FRYEBURG – A 30-year-old man has been charged with assaulting and attempting to murder a Fryeburg doctor while burglarizing her home last September, according to police.
Maine State Police Sgt. Walter Grzyb said Tuesday that DNA evidence helped police track down David J. Mair, most recently of Portland, who was about to be released from York County jail in Alfred when he was arrested Monday morning.
“His DNA was found on a piece of evidence,” Grzyb said, declining to comment further on where the evidence was found or what was stolen from Mary Nash’s home at 874 Main St. The attack and burglary occurred there Sept. 15.
Mair was arraigned in Rumford District Court on Tuesday because a judge was available at that courthouse, said Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor. Reached by phone in the afternoon, O’Connor said Mair entered no plea because his appearance was in a district court.
Mair is being charged with attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault and burglary, O’Connor said. The charges carry a combined maximum jail sentence of 70 years, but it is unlikely Mair would serve that much time if convicted, he said.
O’Connor said bail was set at $50,000 cash, $200 surety.
According to a news release Tuesday from Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland, Mair was serving time in the York County jail for violating a previous probation agreement. He was arrested by the Portland Police Department on March 23 for possession of burglary tools.
Grzyb said police are investigating whether the tools are connected to the incident in Fryeburg. “We don’t have any information that they were,” he said.
Mary Nash has a family practice on Portland Street. Police said she suffered cuts to her hands and head when she was attacked upon returning home from a workout at a health club just after 7 a.m., surprising a man inside her home.
The man, who was described as wearing a dark knit cap, struck Nash with his fists and a wrench-type tool, police said.
Nash escaped to a neighbor’s house to call the authorities. According to police, she was taken to Bridgton Hospital by ambulance and later transferred to Maine Medical Center. She was released from the second hospital that evening.
Mair was transported to the Oxford County jail after appearing in court, O’Connor said.
A representative of the jail said Mair was still there late Tuesday afternoon.
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