HOULTON – Early last December, 57-year-old Jacqueline Shorey returned to the area after spending time in Louisiana, where she had reportedly planned to move permanently.

On Dec. 9, however, the body of the former phlebotomist and school bus driver was found brutally beaten and stabbed to death inside a local motel room, according to a portion of a court affidavit released Tuesday.

Details of the scene inside Room 136 of the Scottish Inns were included in Maine State Police Detective Joshua Haines’ affidavit.

Few details of the crime or subsequent investigation, including the cause of Shorey’s death, were available until Tuesday, as affidavits were impounded by the court for 60 days.

Daniel Boles, 30, was arrested and charged in connection with Shorey’s slaying on Dec. 18. On Jan. 6, he was indicted on a charge of intentional or knowing murder by an Aroostook County grand jury.

Boles entered a plea of not guilty to the crime last month and is being held without bail at Aroostook County Jail pending a hearing that will determine whether he should be released on bail.

Haines wrote that police found Shorey’s body lying on the floor inside the blood-spattered motel room.

There were no weapons present, according to the affidavit.

In December, divers with the Maine State Police Underwater Recovery Team sifted through the frigid waters at two locations in Houlton as part of their investigation.

Sgt. John Cote of the Maine State Police said at the time that divers were concentrating on two areas of interest – in a portion of the Meduxnekeag River and in Pearce Brook.

The Pearce Brook location is adjacent to Boles’ Columbia Street residence, and the stretch of the Meduxnekeag River is located a short distance from the Scottish Inns.

The affidavit noted that an autopsy conducted by State Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Margaret Greenwald determined that the cause of Shorey’s death was “multiple trauma to the head and neck.”

Along with wounds to her neck, face and scalp, Shorey suffered a “fractured nose and bruising to the left side of the face around the eye, cheek and lips,” according to Greenwald’s report.

A longtime County resident and East Grand High School graduate, Shorey had reportedly checked into the motel on Dec. 6 and was in the area 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. Her body was found later that evening after friends asked motel staff to check on her well-being.

Boles has previously been convicted of two counts of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer, two counts of burglary and one count of escape in 1996.