HOULTON – A Houlton man with a lengthy criminal history was arrested late Sunday night and charged with murder in connection with the death of 57-year-old Jacqueline Shorey.

Maine State Police said Monday that Daniel J. Boles, 30, was arrested at around 11:30 p.m. Sunday at the state police barracks in Houlton.

He was taken to the Aroostook County Jail and is scheduled to make his first court appearance this morning in Aroostook County Superior Court in Caribou.

Shorey was found dead in her room at the Scottish Inns on Dec. 9. She had been a resident of both Danforth and Houlton, but recently had spent time in Louisiana. Police said she came back to Houlton and checked into the motel on Dec. 6 to “take care of some issues.”

She was scheduled to appear at a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Dec. 9 but did not show up. Later that evening, friends asked motel staff to check on her well-being. Shortly thereafter, her body was found.

Investigators soon determined that the woman’s death was a homicide, but have refused to release the cause of death.

State police Sgt. John Cote speculated Monday that they would not be releasing the cause of death anytime soon. He said investigators believe that they have a “clear picture” of a motive for the killing, but he declined to say what it was.

“We hope to be more forthcoming in the future, but we still have a lot of work to do,” he said.

According to records from Superior Court in Caribou, Boles lived in Monticello for a time and has several convictions on his record. He pleaded guilty and was convicted of two counts of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer and two counts of burglary in 1996, in concert with one count of escape. He was sentenced to more than one year in jail and three years’ probation.

Cote acknowledged that officials with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, which has been assisting with the investigation, are “familiar with some of the people that we have come in contact with” during the inquiry into Shorey’s death.

Police have been interviewing friends and acquaintances of Shorey’s since shortly after her body was found.

The victim, who was a school bus driver in the area for a number of years, recently was employed at Houlton Regional Hospital as a phlebotomist.

Officials have said that Shorey was planning to move to Louisiana permanently.

State police said Monday that the investigation is continuing, with assistance from Houlton police, the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

BDN writer Rachel Rice contributed to this report.