AUBURN — A Lewiston man charged with murdering his pregnant girlfriend by running her down with his car was held Friday without bail, after appearing in court.

Evaristo Deus, 33, of 37 Union St., was dressed in an orange jail suit, his hands cuffed, his ankles shackled in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Lewiston police Lt. Michael McGonagle said his detectives were able to track Deus’ movements after the hit-and-run incident and were eventually informed that he had been booked on a 9:25 a.m. flight out of JFK Airport in New York City on Wednesday.

Once police in Lewiston learned that Deus had a plane ticket, they contacted New York Port Authority for assistance, McGonagle said. Deus was taken into custody 10 minutes before his flight to Haiti was due to leave.

Deus was arrested on a murder warrant and waived extradition to Maine. Two detectives, one from the Lewiston Police Department and one from Maine State Police, escorted him Thursday night to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.

Prosecutors plan to seek a murder indictment when they present their case to an Androscoggin County grand jury, possibly the first week of October. Assistant Attorney General Deborah Cashman asked that an affidavit supporting Deus’ arrest be impounded pending indictment.

Deus’ attorney, Justin Leary, requested a bail hearing, which likely won’t be scheduled until after a grand jury hands up an indictment.

The charge of murder in Maine carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

In a complaint, Deus was charged in the death of Laudrinha Kubeloso, 32, of 78 College St., Lewiston. She died Tuesday night after she was struck from behind by a vehicle at Birch and Howe streets in Lewiston, where she had been walking that afternoon. Police said she was four months pregnant.

Deus’ blue 2001 Suzuki SUV was found Wednesday morning in Portland, police said. A University of New England security guard found it about midmorning in the parking lot of the UNE campus on Stevens Avenue.

More than a dozen of Kubeloso’s friends and acquaintances assembled in the courtroom for Friday’s brief proceeding.

The Angolan woman had been a volunteer at Hope House on College Street in Lewiston and had been enrolled in adult education classes. She had sought asylum in this country seven months earlier.

Deus had been living in Lewiston for less than a year, most recently on Union Street.

Neither Kubeloso nor Deus had any official contact with police before Tuesday, police said.

cwilliams@sunjournal

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