AUBURN – Ryan Muncey told his girlfriend they had to flee Maine because he was involved in a New Auburn stabbing and had learned the victim was dead, court records say.

Muncey, 28, of Lewiston was in Androscoggin County Superior Court Tuesday, charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty and argued for bail. A judge is mulling that decision.

If convicted, Muncey could spend 25 years to life in prison.

He’s been held at Androscoggin County Jail since his return from Illinois where he was arrested June 15. He was caught by authorities while trying to flee from his girlfriend’s parents’ home.

On the evening of June 11, Muncey was summoned by cell phone to Moulton Field in New Auburn by his cousin, Paul, who testified at a bail hearing Tuesday. Ryan Muncey had been in Buckfield that evening. Paul Muncey told him he’d had an argument with a man in the woods behind Florian’s Market on Main Street and was looking for assistance in case it turned violent.

Paul Muncey, who hesitated for lengthy pauses before answering the prosecutor’s questions, said his cousin later told him by phone he was near the Auburn police station on Minot Avenue, a few minutes from Moulton Field.

About 15 minutes after that, Paul Muncey saw Casey Stanley, 26, collapse from a knife wound in his chest. A medical examiner later said Stanley died from a single stab wound.

Paul Muncey said he thought he saw his cousin at the top of the trail behind the store and yelled to him. He didn’t hear a response.

He said Stanley wasn’t the man with whom he’d been arguing. In fact, Stanley had tried to smooth things over between the two and later asked for a beer from Paul Muncey, who gave him one.

They chatted and touched knuckles as a sign of friendship, Muncey said Tuesday.

Some of the details surrounding the fatal stabbing were revealed in Tuesday’s testimony. Others could be found in a police affidavit for Muncey’s arrest warrant, filed June 17 by Maine State Police Detective Scott Gosselin.

In the affidavit, released Tuesday, Ryan Muncey’s 26-year-old girlfriend, Alicia Turner, told police her boyfriend said the man who was stabbed was bigger and stronger than he was. Muncey told her he pushed the man, then the man came at him holding a rock. She has not been charged in connection with the stabbing.

She said she didn’t see a knife or blood on his clothes when she picked him up after the stabbing, the affidavit said.

Another witness interviewed by police said she saw Stanley walking up a path from the river behind Florian’s Market. He was holding his chest. He called out: “Trav, stop him. I’ve been stabbed,” as he pointed at Ryan Muncey. Muncey ran past the witness and a group of people standing near the path, she said. She saw a knife in Muncey’s right hand as he ran past, she told police.

She told police she had known Muncey for more than two years and knew he carried a knife, but noted the knife he carried that night was bigger than the two she had known him to carry.

Turner, Muncey’s girlfriend, told police she and Muncey stopped at an auto parts store and bought spray paint for the door of the Ford Mustang in which they would make their getaway. They sprayed the off-color red door to match the rest of the car. A police all-points bulletin was heard to describe the car as having a red door.

Police said Ryan Muncey went to the home of his mother, Joanne Grenier, at about 8:30 p.m. the night of the stabbing and asked her for money.

Turner told police Muncey had gotten a call on his cell phone from someone who said Stanley had died. The couple left Lewiston with their 1-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son and arrived in Illinois two days after the stabbing at about 5 p.m., Turner told police.

Another witness told police the day after the stabbing that she had seen a man run up from Moulton Field that night between 7:30 and 8 p.m. He tried to climb over a property fence at her driveway, but couldn’t get over. Police later found a brown stain on the fence at that spot, the affidavit said.

In an unusual action, Justice Joyce Wheeler had Paul Muncey stay in the courtroom after he finished testifying to have him arrested as a material witness in the case. A judge had issued a warrant for Muncey’s arrest on Friday, but he hadn’t been served. Wheeler called a recess until a defense attorney could be found to represent Muncey, who was not charged with a crime. He was later released on $1,000 unsecured bond. That means that if Paul Muncey fails to show up in court for a hearing in his cousin’s case, he would owe the court $1,000, Wheeler explained.

Wheeler said she would take a day or so to consider whether Ryan Muncey should be allowed bail.

Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea argued he should be held without bail, saying he was an obvious flight risk and posed a danger to the community.

Defense attorney Henry Griffin countered that his client should be allowed $25,000 cash bail or $100,000 surety. He said Muncey may have been involved but there was no evidence to show what happened that evening.

“All we know is Mr. Stanley is dead. We don’t know what happened,” Griffin said.

A Nov. 7 hearing is scheduled in the case.