Allagash logger found dead in wrecked car; autopsy ordered

FORT KENT – An autopsy will be performed on a 26-year-old Allagash man whose body was found Wednesday morning inside a vehicle that had flipped over along Route 161.

Ryan Kelly was alone in his car when it was found shortly after 6:30 a.m. by a SAD 27 bus driver.

Kelly’s 1991 four-door sedan had gone off the road, flipped over, and landed on its side. Kelly was not wearing a seat belt, according to police.

Fort Kent Police Chief Kenneth Michaud said the cause of death was not known. He said Kelly’s body would be transported to Augusta later in the day Wednesday for an autopsy.

Michaud said police didn’t know if Kelly had died of injuries suffered in the accident, or if something happened prior to the car going off the road.

Kelly was one of numerous Allagash area loggers who participated in 1998 and 1999 in the blockade of private roads and the U.S.-Canada border in a protest that got international attention.

Michaud said Kelly went to work Wednesday morning for a local logging contractor in Allagash but complained of not feeling well. He was driven from the job site in the woods to his car in Allagash by co-workers at about 6 a.m.

Half an hour later, Kelly’s eastbound car went off the road on a slight curve in St. John Plantation. Just after going over the Fort Kent town line, Kelly’s car flipped over, ending up on its side, with the front end of the vehicle up against a tree, according to Michaud.

Kelly was alone. Michaud said there was little damage to the car.

Darlene Boucher, a bus driver, was the first person on the scene. She called her dispatcher by radio to report the incident.