AUGUSTA — Officials say a former Lewiston man who escaped during his robbery trial in 1998 and held two people hostage at the Maine State Prison in 2008 has died at a prison in New Jersey.

The Maine Department of Corrections said officers found Michael Chasse, 37, unresponsive Thursday at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, where he was transferred after the hostage incident. The cause of death was not released Thursday. An investigation will be conducted by New Jersey officials.

Chasse was originally convicted of breaking into the Brewer home of former U.S. Sen. William Cohen’s younger brother and attacking him with a knife in 1997. Chasse was shot during the home invasion.

The following year, Chasse threw powdered detergent into the eyes of deputies during his trial, allowing him to escape and get a brief taste of freedom. Chasse also stabbed a sheriff and a chief deputy with a butcher’s knife during the escape. The ensuing police chase involved more than 30 officers and several aircraft.

In 2008, he held the prison librarian and another inmate hostage with a knife. He was sentenced to 40 years for kidnapping after the seven-hour ordeal, which ended with the hostages sustaining minor injuries. Chasse was transferred to the prison in New Jersey in January.

Chasse had lived in Lewiston prior to the Brewer home invasion, and was well-known to local police.

“We’ve dealt with him going back to when he was a juvenile,” Lewiston police Lt. David Chamberlain said in 1998.