Questions remain 2 years after burned body found Homicide still unsolved, investigation continues

Two years have passed since a motorist crossing Harlow Street bridge spotted smoke coming from under the overpass, which led to the burning body of a Lubec native who had lived for years as a homeless transient.

When firefighters and police arrived at the bridge in the early evening on March 7, 2005, they found 34-year-old Trevor Paul Sprague’s body underneath, fully engulfed in flames two feet high.

Sprague was a tall man at 6 feet 7 inches, and his feet, sneakers and the lower part of his face-down body could be seen under the bridge from the Kenduskeag Stream riverbank, a police officer reported at the time.

Police have determined that Sprague was a homicide victim, but after an extensive investigation – with hundreds of people interviewed – no arrests have been made in the case.

Even after two years, few details of the grisly death are being released, including how Sprague died or if the fire that consumed his body ended his life, Lt. Tim Reid, who leads the Bangor Police Department’s detective division, said Wednesday.

“We’re withholding that [information] for investigative reasons,” he said. “The cause of death or anything evidential we’re not prepared to discuss because of the ongoing investigation.”

And even as time rolls by, police detectives continue to get leads about the case.

“As recently as a month ago, we received information,” Reid said. “We have investigated and still are investigating.”

Sprague’s body was so badly burned authorities had to use a DNA sample from his father to positively identity him.

The horrifying circumstances of Sprague’s death jolted many in the city, especially those in the homeless community who knew him, but time has a way of softening things, Dennis Marble, Bangor Area Homeless Shelter director, said Wednesday.

“Rarely, very rarely” is the murder discussed nowadays by shelter clientele, he said. “With the folks with whom we work, their lives are day to day. It seems like there are bigger and broader issues going on right now.”

Sprague had stayed at the shelter on occasion, but as a loner, he liked his seclusion, Marble said.

“I’d known him on and off for years, and we’d spoken out front,” he said. “He was more of a follower than an instigator. I think he meant well.”

Many attempts were made to help Sprague, but to no avail.

“He’d say, ‘Well, I’ll try,’ and two days later you’d find out he was on the road somewhere,” Marble said. “I think he had some substance abuse issues. I think he had some learning disabilities.”

Sprague’s death got groups and agencies that work with the homeless talking about how to address their problems, but little has changed in the last two years, Marble said.

Trevor’s father, Jeffery Sprague, 62, of Machias, described his son as a friendly but sometimes reserved man who “wouldn’t hurt a flea” during an interview last year. He said some of the homeless people his son associated with were “a bad influence,” and he acknowledged that his son showed signs of trouble.

Trevor Sprague was convicted of assault and unlawful sexual contact in 2005 after he improperly touched a teenage boy who was sitting in a park near the Bangor Public Library. He also was convicted of two counts of indecent conduct in incidents that occurred in 2001, according to a prosecutor.

A month before his death, Sprague was at his father’s house in Machias, and then he visited his mother in Florida before returning to Maine about a week and a half before he was killed, his father said.

Sprague’s mother, Sonia Olson of Lubec, who was his legal guardian, and his father both declined requests this week to be interviewed.

His stepmother, Betty Sprague, said on Wednesday that the family is still grieving.

“It’s still really tough, especially the not knowing,” she said. “It’s difficult. The hardest is not knowing the who. We keep thinking someone will confess.”

There are three other unresolved homicides on the books in Bangor – one in 1997, one in 1988 and one in 1965 – but with murder the statute of limitation is endless, and all “cold cases” typically remain open until solved.

Detective Reid said he believes wholeheartedly that the person who killed Sprague will be caught. One big factor impeding the investigation is the transient nature of the city’s homeless people, who often have alcohol, drug or mental illness problems and are sometimes wary of police, he has said.

“This is one I am confident will be solved,” Reid said. “But obviously, there is no guarantee when that will occur.”

nricker@bangordailynews.net

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