Lewiston man charged in recent fatal stabbing 28-year-old waives extradition from Illinois

AUBURN – Maine State Police on Tuesday charged a Lewiston man with murder in a fatal stabbing last week in a wooded area near a park.

Ryan Muncey, 28, waived extradition from Illinois, where he had been held since being taken into custody as a material witness last weekend. Muncey and his girlfriend, Alisha Turner, were being held at the Tri-County Jail in Ullin, Ill.

Muncey is accused of stabbing Casey Stanley, 26, of Lewiston behind a market near Bonney Park at about 7:30 p.m. June 11.

Arrangements were being made Tuesday for Muncey’s return to Androscoggin County with two state police detectives who had traveled to Illinois to question him, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

There were no plans to charge Muncey’s girlfriend, who hoped to be released on bail. The couple’s two children, a 2-year-old son and a 1-year-old daughter, were staying with relatives in Cobden, Ill., officials said.

Tuesday’s developments came after more than 150 people joined in a vigil Monday night near the site of the slaying to remember the victim.

Pastor Paul McLaughlin of the Hope Haven Gospel Mission in Lewiston said that about a week before the stabbing, Stanley attended a service at the mission.

McLaughlin said he’d seen Stanley at the soup kitchen before, but this time, when McLaughlin asked those present to raise their hands to accept Jesus Christ as their savior, Stanley did so. The pastor later asked Stanley to write his name in a Bible and the date he accepted Christ.

McLaughlin said he remembers Stanley weeping. “I know Casey was very sincere about it – he said he wanted to get his life together,” McLaughlin said.

There was also an edge of anger to the emotions among the crowd.

Scott Mason of Lewiston, a friend of Stanley’s and his family, said, “The people who did this had better hope God has mercy on their souls.”