TOWNSHIP 8 – A New Jersey man who police say shot and killed his father as they returned from a hunting trip to their cabin in Hancock County was arrested Monday on a charge of murder.

The body of Alfred Michalik, 77, had been found Sunday by a neighbor in a shallow grave in the woods about 100 yards behind Michalik’s small cabin on Graham Lake, according to Maine State Police Lt. Darrell Ouellette.

Michalik’s son, Alan Michalik, 33, was arrested after he told police that he and his father had been arguing last Thursday when he shot his father in the back of the head as they walked through the woods, Ouellette said.

Both father and son are from Sayreville, N.J., near Staten Island, N.Y., and had been staying at their one-story tan cabin for at least a week, Ouellette said. The son is believed to have buried his father where he lay after being shot, he added.

The body was found after Alfred Michalik’s wife and daughter grew concerned about not hearing from the pair for a few days and phoned neighbors, according to Ouellette. On Sunday, the neighbors checked the cabin, which is on Route 179 one mile north of the Ellsworth line, and found a note written by Alan Michalik that indicated he had shot his father and buried him in the woods, Ouellette said.

The neighbors found Alfred Michalik’s body a short time later.

The son was found at 8 a.m. Monday at the Comfort Inn in Ellsworth and met with police after they called his room from the lobby, Ouellette said. Michalik was interviewed and, following a trip to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital for “discomfort” in his chest, was arrested and taken to the Hancock County Jail.

“He confessed he had shot his father in the back of the head,” Ouellette said. “He said he and his father had been arguing and he shot him.”

Police found several rifles in the cabin and took them to determine if one of them is the murder weapon, he said.

Alfred Michalik’s body has been sent to the state police crime lab in Augusta, where investigators are expected to perform an autopsy today, Ouellette said.

Police knew Alan Michalik was at the Ellsworth motel because he had been involved in an accident the day before, according to Ouellette.

Alan Michalik was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants after he drove off Route 179 in Township 8 and hit several mailboxes and some tree branches shortly before 10 a.m. Sunday, according to Hancock County sheriff’s Deputy Corey Bagley. Michalik caused about $600 in damage to his 1998 GMC and complained about pain in his neck, Bagley said.

Ouellette said Monday that, aside from the car wreck, state police are still trying to piece together what Alan Michalik did between the time his father was shot Thursday and the interview with them Monday morning.

“I don’t know,” Ouellette said. “We’re still very much in the preliminary stages” of the investigation. Alan Michalik was interviewed Monday at the Hancock County Jail and said little other than confessing to the shooting , he said.

“After that he invoked his rights,” Ouellette said. “Everything [Alan Michalik] told us fits at the scene.”

The victim’s daughter was at the scene Monday afternoon, Ouellette said. He said he could not remember her name, but that she drove up from Sayreville on Monday and has met with and spoken to her brother.

Alfred Michalik, a retired electrical foreman with DuPont, had been coming to the Hancock County area to enjoy the outdoors for 50 years, according Ouellette. He said the father owned land in the area.

He said the retiree and his son, a plumber, came to the Graham Lake cabin twice each year – in the spring to fish and in the fall to hunt.