BANGOR, Maine — Police continue to piece together what happened two weeks ago when a man was fatally stabbed on First Street during a disturbance involving a group of people, Bangor police Detective Sgt. Paul Kenison said Tuesday.
“We’re working on it. This isn’t ‘CSI,’” the detective said, referring to the popular TV show. “It doesn’t end in an hour.”
No arrests have been made and police are releasing few details about the homicide of Andy D. Smith, 38, who was mortally stabbed with some type of weapon at around 1:45 a.m. May 22. He later died at Eastern Maine Medical Center and the state medical examiner’s office determined his death was a homicide.
“It takes time to sort through everything and figure out who did what,” Kenison said.
Noting that “not everyone tells the truth,” he said police are using interviewing techniques to try to figure out what happened.
Police are not releasing any information about the weapon, including whether it has been taken as evidence, Kenison said.
“I can’t really talk about that,” the detective said. “It’s all evidence.”
Police arrived at the scene of the stabbing, the area of 69 and 71 First St., within minutes of the 911 call, he has said.
Several people were interviewed the night of the incident, and “we’re re-interviewing some of the same people,” Kenison said.
Some of the people involved in the fight don’t have permanent addresses, which has slowed the process, the detective said.
“It takes a lot of time to track people down,” Kenison said.
An eyewitness and friend of Smith told the Bangor Daily News that Smith was arguing with a woman he once lived with out in the street when another woman intervened.
The second woman, who lives at 71 First St.,“came out with a two-by-four and she hit him,” apparently in defense of the first woman, said Eugene “Shawn” Cox, a resident of 69 First St. “He got the two-by-four away from her and she called for her friends. They all started on him.”
Seconds later, Smith was bleeding from a wound to his left rib area and was trying to get away. Cox did not see who stabbed his friend, whom he had met in middle school.
“I ran down with a pipe” and met Smith at the bottom of the steps, he said.
The last thing Smith said to his longtime friend was “to tell his kids that he loved them,” Cox said.
Smith was a 1992 graduate of Hermon High School and had studied at the University of Maine Augusta, then known as the University College of Bangor, according to his obituary.
“Andy was a dive master instructor in the Florida Keys and worked in construction in the family business,” the obituary said. A celebration of his life was held on May 27.
Smith recently had lived in Mendocino, Calif., according to his Facebook page, and moved back to the area three or four months ago because he has two children, ages 7 and 11, who live in Orono, his friend said.
All of the department’s detectives responded to the scene initially, and Detectives Brent Beaulier and Tim Cotton now are heading up the investigation.
People following the case should “just hold on” because homicide investigations take time, Kenison said.
Police still are looking for people who have information about the fatal stabbing. Those with information about the case may call the Bangor Police Department at 947-7382. The department’s anonymous tip line can be reached by pressing ext. 6.
Not much new here BDN. Maybe milking this a bit?
Plow down first st…. send them all back to caphart thats were the scum bahs were when i was growing up capahrt and new capahrt
Actually i was thinking just the opposite. This story is over a week old and we hadnt heard a thing about this. I was curious as i am sure others are as well. Curious also about the stabbing over on Essex St. Geez Bully, dont get them to stop printing stories, IMO, they dont dig far enough
well one of the detectives who i will not name for obvious reason is really pretty much an idiot…at least with an unfortunate experience in which he had to enter my world…thankfully people in bangor like to talk and tell on each other to make themselves look innocent
Thank the Lord we have a professional police force, under professional command, operating in a rational and prudent manner. Thankfully, through cooperation by the PD., and the BDN investigative reporter, we are being kept up to date on the progress of the investigation.
well in my opinion,, arrest them all, everyone that was present, and charge em all with the proper charges, they can get a lawyer and prove their innocence, just like the 3 folks in ayla’s house that nite, charge em! probably surprise ya how quick the truth would pop out. this state needs to stop playing games with criminals.
You should run for office,no joke. Your last sentence is exactly what I have been saying.These criminals around here are coddled and it is disgusting to the victims and their families.When is enough is enough?
I am sure i wont surprise anyone when i say that i tend to agree with you and Givrsum. Too often we see the legal system used and abused so that the guilty get off scott free and the victim becomes even more victimized as does the victim’s family. There were certain people at this scene that law enforcement knew were part of the action. All of the time that passes just give these hard to find people more time to flee the state or the country for that matter. No BPD, this isnt CSI, but why does ever case have to turn into Cold Case in this state. Why does it take two years to put someone on trial for murder and why cant the families of the victims get some peace early. What about this man’s kids? Same thing goes for the girl that ran down the guy in Brewer. How much money does the family have if they were away for weeks on vacation? How is it that someone can run someone down and not even be placed under arrest for reckless driving and driving to endanger? Too often we see charges that can be filed that are either not ever charged or thrown out in plea bargain thanks to our wonderful DA….sorry but its about time that the good citizens of this city and state get a little back for their money.
Jeff do you want the Bangor PD to build a case that will “stick” or one that doesn’t? You have no idea a) how to build a case or b) what it takes to interview multiple witnesses to a single event (keeping in mind that you typically have as many versions of the same incident as you do witnesses).
You say it isn’t “CSI” and yes it actually is “CSI”. The difference, unlike TV cases aren’t “solved” in less than one hour.
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“Same thing goes for the girl that ran down the guy in Brewer.”
Who says it is a “girl”? The “report” that she is 16 has not been confirmed by anyone that I know. In fact, that report came from a blog posting that was picked up by a news outlet and reported as “fact”.
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“How much
money does the family have if they were away for weeks on vacation?”
Maybe none. How much does it cost to visit relatives in another state and stay for two or three weeks? I know a recent retiree that stayed with relatives in another state for several months but he doesn’t have “money”.
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“How is it that someone can run someone down and not even be placed under
arrest for reckless driving and driving to endanger?”
Well first you have to have an arrestable offense. Second from the news media reports I have read the victim was not in a cross walk so that means he was jaywalking. Was he wearing light colored clothing or dark colored clothing? Where was he in the road? Had he just stepped off the curb or was he in the middle of the road? Was the driver speeding? There are more questions that need to be answered then you know.
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Why does it take so long for a case to move through the system? Many reasons but in the end I really wouldn’t want to trade our system for any other system in the world.
Jd, you make some excellent points, but we are going to have to agree to disagree on this. Compared to many other states, Maine seems, yes i said seems, to just take forever to get these cases processed. Once they do finally get them processed the sentences are far too light in most instances. I dont believe that jail is a fun place to be. At least my son has said as much to me. I believe that people are more willing to talk if they want their freedom than if they are able to hang out on the streets and try to get a story together. I still believe some of these people, maybe even the one that did the stabbing, could flee, causing justice for the family of the deceased to take even longer. I do not believe we have a great police force in Bangor, but i do believe we have some excellent police officers. I do not believe they are forthcoming with the public and i believe that is wrong. The public has a right to know.
As for the hit and run driver in Brewer, the paper reported that the car was taken from a place in Brewer that the parents were out of the country vacationing, which is why i made the claim about having money. Secondly, the paper also said the only one at home was a daughter who was living there, leaving her to be the only one driving the car. I didnt say what her age was because quite simply, i dont know that. If she is a minor than its understandable why they did not print her name in the news, however, if she is of legal age, than her name should certainly have been released.
Finally, the police said it was not CSI, not myself. I just agreed with them. I dont expect things to be done overnight, but i can certainly sypathize with the family on wanting justice as quickly as possible. I have lost a family member. I have seen how slow this process is. I believe they drag their feet in many instances. Again, just an opinion, not necessarily the right one or the wrong one, but an opinion, nonetheless.
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no thanks… not in america
In America people don’t have to “prove their innocence”. They are presumed to be innocent and the DA has to prove they are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
More than likely the BPD knows who the suspect is with full certainty. They are just dotting all the i’s right now. Expect charges soon. Good work BPD, you certainly have had a lot of work to do lately.
Bangor Police Department always does a great good.. Sometimes I wish they would shoot first and ask questions later, but they are professionals.
Give me a break what the heck are they doing, come on they were all there hall their a… down to the station and get a confession but in actuallity they were all responsible so charge them all…..
If you want to get away with murder I guess Bangor, ME is the place to do it I guess, we have had several over the years where nobody has been charged, this is an outrage.
And while you are at it why not arrest the person that heard the fight all night long and didn’t bother to call until they were in the street. You could charge them with murder too since their inaction (not calling the police, she dialed 411 first and then 911) directly lead to the person doing the beat down dieing.
Time for the city to seize those properties from their irresponsible landlords and bulldoze the neighborhood.
Bangorian Bulldozian strikes again. What’s next? Clinton Street?
Clinton st. could use some bulldoze action also!
We have one insensitive Bully in Augusta. We do not need any more.
After reading the posts on here about how people think it’s just that easy to investigate a crime, obviously do not know the procedures that must be taken in order for the professionals to do their job correctly. I don’t know, either! It’s like with any job, if you haven’t done it yourself, you really have no idea what’s involved to perform the tasks involved. Let the cops do their job!