RUMFORD —A State Police detective said Tuesday police were searching for a person of interest in the shooting deaths of two men on Pine Street Monday night.

State Police Det. Lt. Brian McDonough also warned residents to be careful as they had yet to secure a suspect in the killings.

With a killer still at large, McDonough said residents should “be smart about
yourself and on your guard.”

According to police, Victor Sheldon, 22, and Roger Day, 48, were shot
in the home. People at the scene said the victims had been shot in the
head. 

McDonough said that besides the two dead men at least two others were in the house at 244 Pine St. The man seen fleeing may not have known there was a third person inside, McDonough said.

“We are seeking the public’s help in locating an
individual seen fleeing from the scene immediately following the shootings,”
McDonough said.

The man was described as white, in his 20s,
approximately 6 feet tall, with a medium build and dark shoulder-length hair. He
was also wearing dark clothing, the detective said.

“And, he had these — they’ve been described as
either bandages or almost like gloves you’d wear riding a bicycle, with the
fingers free,” on both hands, McDonough said.

“Please keep in mind that he may have changed his
appearance following the incident,” he said.

“There we’re a number of individuals in the
neighborhood at the time of the shooting and, we’re getting some good witness
testimony describing this individual, so, I think there’s some good early
indications that we’re going to be able to identify and locate this person,”
McDonough said.

To help, call either the Maine State Police at
657-3030 or Rumford police at 364-4551.

 Police have been at the scene since late Monday and held a news conference at 2 p.m. Tuesday to announce they were looking for a man with long black hair who was seen leaving the scene. The man was wearing gloves or had something wrapped around his hands.

Day lived at the house where he was shot, a house owned by Anthony Scott Richards. In April, Richards was extradited to Montana to face federal sex charges. Richards was arrested by a U.S. Secret Service agent in April at the home where the two men were found shot dead Monday.

Richards was facing charges stemming from a joint Internet child pornography investigation by the FBI and the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The home was purchased by Richards in  July 2003 for $24,000, according to county records.

Sheldon also stayed at the home frequently with Day, according to State Police.

Both state and local law enforcement officers equipped with search dogs continued to canvass the neighbor near the crime scene Tuesday morning.  Uniformed and plain-clothes officers in marked and unmarked vehicles were seen apparently looking for evidence or witnesses in an area several blocks wide, expanding outward from the crime scene. As of mid-day police were releasing only preliminary information and did not say if they had a suspect or whether anyone had been taken into custody for questioning. Some Rumford police officers were called in off-shift to assist with the investigation.

Two of Sheldon’s brothers did give statements to police early Tuesday morning and one was also speaking to television news reporters.

Some neighbors on the scene early Tuesday morning said the home, which was dark-colored and ramshackled in appearance, was known in the neighborhood as the “creepy house.” A number of people in a third-story apartment building across the street from the crime scene were seen watching police work.

Sheldon had been scheduled to be arraigned in Rumford District Court on Tuesday, but charges of domestic violence assault against him were dropped on Monday, according to court records obtained by the Sun Journal.

Police first began receiving reports of the shooting at about 10 p.m. Monday.  No suspects were in custody by midnight, police Chief Stacy Carter said at the scene.

Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland confirmed that detectives had been dispatched to work with Rumford police on the investigation.

Two blocks of Pine Street were cordoned off, between Oxford Street and Maine Avenue, and anyone entering the restricted area was escorted by police.

A woman identified by neighbors as one victim’s aunt was sobbing loudly as she hugged a man with a beard.

The mother of one of the victims fainted near the scene late Monday and was taken to a hospital by ambulance, a neighbor at the scene said.

Two ambulances were at the intersection of Pine and Oxford streets.

About 30 people were standing at either end of the cordoned-off area, as neighbors, family members and authorities converged on the scene late Monday.

The small, dark family home where the shooting happened is in a residential neighborhood, surrounded by other homes, including apartment houses and a mobile home.

sthistle@sunjournal.com

or  tkarkos@sunjournal.com

View Rumford double homicide scene in a larger map

Two State Police detectives meet with Maine State Police Evidence Response Team leader Herb Leighton, center, on Tuesday morning opposite the scene of Monday night’s double homicide at 244 Pine St. in Rumford. Leighton, a 15-year detective is the team’s blood-spatter expert.

State police detectives were getting search warrants on Tuesday morning to begin searching the small house at center where two men were killed late Monday night at 244 Pine St. in Rumford.

State and Rumford police were waiting on Tuesday for search warrants on Tuesday morning before starting to search this house at 244 Pine St. in Rumford were two men were killed late Monday night.

Standing near the Maine State Police Evidence Response Team mobile crime lab, Rumford police Chief Stacy Carter, center, listens to Maine State Police detectives on Tuesday morning while standing opposite the house at 244 Pine St. where two men were killed late Monday night. Just beyond them, a state police detective escorts a resident through the scene.