LIVERMORE – A 31-year-old Sumner man questioned by police last week has been arrested and charged with murder in the shooting deaths of two men in West Paris last month.

Duane C. Waterman was fishing with his children on Brettuns Pond next to Route 4 in Livermore when he was arrested about 1:30 p.m. Monday by Detectives Scott Gosselin and Terry James of the Maine State Police.

Waterman is charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of 50-year-old Timothy Mayberry of West Paris and 43-year-old Todd Smith of Paris. The bodies of the men were found July 26 at Mayberry’s residence on Tuelltown Road. According to the arrest report, the killings occurred between 9:30 and 10:45 p.m. on Friday, July 25.

“Waterman and Mayberry knew each other,” according to Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland. “They were friends.”

According to the State Medical Examiner’s Office, Mayberry and Smith died of multiple gunshot wounds. Mayberry was found by a stone wall outside his residence, and Smith was found inside Mayberry’s home.

The deaths are the 21st and 22nd homicides in Maine this year.

On July 28, the State Police Tactical Team assisted in serving a search warrant on Waterman’s residence at 30 Front St. in Sumner. Police gathered evidence at the home for three days. McCausland said Waterman was questioned and released after the search warrant was issued.

McCausland has declined to comment on what items were taken from the home, but confirmed that a 1993 Jeep Cherokee registered to Waterman and his wife was seized as part of the investigation.

Waterman, who was born in Houston, Texas, is not permitted to own or use firearms because of prior convictions.

He was convicted of felony burglary and misdemeanor theft in Oxford County in 1994 and served 21 days in jail, and convicted of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person in 2003. He was sentenced to serve one year in jail, with all time suspended, and ordered to serve a one year of probation.

In 2007, Waterman was charged with theft in Paris. That case is pending.

According to the arrest report filed Monday, he is unemployed.

McCausland said hundreds of hours have been spent on the case, and that the decision to charge Waterman was made in consultation with the Attorney General’s Office.

Searches of the Mayberry and Waterman residences concluded Thursday, but McCausland said there is “still a great deal of work that remains” in the investigation.

Waterman was arrested without incident and taken to the Oxford County Jail. McCausland said Waterman’s children have been living with his parents and will remain there.

Capt. Ernest Martin, administrator of the Oxford County Jail, said Waterman will be held in a maximum security cell block.

“He’ll be single celled,” said Martin. “He won’t be doubled up.”

Waterman will make his initial appearance at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Oxford County Superior Court in Paris.