.

Todd Curry, 39, was taken into custody after deputies and troopers arrived and found the boy’s body outside his house at 6:30 a.m.; he was charged with murder Tuesday afternoon after being questioned at the state police barracks in Skowhegan, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The victim, Anthony Tucker, his mother and two other children were living at Curry’s home when the killing took place, McCausland said. The two other children were not hurt.

State police investigators declined to discuss what precipitated the killing, how the boy died, or whether a weapon was recovered from the scene. An autopsy was scheduled for today at the state medical examiner’s office.

Tucker’s mother, April Cooley, 32, and Curry had been a couple for several years, McCausland said. The two remaining children, including an infant fathered by Curry, were staying with their mother with friends or relatives, McCausland said.

Curry was arrested on domestic violence charges in January, and Cooley was arrested on similar charges the following month, WCSH-TV reported. Curry then sought a protection-from-abuse order against Cooley, which he later rescinded.

Curry was expected to make his initial appearance tomorrow in Somerset County Superior Court, McCausland said.

AP-ES-11-28-06 1956EST