Suspicious death in Bangor

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BANGOR – Police are investigating a suspicious death that occurred Tuesday night at a First Street apartment and whether that man’s death is connected to a fight between two brothers in which one was hit with a baseball bat and the other stabbed.

Relatives of the brothers identified the dead man as Thomas Forni, 51, of First Street, who was a friend of the brothers’ father.

Bangor police, however, were releasing no information about the deceased, including his name, the circumstances of his death or the fight. Bangor Police Sgt. Bob Bishop said Wednesday the Criminal Investigation Division is investigating both incidents.

“We are treating these cases as separate incidents that occurred about a block from each other, but we are looking to see if they are connected,” said Bangor Police Department Lt. Timothy Reid, who is leading the investigation. “It’s just premature to go there at this point.”

An autopsy is expected to be performed today by the Medical Examiner’s Office. Bangor police said in a Wednesday press release that the cause of death has not been determined.

At 10:26 p.m. Tuesday, Bangor police responded to a fight at 42 Second St. at the residence of James Travis, 18.

Walter Travis, 27, of Cedar Street was arrested in connection with the fight with his brother and has been charged with elevated aggravated assault, a Class A crime.

He was being held Wednesday under police guard at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, according to the police department press release. The hospital is releasing no information about Walter Travis or his condition.

During a Wednesday interview, James Travis said his brother, Walter Travis, had attacked him Tuesday night with a baseball bat. James Travis said he stabbed his brother several times with a knife in self-defense.

After the attack, the older brother left the residence, bleeding from the abdomen and leaving a trail of blood to First Street, according to James Travis. He indicated that the trail went behind his apartment building on Second Street and was seen on a car parked behind the building.

Forni’s death is believed to have occurred around the same time, according to James Travis and neighbors on First Street.

James Travis said neither he nor his brother knew Forni well.

“I just hope it was quick and wasn’t painful for him,” James Travis said. “He didn’t deserve it.”

Neighbor Sharon Stover, who lived in the building directly across the driveway from the deceased’s apartment, said she never heard a thing Tuesday night. She said Forni pretty much kept to himself.

Mike Bard, an 11-year resident of First Street, said Forni had lived in the apartment for several years.

“He seemed like a really nice guy,” he said.

Walter Travis has a long history of violence, according to his brother, but his attitude changed during his last stretch in prison, where he served approximately two years for a probation violation on a burglary charge.

Tuesday marked the four-month anniversary of his release from prison.

While incarcerated, Walter Travis had started acting bizarrely and claimed he needed to kill someone and eat the flesh to rid his body of what he called “Goyfecals,” according to his brother. “He kept saying it was all right, like it was all right to kill people and brutally beat them.

“He said the ‘Goyfecals’ eat on your soul and body so you can’t be strong,” James Travis said. “He started this real crazy talk in jail.”

Saying he feared for his life and the lives of family members, James Travis said his brother had repeated the comments many times over the last few months, but family members didn’t take them seriously.

Within the last few days, Walter Travis had threatened one of his friends, according to James Travis.

Between 9 and 10 p.m. Tuesday, the older brother showed up at the apartment of James Travis looking for a baseball bat and machete, which the younger brother owned, he said.

After a heated conversation, Walter Travis allegedly hugged his younger brother and then hit him on the head with the bat. James Travis said he later was treated at EMMC for a 5-inch laceration on his head that required six staples and then was released from the hospital.

After the alleged attack, James Travis and his father, Kevin Travis, tried to restrain Walter Travis. During the scuffle, the younger brother stabbed him repeatedly with a pocketknife in an effort to stop him.

James Travis said Wednesday he didn’t recall where he might have hit his brother but was told later at the hospital that he had stabbed him in the kidney.

After the fight, Walter Travis left the apartment. His brother had neither the baseball bat nor the machete with him when he left, James Travis said.

James Travis said he doesn’t know what happened on First Street except that his father’s friend was found dead. The younger brother said an EMMC physician told him that Walter Travis was found in Forni’s apartment standing over the body and rocking back and forth and yelling. A detective told James Travis that his brother was found in the kitchen.

“I don’t even know what provoked him,” James Travis said. “There was something about that day that triggered it.”

James Travis said that even with his brother’s violent history, he is shocked that his brother might have killed someone.

“It didn’t sound like him at all,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.