Police discover Calais fugitive > Man wanted for assault of 4-month-old son found in Connecticut

CALAIS – Police in Connecticut arrested a Calais man who fled Maine after a Washington County grand jury indicted him for aggravated assault in a case involving his 4-month-old son.

Acting on a tip, police in Middlefield, Conn., arrested Peter Magoon, 32, at about 10 a.m. Friday on a Maine warrant.

When he was arrested, Magoon and his girlfriend, Melissa Spencer, were living in a lean-to deep in the woods of Middlesex County in northern Connecticut.

Spencer was not at the lean-to when Magoon was arrested. She is not expected to be charged.

Magoon was arrested in August 1999 after his infant son suffered head injuries and was rushed by helicopter to a Bangor hospital.

On Aug. 24, 1999, Calais Regional Hospital notified the state Department of Human Services that Magoon’s son Sky was in the emergency room, suffering from what hospital officials described as “suspicious injuries.”

While Magoon was at the hospital, he told the staff that earlier that day he had banged his son’s head against the frame of the door as he was putting the baby into a pickup truck, according to an affidavit on file at Washington County Superior Court.

Magoon told police that when he got home, he put the baby down for a nap, and that he later found him unresponsive and bleeding from the left nostril, according to the affidavit.

The baby was later taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for intensive care. The baby had a skull fracture and a bruise on his right cheek.

When Magoon spoke to police, he said he had checked his son about an hour after he returned home and that he may have caused the bruise on the child’s cheek when he used his hand to turn the baby’s head.

When Calais police questioned Magoon, his father, Roy Magoon, was present. Roy said he was with Peter when he put the baby in the pickup. Roy said he did not notice that the infant’s head had been struck, the affidavit said.

Detective Stan Jandreau of the Maine State Police interviewed Peter Magoon later. Peter told the detective the same story he had reiterated earlier.

Jandreau asked Peter Magoon to demonstrate how the injury occurred. “In that demonstration, it was obvious that the right side of Sky’s head would have been hit, not his left side,” Jandreau said in the affidavit.

After the demonstration, Peter Magoon changed his story. He told police that he banged the baby’s head against the truck, then returned home to put the baby down for a nap. About 30 minutes later, he said, the baby woke up crying.

Peter Magoon said he put a pacifier in the baby’s mouth. “He then held the baby by its head and banged the baby’s head down onto its mattress,” the affidavit said.

The infant slept on the hardwood floor, on a 3- to 4-inch-thick feather or down mattress. Peter Magoon told police the baby had stopped crying, and that he thought he had gone to sleep. Peter Magoon said he left the room for about 30 minutes. When he later checked on the child, he noticed the baby was unresponsive even after he touched his arms and foot. He also noticed blood coming from the child’s nose

Peter Magoon was arrested, charged with aggravated assault and released on $500 bail.

A grand jury indicted Peter Magoon this past May. That’s when police discovered that he had left the state.

After Peter Magoon fled to Connecticut, he and Spencer had another baby. That child is now with the Connecticut Department of Child and Family Services because of the charges pending in Maine and “because of past practices and because she has nowhere to live,” a Connecticut police spokesman said Monday afternoon.

Police said Peter Magoon did not resist arrest and was being held at Connecticut State Police Troop F in Westbrook. He appeared in Connecticut court Monday.

Maine State Police Sgt. Dennis Appleton said Peter Magoon is expected to waive extradition and that Maine troopers plan to go to Connecticut on Wednesday to return him to Maine.

Assistant District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh said he believes the Maine Department of Human Services still has custody of Peter Magoon’s first child, Sky Magoon. He said that at the time of his original arrest, Magoon was placed on $500 bond and ordered to live with his father. Cavanaugh said he will ask the judge to set a higher bail this time.