SKOWHEGAN – Derek-Finn W. Wilhelmsen, 22, took a 100-mile cab ride Monday night from Portland’s Concord Trailways bus station to the Somerset County town of Pittsfield. Angered over a recent romantic break-up, his intent was to kill his former girlfriend and her baby.

The couple recently had separated and, according to court documents, Wilhelmsen was extremely upset about the break-up.

But when the cabdriver insulted the woman, Amy Towle of Pittsfield, by using a vulgar anatomical term, Wilhelmsen apparently became enraged and shot the man, 38-year-old Nunzi Mancini, several times in the neck and shoulders as the pair sat in the taxicab in a sparsely populated area of rural Pittsfield.

The cab was parked in a driveway just off Route 100, less than 300 feet from the home where Towle and her child were staying.

Grabbing the keys to the cab and about $400 in cash, Wilhelmsen then called the ex-girlfriend on his cell phone, seeking a ride to a Bangor motel.

The killing was Maine’s first this year and the first in Pittsfield since 1994.

The bizarre story of why Wilhelmsen would kill Mancini, whom he knew slightly from work, and leave his intended victims unharmed, unfolded Wednesday afternoon in Skowhegan District Court.

Wilhelmsen, who was arrested in Portland Tuesday night, was making his first appearance before Judge James MacMichael.

Looking younger than his 22 years, Wilhelmsen was handcuffed and his legs were shackled. He wore navy blue prison-issue clothing and sneakers. He did not speak to the throng of reporters outside the courthouse as he shuffled to and from Somerset County Jail across the street.

Once inside the courthouse, Wilhelmsen consulted with Skowhegan attorney Kenneth Lexier, who represented him at the hearing but was not retained to represent him in further proceedings.

As MacMichael told Wilhelmsen that the charge against him was murder and asked him if he understood the charges, Wilhelmsen answered in a soft voice, “Yes, I do.”

MacMichael set no bail for the Portland man; prosecutor Andrew Benson of the State Attorney General’s Office agreed to defer a bail hearing until Wilhelmsen has obtained court-appointed counsel.

Benson also requested an immediate mental examination for Wilhelmsen, and a hearing on that motion was set for 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20. In requesting the examination, Benson told the judge, “I feel there is a need for haste.”

During the proceedings, Lexier leaned over to the seated Wilhelmsen and explained what was happening and what the various hearings meant. “Meanwhile, say nothing,” he told Wilhelmsen.

Wilhelmsen, a 1999 Portland High School graduate, worked at Concord Trailways bus terminal on Sewall Street in Portland. Mancini often parked his cab there to wait for fares and was observed accepting Wilhelmsen as a rider Monday night by other cabdrivers.

According to an affidavit filed in court Wednesday by the Maine State Police, Wilhelmsen told investigating detectives that he had hired Mancini to bring him to Pittsfield, where he intended to kill Towle and her baby.

But after they arrived in Pittsfield and had pulled into a driveway opposite Towle’s home, Wilhelmsen became angry when Mancini called Towle a vulgar name.

Wilhelmsen confessed to shooting Mancini several times and then taking a ride with Towle and her friend Theresa Batchelder around Pittsfield and to Bangor. He spent the night at Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge and then took a Concord bus back to Portland.

Wilhelmsen told detectives that he had planned to kill himself when he returned to Portland but instead sought aid from a suicide-prevention clinic. Portland police detained Wilhelmsen until detectives could begin questioning him. He was arrested about 7 p.m. Tuesday after confessing to the shooting and telling detectives that the gun he used could be found in a backpack in the basement of his apartment building. Calls to Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese to determine whether the gun had been located were not returned.

Wilhelmsen was taken late Tuesday to Somerset County Jail, where he will remain until his hearings.

Mancini’s body was found by Pittsfield police Officer Nicholas Fletcher, who came upon the vehicle during routine patrol about 3:40 a.m. Fletcher said Wednesday that the vehicle caught his attention because of the crooked way it was parked in the driveway and that it was clearly marked as a taxi. “I’ve never seen a taxi in Pittsfield before,” said Fletcher.

Upon closer examination, Fletcher discovered the driver’s window was broken. He found Mancini in the driver’s seat with blood frozen on his face. He saw shell casings on the floor of the taxi but there was no gun present. He determined that Mancini had been killed and called for Maine State Police assistance.

While police were at the murder scene early Tuesday, Towle and Batchelder approached the officers and told them of Wilhelmsen’s visit.

Mancini reportedly lived with his 7-year-old son at 880 Brighton Ave. in Portland and had just 16 payments left on the taxi he was purchasing from Tony Pasquali of Westbrook.