PORTLAND – Friends and acquaintances of a Portland man accused of killing a young woman, cutting off her head with a sword and setting fire to the body, said Thursday that he seemed to carry two personas.

Chad Gurney, who once attended Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, sometimes came across as a man on a spiritual quest. He had religious artifacts throughout his apartment, and he planned to go to Thailand this week to further his interest in Eastern religion.

He could be kindhearted and charming, often giving small gifts to people. He said he wanted to use money from a legal settlement for the betterment of humankind.

At the same time, he seemed to enjoy a tough-guy image with tattoos covering his arms and a demeaning and confrontational manner, some say. People often cringed at his arrival at a party, said Robert Collins, a 24-year-old cook who has known Gurney for three years.

Something about Gurney seemed off, Collins said, perhaps because of the severe injuries he suffered in a 2005 accident.

“He one time told me the only thing he identified with was pain,” Collins said. P-A-I-N was tattooed on Gurney’s knuckles, he said.

Gurney, 27, is being held without bail on murder and arson charges in connection with the death of 18-year-old Zoe Sarnacki, whose body was found in Gurney’s apartment Monday night after firefighters were called to put out the fire. Gurney entered no plea at his initial court appearance Wednesday. Jail officials said he was under psychiatric observation.

Police and prosecutors aren’t releasing details, and Deputy Attorney General Bill Stokes said a judge has ordered court documents to be impounded.

But Sarnacki’s sister told her lawyer that detectives said Gurney decapitated Sarnacki with a Samurai sword before dousing the body with gasoline and setting it on fire.

Gurney is a graduate of Oak Hill High School in central Maine, where he was a standout goalie on the lacrosse team. He went on to play at Liberty, the Christian school in Lynchburg, Va., founded by Falwell, the late evangelical minister.

Gurney was critically injured in a crash in Alabama while the Liberty team was traveling to a game. The 15-passenger van he was in was rear-ended by a second school van and pushed into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer. Gurney was ejected.

Gurney nearly lost a leg and underwent several surgeries. He received a crash settlement of an undisclosed sum from Liberty after moving back to Maine.

Steve Whittier, who first rented an apartment to Gurney in 2006, said Gurney had religious paintings and artifacts in his apartment. Gurney told Whittier that he was interested in – but not involved in – religion and theology.

“He said, ‘I wasn’t your typical Liberty University student,”‘ Whittier said.

In Portland, Gurney moved last fall into a building near downtown. Neighbors said he had worked at a nearby tattoo parlor.

Watson Atkinson, owner of another Portland tattoo parlor, said Gurney told him that he wanted to use his settlement money for good. He planned to travel to Thailand to “find himself,” Atkinson said.

But many people felt uneasy about Gurney’s demeaning and confrontational attitude. And he seemed to focus on teenage girls, which troubled Atkinson to the point that he prohibited his 16-year-old daughter from hanging out with Gurney, and warned Zoe Sarnacki to stay clear of him.

“But none of us were really aware at how dark his thoughts may have been,” Atkinson said.

Sarnacki’s sister, Kristin Kosnow, has hired attorney Daniel Lilley to represent Sarnacki’s estate and to prepare a wrongful death lawsuit, which he expects to file next week.

On Thursday, Deering High School observed a moment of silence for Sarnacki, a former student who maintained a circle of friends at the school.

Sarnacki attended the school through her junior year, but didn’t return last fall for her senior year, said Principal Ken Kunin. He declined to discuss why.

“She a very sweet young woman. People at Deering had a high opinion of her,” the principal said. “While I don’t know Zoe well, I know some of her friends and it’s a wonderful group of young people. It’s an interesting, vibrant group.”

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Associated Press Writer David Sharp in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.

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