Trial begins for Madison accused of murdering former roommate

SKOWHEGAN — The trial of a Madison man accused of killing a former roommate last year is set to begin this week in Skowhegan.

Roland Flood, 62, of Madison, is accused of murdering his former roommate, 57-year-old Mark Trabue of Anson, in July 2023. Flood’s trial is set to begin this week in Somerset County Superior Court in Skowhegan. Somerset County Jail photo

Roland Sel, 62, He is charged with the July 2023 murder of Mark TrabueAnson is 57 years old, according to court records.

Trabue’s body was found with multiple stab wounds in the Madison cemetery on July 8, 2023, according to police.

Potential jurors are expected to report to Somerset County Superior Court in Skowhegan on Monday. The jury panel for the trial is expected to be completed by Tuesday.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert E. Mullen is expected to preside over the hearing, which is scheduled to begin Wednesday and could continue into next week.

If convicted of murder, Flood faces 25 years to life in prison.

Flood was indicted by a Somserset County grand jury in October 2023 on a charge of murder with intent or knowing or wanton indifference, according to court records.

Flood, who has pleaded not guilty, was denied bail and has been held in the Somerset County Jail in Madison since his arrest on September 1, 2023.

Court records from police and prosecutors suggest Flood argued with Trabue days before the alleged murder. Flood previously lived at Trabue’s home in Anson, according to court records.

Flood’s court-appointed attorney maintained his client’s innocence in a telephone interview Friday.

“Without revealing anything, our defense will state that Mr. Flood had no involvement in Mr. Trabue’s murder and that we believe one or more individuals are responsible,” said Verne E. Paradie Jr. of the Lewiston law firm. Paradie and Rabasco said. “That’s what we hope to show during the trial.”

Paradie declined to provide further details about Flood’s expected plea.

“Mr. Flood had no reason to do this,” Paradie said. “He has no history of violence and is not a violent person.”

‘HOW DO YOU WANT TO DIE?’

Trabue’s body was found in Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison on the evening of July 8, 2023, according to an affidavit filed with the court for Flood’s arrest warrant, written by Detective Jillian Monahan of the Maine State Police.

Monahan wrote in the affidavit that two callers reported an unresponsive man collapsed in the car, and deputies with the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office found Trabue dead with what appeared to be stab wounds to his chest, throat and neck.

The car was registered to Trabue.

An autopsy performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner the next day confirmed multiple stab wounds and Trabue’s death was ruled a homicide.

Trabue was reported missing by 61-year-old Susan Viles the morning before her body was found, according to testimony. Viles told police he lived with Trabue and had lived with them before because Flood was romantically involved with him.

Viles told police that Trabue left his home on Ingalls Street in Anson the day before (July 7, 2023) and did not return until the next morning.

According to a court filing filed by prosecutors in October 2023, Trabue was last seen alive on Main Street in Madison around 3:45 p.m. on July 7, 2023. Deputy Attorney General Lisa R. Bogue wrote in the filing related to the bail hearing that Trabue and Flood had several phone calls around that time.

According to Viles’ initial report to police, Flood told Viles that he saw Trabue with a young couple that day.

Hours after Trabue’s body was found on July 8, 2023, Viles told detectives that she had broken up with Flood about a month earlier and kicked him out of the Anson home, according to Monahan’s affidavit.

Viles told detectives that on July 6, 2023, two days before Trabue’s body was found, Flood and Trabue had an argument at Anson’s home.

In his affidavit, Monahan wrote that Viles said he and Trabue were watching television when Flood came in and tried to get alone with Viles. Trabue said he wasn’t leaving and asked Flood, “Do you want to get kicked out of my house?” he asked.

“How do you want to die?” Flood responded, according to Viles’ statements to detectives.

During the same interview, Viles told detectives that he took Flood’s comment that he saw Trabue with the young couple as a “hint” because Flood had previously said he knew a couple who could be hired to commit murder. Monahan wrote in his affidavit: .

Later that morning, Detectives interviewed Flood at the home of 48-year-old Christopher Goodwin on Madison Avenue in Madison, where Flood was temporarily staying, the affidavit states. Flood told detectives that he saw Trabue on the afternoon of July 7, 2023, when Trabue was dropping off clothes for him.

Flood said a man and woman were in the car with Trabue. The man and woman were recently identified by Skowhegan police in a Facebook post about a burglary, Monahan wrote in the affidavit. A detective later questioned the woman in the Facebook post, who offered an alibi, according to the affidavit.

In a phone call between Viles and Flood later that day that detectives heard and recorded, Monahan wrote in the affidavit that “(Flood) admitted to threatening to kill (Trabue), but stated it was a joke.”

Flood also told Viles in the phone call that Trabue was not manipulating people for money; He had previously told detectives during questioning that it was a common occurrence, according to the affidavit.

SIX KNIFE AND A BLOODY BELT

On the night of July 9, 2023, police executed a search warrant for Flood’s clothing at his home on Madison Avenue, where Goodwin told detectives Flood took a shower on July 7, 2023.

Monahan testified that Flood told police he had a broken knife among his belongings.

Police said they found six knives among the items seized through a search warrant. None of them tested positive for blood, according to the affidavit.

Trained police dogs were brought in to search the cemetery where Trabue’s body was found. No knife was found in either search.

Goodwin, who spoke to detectives for the third time on July 11, 2023, said Flood was no longer staying at his home, but a belt belonging to Flood was found in the bathroom, Monahan said in the affidavit.

The Maine State Police Crime Lab determined that the blood on the belt matched Trabue’s DNA profile.

Flood’s attorney, Paradie, expressed doubts about the belt in a memorandum filed with the court in October 2023 following a hearing on Flood’s bail, arguing that authorities did not have probable cause to keep Flood in custody.

“Flood did not indicate that the belt was actually his, and this has not been determined at this stage,” the filing states. “If Trabue brought that belt to Goodwin’s house, there’s a distinct possibility that there was already a trace of his blood on that belt.

“There is also a high possibility that the belt belonged to Goodwin, as Flood took possession of the belt after he removed himself and his belongings from Goodwin’s home. “Furthermore, Goodwin did not mention the belt on the first two occasions when he was questioned, indicating that he was trying to conceal it.”

In the same file, Paradie stated that Flood’s knives and other items belonging to Flood did not test positive for blood and that his client did not make any incriminating statements to the police.

Superior Court judge Mullen sided with prosecutors, finding there was probable cause for Flood’s arrest and denying him bail, according to court records.

POLICE Statements

Flood’s defense strategy may also depend on whether statements he made to investigators will be allowed into evidence during his trial.

According to court records, Paradie filed a motion on Flood’s behalf to suppress statements Flood made to police. Investigators showed that they “intentionally and flagrantly” disregarded Flood’s Miranda rights while questioning him several times, according to the motion.

Three state police investigators – Monahan, Detective Corporal. James Moore and Detective Corporal. Hugh Landry – testified at the October 17 hearing about detectives’ interactions with Flood.

He cooperated with Flood in six interactions, according to testimony from three detectives who described having friendly, casual conversations with Flood.

Three detectives testified at trial that during their interactions with Flood, they identified themselves as police officers and told him he did not have to answer questions.

Bogue, the prosecutor assigned to the case, argued in briefs filed before the court before and after the Oct. 17 hearing that Flood’s statements were given voluntarily and that detectives acted accordingly in their interactions with him.

As of Friday afternoon, Mullen had not yet issued his ruling on a motion to suppress Flood’s statements and planned to work on it over the weekend, a court clerk said.

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