Superior Court Judge Daniel Mitchell, top left, Defense Attorney Walter McKee, top right, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman, bottom left, and Noah Brann of Maine Pretrial Services appear Friday via Zoom at Capital Judicial Center in Augusta. Samuel Whittemore was expected to make his initial court appearance, but McKee reports he is not competent to appear. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

AUGUSTA — A Belfast man charged with murder in the death of his wife Wednesday at his parents’ Readfield home was ordered by a judge Friday to undergo a mental health evaluation to determine his competency.

Samuel Whittemore, 34, is charged with murder in the death of his wife, Margaux Whittemore. Photo courtesy of the Kennebec County jail

Samuel Whittemore, 34, was scheduled to make his initial court appearance Friday  but that proceeding was not held after his attorney, Walter McKee, reported Whittemore was not competent enough to appear in court.

Superior Court Justice Daniel Mitchell thus ordered an evaluation be done by the State Forensic Service to determine Whittemore’s mental competency before proceeding.

Whittemore will continue to be held in jail without bail, charged with murder in the death of his wife, Margaux Whittemore, 32. 

Jennifer Ackerman, an assistant attorney general, said Friday the state is requesting a Harnish bail hearing to determine whether Whittemore should be allowed bail but has agreed to delay that hearing until his competency is evaluated.

Whittemore initially fled the home on Giles Road in Readfield but was taken into custody a short distance away. He was charged with murder Thursday after an autopsy determined the death was a homicide. Her cause of death was not released by police.

The two were visiting Samuel Whittemore’s parents’ home when the incident occurred Wednesday morning, Shannon Moss, the public information officer for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said in a news release. Maine State Police and Winthrop police responded to the scene at about 10:02 a.m. after a 911 call alerted them to an incident on Giles Road.

The suspect’s mother, Dorothy “Darcy” Whittemore — who co-owns the home with her husband, Henry, according to property tax records — was found injured inside the home by responding officers and was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where she was initially in critical condition. Moss said her condition has since been upgraded.

Samuel Whittemore, 34, of Belfast was expected to make his initial court appearance Friday at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta but did not, his attorney says, because he is not competent to appear in court. He is charged with murder in the death of his wife, Margaux Whittemore, 32, on Wednesday at this Giles Road home in Readfield. Samuel Whittemore’s mother, Dorothy, who is known as Darcy, was injured and hospitalized. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file

Social media posts indicate the couple wed in September 2024, and that Margaux Whittemore’s last name before her marriage was Nguyen.

According to his Linkedin profile, Samuel Whittemore was most recently self-employed as lead engineer for Coral Gardeners, where he designed, built and deployed underwater equipment used to monitor and improve coral reef restoration.

He also lists himself as the captain and owner of Havili, a 50-foot sailboat, and from July 2020 to July 2021 as a former senior avionics systems engineer for SpaceX. The site states he has a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Margaux Whittemore’s LinkedIn profile indicates she was an international marketing and strategy consultant, project coordinator and branding, wellness and communication manager and is a former resident of France. And that she had a master’s of science degree in international marketing and business development from SKEMA Business School, in Lille, France.

Henry Whittemore, the suspect’s father, was not inside the home at the time of the incident, Moss said, but arrived shortly thereafter.

Samuel Whittemore was first taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta for evaluation Wednesday before being moved to the Kennebec County jail and charged with murder. Moss did not say Thursday whether he was charged with any crimes related to the injuries suffered by his mother.

Documents in the case have been impounded by officials, a court clerk said.

Writing under the name Darcy Whittemore, Samuel’s mother, in an April 7 letter to the editor published in the Kennebec Journal, headlined “Maine must enact extreme risk law to prevent gun violence,” urged state officials to enact an extreme risk, or so-called “red flag,” law to allow family members and law enforcement to petition courts to temporarily remove firearms from individuals, such as those in crisis, who pose a risk of harming themselves or others.