A trial begins for the Madison man accused of killing a 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, is accused of killing Mark Trabue in July 202357, of Anson, according to court records.

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

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

Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert E. Mullen is expected to preside over the trial, which is set to begin Wednesday and could continue the following week.

If convicted of murder, Flood could face a prison sentence of 25 years to life.

According to court records, Flood was indicted by a Somserset County grand jury in October 2023 on charges of intentional, conscious or depraved indifference murder.

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

Court records from police and prosecutors show that Flood had an argument with Trabue days before the alleged murder. Flood had previously lived at Trabue’s home in Anson, according to court records.

In a phone call Friday, Flood’s court-appointed attorney insisted his client is innocent.

“Without disclosing a ton, our defense will be that Mr. Flood was not involved in the murder of Mr. Trabue, and that we believe one or more others are responsible,” Verne E. Paradie Jr. said. from the Lewiston Law Firm. Paradie & Rabasco said. “We hope to show that during the trial.”

Paradie declined to provide more details about Flood’s expected defense.

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

“How would you like to die?”

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

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

The car was registered to Trabue.

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

The morning before Trabue’s body was found, he had been reported missing by Susan Viles, 61, according to the affidavit. Viles told police she lived with Trabue, and Flood had previously lived with them because she was in a romantic relationship with him.

Trabue had left his home on Ingalls Street in Anson the day before — July 7, 2023 — and had not returned the next morning, Viles told police.

Trabue was last seen alive about 3:45 p.m. on July 7, 2023, on Main Street in Madison, according to an October 2023 lawsuit from prosecutors. Around that time, Trabue and Flood exchanged several phone calls, Assistant Attorney General Lisa R. Bogue wrote in the filing, which were related to a bail hearing.

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

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

On July 6, 2023, two days before Trabue’s body was found, Flood and Trabue had an argument at the Anson residence, Viles told investigators.

Viles said she and Trabue were watching television when Flood came in and tried to be alone with Viles, Monahan wrote in the affidavit. Trabue said he wouldn’t leave and asked Flood, “How would you feel about being kicked out of my house?”

“How would you like to die?” Flood responded, according to Viles’ statements to investigators.

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

Later that morning, detectives interviewed Flood at the home of Christopher Goodwin, 48, on Madison Avenue in Madison, where Flood was temporarily staying, the affidavit said. Flood told investigators he saw Trabue on the afternoon of July 7, 2023, when Trabue was delivering clothes for him.

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

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

Flood also told Viles in that phone call that Trabue does not drive people for money, which was a common occurrence earlier in the interrogation, according to the affidavit to investigators.

SIX KNIVES AND A BLOOD STAINTED BELT

On the night of July 9, 2023, police executed a search warrant for Flood’s clothing at Goodwin’s residence on Madison Avenue, where Goodwin told detectives that Flood had showered on July 7, 2023.

Flood told police he had a broken knife among his belongings, Monahan wrote in the affidavit.

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

Trained police dogs were used to search the cemetery where Trabue’s body was found. The two searches did not yield any knives.

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

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

Paradie, Flood’s attorney, raised doubts about the belt in an October 2023 memorandum filed with the court after a hearing on Flood’s bail, arguing that officials had no probable cause to keep Flood in custody.

“Flood made no indication that the belt was actually his, and that has not been established at this time,” the filing reads. “There is a distinct possibility that if Trabue had brought that belt to Goodwin’s residence, there would already have been a trace of his blood on that belt.

“There is also a distinct possibility that the belt belonged to Goodwin, as he was in possession of the belt after Flood moved himself and his belongings from Goodwin’s apartment. Furthermore, Goodwin failed to mention the belt on the first two occasions he was questioned, indicating his attempts to conceal it.

In the same filing, Paradie pointed out that Flood’s knives and other belongings did not test positive for blood, and that his client had made no incriminating statements to police.

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

STATEMENTS TO THE POLICE

Flood’s defense strategy may also depend on whether statements he made to investigators can be used as evidence at his trial.

Paradie filed a motion on Flood’s behalf to suppress Flood’s statements to police, court records show. Investigators showed “deliberate and blatant” disregard for Flood’s Miranda rights when they questioned him on several occasions, the motion said.

Three state police investigators: Monahan, Detective Cpl. James Moore and Detective Cpl. Hugh Landry – testified at an Oct. 17 hearing about detectives’ interactions with Flood.

He was cooperative during six interactions with Flood, according to testimony from the three detectives, who described friendly and informal conversations with Flood.

The three detectives testified during the hearing that during their interactions with Flood, they identified themselves as police officers and told him he did not have to answer any questions.

Bogue, the prosecutor assigned to the case, argued in court in memoranda filed before and after the Oct. 17 hearing that Flood’s statements were made voluntarily and that investigators acted appropriately in their interactions with him.

As of Friday afternoon, Mullen had not yet issued an order on the motion to suppress Flood’s statements, and he planned to work on it this weekend, a clerk said.

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