Wardens recover snowsled in river Cornville driver remains missing

NORTH ANSON – Maine wardens using an airboat made a grim discovery in the Kennebec River on Sunday morning: the black 2007 Yamaha that belongs to a missing snowmobiler. They did not find any trace of Ray Paine, 49, of Cornville, who has been missing since he went for a trail ride Friday night and did not return.

On Sunday afternoon, wardens were dragging parts of the river but suspended the search at 5 p.m.

Divers were expected to resume the search at 8 a.m. today.

The Maine Warden Service had been searching for Paine since Saturday morning. The search was centered on snowmobile trails in North Anson, Anson, Madison and Solon, as well as in the Kennebec River.

Deborah Turcotte, interim spokesperson for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said high water levels, a strong current and the darkness of the water made diving too dangerous on Sunday but a dive team would enter the water today.

Paine’s family has remained with members of the Warden Service throughout the weekend.

“We are not saying he is deceased,” Turcotte said. “However, we are searching for him in the river.”

Wardens were called from all over the state Saturday to assist in the search, and a warden airplane and airboat, as well as a civilian airboat were also used in the search.

Paine was snowmobiling on Friday night with a friend when they decided to take separate routes back to where they were staying in North Anson, according to Turcotte. His friend arrived, but Paine did not, she said. Paine’s girlfriend contacted the Maine Warden Service at 7:50 a.m. Saturday.

Warden Scott Thrasher, who led the search, initially said Saturday that wardens believed Paine had gotten into an accident.

People were snowmobiling in the area over the weekend but no one reported spotting Paine, Thrasher said, despite being alerted by wardens.

Meanwhile, in northern Maine, a Littleton man remains hospitalized at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor after a snowmobile accident Thursday in Houlton, Turcotte also reported.

Wayne E. O’Donnell, 50, of Littleton, was snowmobiling on a groomed trail on a field off Foxcroft Road in Houlton when he decided to go off the trail and ride in pristine snow, according to Maine Warden Service Sgt. Dan Menard.

O’Donnell hit a conservation ditch and lost control of his snowmobile. According to estimates, O’Donnell landed approximately 70 feet from where he hit the ditch and his snowmobile landed about 65 feet away.

“Besides riding off of the groomed trail, speed was a contributing factor in the accident,” Menard said.

O’Donnell, who was wearing a helmet, was taken to Houlton Regional Hospital and then airlifted by LifeFlight helicopter to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. He suffered a spinal cord injury and other injuries that are not life-threatening, Menard said.

In another incident on Sunday morning, a Carmel man had a close call while snowmobiling west of Grand Lake Stream in rural Washington County when another snowmobile crashed into his sled and kept going.

Jacob Shea, 24, was not injured but the collision demolished his machine, according to Sgt. Dave Craven of the Maine Warden Service.

“He was lucky that the sled took the brunt of it,” Craven said Sunday afternoon. “It was a pretty rotten thing for someone to do.”

Shea, who was riding with a friend, told Craven that the man who hit him was riding in the wrong lane when the crash occurred.

Wardens are investigating but so far have no leads. Anyone with information about Sunday’s incident can call Maine State Police at 866-2121 or Warden Irene Yaws at 255-3889.

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BDN writer Eric Russell contributed to this report.