Burning body case called a homicide

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BANGOR – The mysterious death of Trevor Paul Sprague, the homeless man whose body was found in flames six weeks ago under Harlow Street bridge, has been labeled a homicide, Bangor police officials announced Thursday.

No arrests have been made.

Sprague’s family members, who live in Lubec, expressed anger that they were not informed about the manner of his death before the announcement.

“The police were supposed to call me before they said anything publicly,” Sprague’s mother, Sonia Olson, said Thursday afternoon.

Bangor police issued a brief press statement shortly after noon Thursday, which stated the homicide is being investigated by local police under the direction of the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

“The manner of the death has been classified as a homicide, and the cause of death is being withheld for investigative reasons,” Lt. Tim Reid, a Bangor detective, said Thursday. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s been investigated as a homicide since day one.

“Our investigation is continuing, and we’re moving forward.”

The homicide is the department’s No. 1 priority, he said.

Sprague’s body was discovered in the late afternoon of March 7 by motorists passing on the Harlow Street bridge who saw smoke. Firefighters and police investigating the source of the smoke looked under the bridge and discovered flames shooting 2 feet high over a man’s body. The corpse was wearing white sneakers.

Sprague’s body was so badly burned that authorities had to use DNA to positively identify him.

The State Medical Examiner’s Office has performed an autopsy and knows what led to Sprague’s death but is not releasing the information.

“We have determined the cause of death, but it’s being withheld by request of the Attorney General’s Office,” a medical examiner’s representative said Thursday.

Sprague suffered from substance abuse and mental health problems, and court records showed he had been convicted last year of assault and unlawful sexual contact.

He was convicted in October 2005 of unlawful sexual contact after he improperly touched a teenage boy who was sitting in a park near the Bangor Public Library. He also was convicted in July 2001 on two counts of indecent conduct, according to Mike Roberts, deputy district attorney in Penobscot County.

The former Lubec man was homeless for much of the past 10 years and was in and out of Bangor’s homeless shelters, Mike Andrick, program director of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, said Thursday during a press conference at the Bangor Health and Welfare Department building.

Sprague was known to have stayed under the bridge, on occasion, where he could avoid attention.

“When we go out and do outreach, it’s with the hope we can build enough trust to bring [homeless people] inside,” Andrick said, adding that many attempts were made to bring Sprague to the shelter.

“It was his choice” to stay under the bridge, Andrick said.

The last time Sprague was at the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter was in early January, Dennis Marble, executive director of the shelter, said at the press conference, stressing to reporters that “Trevor Sprague was a human being.”

“The murder of Trevor Sprague was abhorrent, horrendous, despicable and cowardly,” Marble said.

Marble also criticized the media for reporting Sprague’s criminal background and the fact that he was gay.

“That statement conveys that he was a deviant,” the shelter director said, adding that he knew personally that Sprague was a gentle person.

Marble, accompanied by other social welfare professionals, also called for better programs for the homeless and for awareness of issues of homelessness.

A memorial ceremony for Sprague was held recently at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Bangor, attended by about 45 people.

Sprague’s sexual orientation has spurred local concern that he was targeted because he was gay.

“We don’t have any information that it’s anything like that,” Reid said. “We’ll go where the evidence takes us.”

Others worried that he was targeted because he was homeless.

Shawn Yardley, director of the Bangor Health and Welfare Department, said the city works daily to help the homeless, but added that Sprague’s homicide is not just a homeless issue.

“It affects us all,” he said.

Some local residents seen Thursday afternoon walking around downtown Bangor expressed mixed feelings about the announcement of the homicide. For the most part, they said they were more cautious since the incident occurred.

Ida Weinstein of Bangor said she’s worried, especially now that the case was deemed a homicide.

“Yes, I’m scared,” she said. “I live alone, and I’m 75.”

Gwendolyn Shell, 27, of Bangor said she wasn’t concerned during the day, but refuses to walk alone at night.

“I have thought about that guy burning,” she said. “It’s really creepy. At night it makes me think about it more.”

Brian Reeves, 22, also of Bangor, said he doesn’t have a car and travels the area daily on foot, without a worry.

“I walk the same as I did before,” he said. “I walk by the place every day, and it doesn’t faze me at all.”

Last week, Gov. John Baldacci signed a bill to ensure that attacks on the homeless are prosecuted just as severely as attacks on people because of age, race or sexual orientation.

Even though the law has not yet gone into effect, it’s possible prosecutors could use the law to argue for a lengthier sentence if someone is convicted in Sprague’s death, said Chuck Dow of the Attorney General’s Office.

With all of the unanswered questions that remain, family and friends in Lubec would just like to see the case solved.

“Oh, my goodness,” family friend Debra McConnell of Lubec said on learning of the news.

She said she hoped police have some leads in the case.

“We’ve all been wondering,” she said, as to why Sprague’s body was found burned under a city bridge. She said all she could think about was what the 34-year-old man must have gone through.

“It was a terrible death,” she said quietly.

George and Sonia Olson, Sprague’s mother and stepfather, learned Thursday afternoon from a Bangor Daily News reporter of the classification of their son’s death. According to the family, Bangor police were supposed to let them know before making any kind of an announcement.

George Olson swore in anger as he abruptly hung up the phone after the couple made it clear that they wanted to find out what was going on before they said anything more to the press.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.