PARIS – A 23-year-old man charged with killing his former employer in Bethel and making it look like a train accident was denied bail Thursday and returned to the Oxford County Jail.

Agostino J. Samson of Windham is accused of killing Scott Libby, 25, of Raymond, a landscaper Samson worked for last summer.

The killing took place between 12:20 and 2:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 20, in a vehicle in Bethel, according to the arrest report. The type of weapon is listed as unknown.

Police have said Libby was killed before the train hit his car but have declined to discuss a motive or how Libby was killed. Justice Andrew Horton has ordered that the warrant giving details about the crime be impounded. Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson said the case would be presented to a grand jury in April.

Libby’s body was found covered in blood in the front seat of his compact Chevrolet Cobalt, which was parked on the railroad tracks about 200 feet west of the Barker Road crossing. The car was struck from behind by a slow-moving westbound freight train and pushed 850 feet down the tracks.

Police said they began investigating the cause of death after determining Libby’s injuries were inconsistent with the impact from the train. Samson was arrested Wednesday in Windham.

The Medical Examiner’s Office said Libby died of multiple traumatic injuries to his head and neck.

Samson and Libby had known each other for seven years, said Detective Lt. Brian McDonough of the Maine State Police criminal investigation division.

Wyling Cambrium, manager of the Bethel Hostel on West Bethel Road, told the Bethel Citizen that Samson had stayed at the hostel for three weeks prior to Libby’s death. Cambrium said Libby met with Samson shortly before Libby’s death to exchange collateral for money he had loaned to Samson.

According to Cambrium, Samson told him a disagreement followed the exchange and Samson struck Libby at least twice in the head. Samson told Cambrium that Libby left after the incident, Cambrium said.

The hostel is less than a mile from where Libby’s car was parked on the railroad tracks.

Samson left his job as a cook at the Matterhorn Ski Bar on Sunday River Road in Newry on Feb. 21, the day after Libby’s death, the owner said Thursday. He was evicted from the hostel after being questioned by state police on Feb. 22 about the fight with Libby, according to the Bethel Citizen.

Roger Beaudoin, owner of the Matterhorn, said Samson had been working at the restaurant for about eight weeks prior to leaving.

“He did his job. He did what was expected of him,” Beaudoin said. “There was nothing about his behavior that gave the impression that he would do anything like this.”

Members of Libby’s family had no comment Thursday.

Libby graduated from Windham High School in 2001 and from Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., in 2005. He owned a greenhouse and landscaping business in Raymond and also did private accounting work.

Samson graduated from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris in 2004, where he was an honor roll student. He was convicted of the sale and use of drug paraphernalia in 2007 and ordered to pay a $300 fine, but has no prior criminal convictions, according to state records.

Libby’s death was the seventh homicide in Oxford County in less than three years. Over the Labor Day weekend in 2006, then 31-year-old Christian Nielsen of Newry shot and dismembered James Whitehurst, 50, of Batesville, Ark.; Julie Bullard, 60, of Newry; Selby Bullard, 30, of Bethel; and Cindy Beatson, 43, of Bethel, who were all connected to the bed and breakfast where he rented a room. Nielsen was convicted and is serving four concurrent life sentences.

Timothy Mayberry, 50, of West Paris and Todd Smith, 43, of Paris, were found shot to death at Mayberry’s home on July 26. Duane Christopher Waterman, 32, of Sumner has been charged with those killings and is scheduled to go to trial in June.