Affidavit links Heath to slain taxi driver

BANGOR – State police have linked accused murderer Carl Heath to the car in which the body of Bangor taxi driver Donna Leen was discovered Oct. 14 in a Corinth field. They also have linked the 20-year-old Fryeburg man to a Stillwater Avenue construction site in Bangor where a call for a taxi was made shortly after noon Oct. 13, the day Leen disappeared.

Details of the case against Heath came to light Thursday with the unsealing of a court affidavit. Heath remains in a New Jersey jail pending court action there after his arrest early Wednesday morning.

Fingerprints found on the inside rearview mirror of the cab Leen drove match those on a certified fingerprint card of Heath, according to information in the affidavit.

Fingerprints found on a broken window in the rear of a construction trailer in Bangor also match Heath’s, the document states.

The affidavit, written by Maine State Police Detective David Preble, states that the 60-year-old Bangor woman’s head injuries were caused by blows from a hammer and that a bloody hammer was found inside the taxi. A hammer and computer printer were reported stolen from the Stillwater Avenue construction site. A computer printer also was found in an opened box inside the car.

Heath was arrested on a New Jersey highway after a patrol officer saw him driving erratically. A computer check revealed he was wanted in Maine for Leen’s bludgeoning death. He apparently left the area in a stolen car a day after Leen’s body was discovered. The Charleston car owner has been notified that the vehicle, a black Pontiac Sunbird, may be picked up in New Jersey.

Assistant Attorney General William Stokes, who is assigned to the case, would not comment when asked if robbery was a motive.

Heath is scheduled to appear at a Bergen County court hearing today to face a fugitive from justice charge and a stolen vehicle charge. Should Heath waive extradition at the hearing, Maine officials could pick him up and return him to Bangor almost immediately. If he continues to fight extradition, the matter could drag on for weeks before he is returned, according to Stokes.

Meanwhile, Leen’s funeral will be held today at St. John’s Church in Bangor. Her death has caused concern among area taxi drivers, and Dick’s Taxi, where she worked for seven years, has announced it will close so employees can attend the service.

The affidavit, filed at Newport District Court, traces events leading up to the discovery of Leen, who was found in the front passenger seat area of the car.

She was dispatched to the Maine Department of Transportation Construction site at about 12:30 p.m. Oct. 13. Minutes later, she radioed a dispatcher and said she was headed to “outer Essex by Pushaw Pond and may be going other places. I’ll let you know.”

“This was the last contact with Leen,” the court document states.

The document outlines an interview with a worker at the Stillwater Avenue construction site who reportedly talked with Heath shortly after noon Oct. 13. The worker said Heath was wearing a white safety helmet, T-shirt, sweat pants and flip-flops and he told the worker he was waiting for a taxi. Another man said Heath was wearing an orange “construction type traffic vest,” the document states. An orange vest was found “approximately 150 feet from the taxi in the direction of Route 43 [in Corinth],” the affidavit states.

While in the trailer at the construction site, Heath apparently made several calls, one to a former girlfriend who now lives in New Hampshire. The woman told police Heath asked her to pick him up in Bangor but she refused. “Heath then asked her to meet him in Portland,” the document states. The woman told him to call her back at 3 p.m. but he never did call, the document states.

Heath, who is approximately 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds, has a history of petty crime and mental illness. His brother, Smokey Heath Jr., faces charges of beating a man to death with a hammer in Benton in March.

Questions remain on why Heath was released after an Oct. 12 hearing at Third District Court in Bangor. Heath had been jailed in Portland on probation violations and was supposed to be returned there, but word never was received by officials in Bangor. A judge sentenced him to 48 hours in jail on a theft of services conviction, gave him credit for time served, and Heath was released.