AUBURN — An Edgecomb man who fled the state and was arrested on a sailboat in San Diego pleaded not guilty Friday in Androscoggin County Superior Court to a charge of murder of a Virginia man in Turner in December 2024.

Luke Krott, 26, is accused of killing William “Nate” Robinson, 34, of Austinville, Virginia, sometime before Dec. 3, 2024, when Robinson’s body was discovered stuffed in a trash barrel at the Schmid Preserve on Old County Road in Edgecomb.

Detectives believe the homicide occurred in Turner shortly before Robinson’s body was discovered.

Maine State Police executed a search warrant Dec. 12, 2024, at 57 Conant Road in Turner, a property with an industrial building described as a medical marijuana cultivation facility in real estate listings.

Detectives found evidence connecting Krott to the death, though police have not provided the nature of the relationship between the two men or a motive for the killing.

Police could not locate Krott initially, though he had been staying with his parents in Edgecomb. It wasn’t until January that Krott was tracked to a San Diego marina where U.S. Marshals and FBI investigators arrested him on a charge of being a fugitive from justice.

Krott was extradited to Maine shortly after his arrest and charged with murder. He has remained at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.

Krott faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine up to $50,000 if convicted.