Accused shooter was ‘obsessed’ Robichaud may have targeted Carmel woman, mother of his children

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BANGOR – An instinct to save her 2-year-old grandson, and a box of diapers on the kitchen floor, may have saved the life of a 40-year-old Carmel woman who police believe may have been the second target of a man who allegedly went on a shooting rampage at her home Sunday afternoon.

“I saw him [Donald Robichaud] standing there, and I saw him raise the gun. I pushed my grandson – it’s his grandson too, by the way – and when I did I tripped over a box of diapers and fell just as he fired a shot,” said Wanda Clark, who lives in a modest two-story home on the Haskell Road in Carmel. “My mother shouted out, ‘You shot Wanda,’ and he just looked at me and walked out the door.”

Donald Robichaud, 42, who resides a short distance away from Clark on the Fuller Road in Carmel, appeared in 3rd District Court in Bangor Monday morning charged with the murder of 48-year-old Calvin Hamilton of Carmel.

Robichaud was ordered held without bail in the Penobscot County Jail pending a probable cause hearing scheduled for April 11 in 3rd District Court in Newport. The case against Robichaud will be presented to the Penobscot County grand jury when it convenes April 2.

District Court Judge Jesse Gunther appointed Bangor attorney Jeffrey Silverstein to represent Robichaud.

During an interview Monday, Clark said she had known Robichaud since 1972. Though never married, the couple had two children who are now ages 23 and 20.

“He was obsessed,” Clark said. “He always said he’d kill me before he’d let me have another boyfriend.”

Clark said she and Hamilton began dating two years ago, but she broke off the relationship because she feared for Hamilton’s safety.

About a month ago the two began seeing each other again. Robichaud found out about the relationship Sunday afternoon, she said.

“He called here from a pay phone in Bangor and asked what I was doing. I told him we were getting ready to go into town [Bangor]. Calvin talked to me while I was on the phone and [Robichaud] said, ‘I suppose you’re going with him.’ I told him it was none of his business, but, yes, I was,” Clark said Monday.

Soon afterward, Hamilton left the house briefly, she said.

She said Robichaud called again a short time later from his house, just a mile or so away. Her daughter answered and told him they were headed to Bangor as soon as Hamilton returned.

“Pretty soon [Robichaud] pulled into the driveway. He just sat in the driveway, and a minute later Calvin pulled up … ,” Clark said. “I saw [Robichaud]. He hung his legs out of his truck and he had one arm across the back of the seat, and I yelled, ‘Oh my God, he’s reaching for something.’ I didn’t know if it was a gun or a baseball bat.”

Clark said she ran to find the portable phone and heard a series of gunshots.

She said Hamilton stumbled into the house saying, “That SOB shot me.”

Robichaud allegedly fired another couple of shots, one of which hit Hamilton in the leg, she said.

“He chased him into the house just like an animal,” Clark said, adding that Robichaud used a 9 mm automatic pistol.

“I crouched toward Calvin, and that’s when I saw him raise the gun,” she said.

It was then that she pushed her grandson out of the way and tripped on the diapers. The bullet missed her.

Clark, her two daughters – Heather Parker and Billie Jo Parker- her sister-in-law Christie Parker, her mother, Lorraine Parker, and the child were in the home when the shooting occurred, according to court documents.

The daughters were Donald Robichaud’s children, she said. The family had been preparing to go to Bangor to shop for Heather Parker’s baby shower, Clark said.

Court documents indicate that while the house was full of people who all saw Robichaud take something black from his pickup truck and follow Hamilton up the driveway, both men were out of view when the gunshots rang out.

Hamilton died later after undergoing emergency surgery at a Bangor hospital.

Robichaud, formerly of the Robichaud Road in Levant, is no stranger to police. He has a lengthy conviction record peppered with assault and burglary charges.

In 1990 Robichaud and his family were involved in a complicated and violent feud that left two people dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, two houses burned and two families divided.

The two feuding families, the Robichauds and the Spragues, were related by marriage and lived in the same Levant neighborhood. The feud, which lasted for months and resulted in a major investigation by three police agencies, was rooted in disputes over stolen property and poaching allegations.

Robichaud’s brother Ovilla “Joey” Robichaud Jr. killed himself after he and his brothers were arrested for tampering with a witness. The Robichaud men were accused of beating their brother-in-law Francis Sprague, whom they suspected of tipping game wardens off to alleged deer poaching. The brother-in-law’s home later burned under suspicious circumstances, as did the home of his nephew Carl Sprague Jr.

Artemus Pomeroy, accused of deer poaching with the Robichauds, also killed himself.

Donald Robichaud was convicted of assault and tampering with a witness and was sentenced to nine months in prison.

The feud worried law enforcement so much that many officers did not want their names connected to the investigation for fear of retaliation. The Spragues went into hiding.

In 1991 Robichaud was sentenced to five years in prison for breaking into a camp on Etna Pond. Three young boys also were charged in that incident.

On Monday, Clark said she had lived in fear of Robichaud for years.

“I’ve been a prisoner, really,” she said.

She said she did live with Robichaud for a couple of months last summer, but moved out in August.

“I had to sneak out while he was at work,” she said. “I’ve had protection orders against him, but nothing seemed to work.”

On Monday afternoon police were planning a search of Robichaud’s Fuller Road residence. A Maine State Police cruiser was parked in the dooryard of the dilapidated house. The yard was littered with scrap lumber and old automobiles, and a large black dog slept in a small trailer.

Robichaud’s attorney did not request bail for his client on Monday. Robichaud would face 25 years to life in prison if convicted.