A woman from the Bronx borough of New York City has been arrested by Maine State Police and charged with felony murder in connection with the death of Joshua Martin, 30, at a Winthrop mobile home in October last year.
The woman who was arrested, Kierra Francis, 28, was a passenger in a car that eluded Waterville police Monday afternoon on a chase through several streets in Waterville before the vehicle finally stopped on Cool Street. Waterville police stopped the car at the request of state police, who took Francis into custody, but Waterville police arrested the driver and charged him with multiple offenses.
State police said in a statement Wednesday that the Winthrop murder occurred in early October and the investigation is ongoing and additional details were not available.
“State Police Detectives have been working over the past several months furthering the progression of this case,” authorities said in the release.
State police investigated Martin’s killing over the weekend of Oct. 3-4 last year at 54 Squire Court, in a mobile home park off state Route 133 in Winthrop.
Officials wouldn’t say at the time whether they knew who killed Martin, formerly of Rochester, New York. A neighbor at the time said she and her boyfriend noticed a car drive slowly into the park the night of Oct. 3, about the time of the shooting, stop briefly near their home, then travel back down the street to 54 Squire Court. She said at least two people in the car got out and appeared to go into the mobile home. The vehicle was there for 10 to 20 minutes before it left. She said it seemed strange the car was traveling so slowly and had stopped near their home.
Other neighbors said it seemed there had been a lot of traffic coming and going over the previous couple of days, including vehicles with out-of-state license plates. They said people would stop at the mobile home but not stay long.
Waterville police Chief Joseph Massey said Tuesday that the driver of the vehicle officers stopped Monday on Cool Street in Waterville was Jonathan Baez, 36, of Dalton Street. Waterville police charged him with eluding an officer, driving to endanger and attaching false plates. Baez was taken to Kennebec County Jail in Augusta, he said.
Massey said Tuesday that state police asked Waterville police for help in stopping the vehicle and officers attempted to stop it on lower Main Street. The driver initially pulled over, but as the officer got out of his cruiser, the vehicle sped off.
Police followed it on lower Main Street to Elm Street and eventually to Kennedy Memorial Drive and then Cool Street, which runs between Kennedy and Western Avenue.
“The officer estimated that the vehicle reached speeds of 60 mph during the pursuit,” Massey said. “He felt the speed and operation of the vehicle given the time of day, heavy traffic, and road conditions created a substantial risk to the public.”
After the car stopped on Cool Street, officers got the driver out of the vehicle, he said.
There were two passengers in the car and state police took one into custody, according to Massey. The other passenger was allowed to go and was not charged, he said.
Baez is scheduled to appear May 10 at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta. He is being held without bail, according to Massey.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
