Vehicle rollover in Castle Hill leaves two dead

CASTLE HILL – Maine State Police believe speed and alcohol may have contributed to an accident that killed two people on a stretch of Route 163 in Castle Hill late Thursday evening.

State police Sgt. David McPherson said Friday that the accident happened at approximately 9:15 p.m., when a caller contacted the agency to report a serious vehicle rollover near Haystack Mountain.

When first responders arrived at the scene, they found Dustin Eastman, 21, lying beside a demolished 1999 Chrysler Coupe. He was immediately taken by Crown Ambulance to The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle and later taken in critical condition to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Further information about his condition was not available Friday afternoon.

Rescuers from the Mapleton Fire Department found Julie Saucier, 35, about 100 feet from the vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Friday would have been Saucier’s 36th birthday.

The Fire Department used a thermal imaging camera to find another occupant, Jerry Caron, 36, approximately 45 minutes later.

He also was pronounced dead at the scene. Police believe the three were not wearing seat belts.

McPherson said the vehicle carrying the three individuals was headed east on Route 163 when it tried to pass a 2006 Subaru Legacy driven by Chad Junkins, 28.

Contact was made between the two vehicles and the Chrysler veered off the roadway and rolled over several times.

Junkins was not injured.

Police still are trying to determine who was driving the car, although the vehicle was owned by Caron and registered to him as well.

Everyone involved in the crash was from Ashland and surrounding towns, according to McPherson.

The collision remains under investigation, and McPherson said that speed and alcohol were possible factors. State police were at the crash scene reconstructing the accident Friday.

Trooper Brian Harris is the primary investigator.