BANGOR — Maine State Police have charged a 22-year-old Palmyra man in connection with the death of a Detroit man last week.
Detectives arrested Jason Cote and charged him with murder, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said Wednesday night.
The state medical examiner’s office has concluded that Ricky Cole, 47, died from blunt force trauma. His body was found inside his home on Main Street in Detroit on July 18.
Cote and Cole knew each other, McCausland said.
Cote will be taken to the Somerset County Jail and his first court appearance will take place Thursday or Friday in Skowhegan.
Cote’s criminal history shows a history of misdemeanor crimes dating to April of last year, when he was convicted of forgery, for which he was ordered to pay $800 in restitution, and theft, for which he was fined $200, according to records obtained Wednesday night from the State Bureau of Identification.
In June of last year, he was found guilty of disorderly conduct for loud unreasonable noise and fined $150, his rap sheet said. It also showed that he formerly lived on Dodge Road in Jackson.
Cole’s body was found after his neighbor called police about 3 a.m. July 18 requesting a welfare check.
On the day Cole’s body was found, evidence team members placed a number of evidence flags on the driveway near the home and took pictures of them, which indicated there may have been a trail of blood.
Detectives also brought in a K-9 unit to search the area and interviewed people on Dogtown Road in Palmyra.
Cole had lived at the residence behind 24 Main St. for about a year. Before moving to Detroit, he lived in Newport and Rochester, N.H., according to police records.
Earlier this year, Cole was convicted of misdemeanor criminal threatening, according to a background check, and was arrested by the Skowhegan Police Department on June 24 on an outstanding warrant issued for failing to appear in court to face another criminal threatening charge, according to the Somerset County Jail intake log.
The mobile home Cole lived in is across the street from the Detroit post office. Cote reportedly lives with his brother on Hurds Corner Road in Palmyra.
McCausland said it was not clear if either man had recently been employed.
Bangor Daily News writers Alex Barber and Nok-Noi Ricker contributed to this report.
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