Murder suspect in court Tremont man accused of beating neighbor

ELLSWORTH – A murder suspect accused of stabbing another man and beating him with a baseball bat last week made his first court appearance Wednesday.

Edwin Graham, 25, of Tremont softly said “yes” when Judge Bernard Staples of Ellsworth District Court asked if he had requested a court-appointed attorney.

Graham has a full beard and appeared to be several inches over 6 feet tall as he stood at the defense table next to his attorney, Steven Juskewitz of Ellsworth.

Michael Povich, the Hancock County district attorney, stood in for the Maine Attorney General’s Office, which prosecutes murder cases in Maine. Staples told both attorneys that Graham is to remain held without bail at the Hancock County Jail pending the outcome of his bail hearing, which Staples scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2.

After his brief appearance, Graham embraced his mother and older brother in the hallway before being led back to the Hancock County Jail.

Outside the courtroom, Graham’s mother, Linda Graham of Tremont, said that the incident last Friday in which her son is alleged to have killed his neighbor Zachary Savoy, also 25, remains a mystery.

“It’s just a senseless, stupid tragedy,” she said. “I hope they can figure out what happened because no one seems to know.”

Graham was arrested Friday after he got into a fight with Savoy at Graham’s trailer home on Route 102 in West Tremont on Mount Desert Island. The two men rented neighboring dwellings from Tremont resident George Carter and earlier that evening had been at a low-key Christmas party for employees of Carter’s construction business, where Graham worked as a laborer, according to police. Relatives and neighbors have said they do not believe Graham and Savoy knew each other before meeting at the party.

Graham reportedly went to a neighbor’s house around 11 p.m. to call for an ambulance, telling them he had “blacked out” and after regaining consciousness had found Savoy lying on the ground outside Graham’s trailer.

The affidavit filed in the case contains more specifics about the altercation between Graham and Savoy. Detective Gerald Coleman of the Maine State Police wrote in the affidavit that Graham told Deputy Jeff McFarland of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department that the two men scuffled after Savoy started rolling a marijuana cigarette in Graham’s home and Graham objected. Graham also said that Savoy had made a sexual pass at him, Coleman said.

Graham told the deputy that Savoy hit him with a baseball bat but he took it away from Savoy as they struggled out through the door of the trailer into the yard, according to Coleman.

Graham told McFarland he had broken the bat over Savoy’s head and had “lost it,” Coleman said. He told McFarland he had punched Savoy repeatedly and had kicked him, the detective added.

McFarland told Coleman that Graham had a black-handled folding knife with what appeared to be blood on it but that Graham denied stabbing Savoy in the attack. Graham told McFarland the knife had red grease on it from being used earlier that day to fix an alternator, according to the affidavit.

A doctor at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where Savoy had been flown by helicopter early Saturday morning, told police Savoy had suffered a large stab wound in the sternum area of his chest and three superficial stab wounds in the right side of his chest, Coleman said.

A baseball bat broken into two pieces was found outside the door to the trailer and “blood spatter” was found on the doorjamb, McFarland told Coleman.

Police said alcohol was believed to be a factor in the attack.

Graham’s mother said Wednesday her son has struggled with alcoholism and recently had told her he had quit drinking.

“It runs in the family, and he’s finally been able to get a handle on it,” she said. “Alcohol destroys families.” Her son has an ex-wife and a 4-year-old son who live in the Tremont village of Bass Harbor, she said.

Linda Graham said that her son has suffered from seizures in the past but has been unable to get adequate medical treatment because he had no medical insurance.

The Grahams have received a lot of support from their neighbors and from the Tremont Congregational Church, she said.

“Our hearts go out to [the Savoy family] and to the whole town of Tremont,” Linda Graham said. “There’s no sense to the whole situation.”

Juskewitz said after his client’s appearance that he was hopeful the state police would be able to gather enough evidence to piece together accurately the chain of events that led to Savoy’s death.

“It’s too early to know exactly what happened,” Juskewitz said. His client is likely to plead not guilty to the murder charge against him when he is formally arraigned, he said.

Juskewitz said that Graham went to his neighbors’ house of his own accord to get help for Savoy after the attack.

“He was very worried about Mr. Savoy and things happened very quickly,” Juskewitz said. “[Savoy’s death] was not what was desired or anticipated by Mr. Graham.”

Povich declined to comment on the case.