PRENTISS (AP) – A local carpenter was held without bail Monday while awaiting his first court appearance on a charge of killing a 70-year-old man whose body was found in the woods by state police while investigating his disappearance.

The suspect, Joseph Dumas, 48, and the victim, Mario Litterio, were friends but provided no details of the death and would not comment on a motive, police said.

Dumas was arrested Saturday and was expected to appear today or Wednesday in Penobscot County Superior Court. Litterio’s body was transported to the office of the chief medical examiner in Augusta for autopsy.

“Investigators know why he died,” said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. “We want the medical examiner to confirm that.”

The investigation began when Lincoln Police Chief William Flagg alerted state police Friday night about a missing-person complaint that looked suspicious.

“He was reported missing Friday, but I don’t think he’d been seen since Thursday afternoon,” McCausland said.

The body was found in woods off Tar Ridge Road about 100 yards from where Dumas was building a pinewood cabin for Tom and Karen Lindscott.

“It’s unreal. We can’t get over it,” Tom Lindscott said of Litterio’s death. “We both have been kind of shocked by it all day.”

Neighbors said the Litterios moved to this remote township from Rhode Island several years ago and were living in a log cabin about three miles from where the body was found.

Lindscott, a gravel contractor, said he had done some work on Litterio’s home but did not know him well.

“I have no idea what he was doing back there unless he was hunting,” Lindscott said.

AP-ES-11-12-07 1017EST