Warrant issued for man in First Street stabbing death

BANGOR, Maine — An arrest warrant has been issued for a suspect wanted in connection with the May 22 stabbing death on First Street.

Jason Alan Trickett, 41, has been charged with manslaughter in the case.

Bangor police are attempting to find Trickett, who is described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall, 170 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. Those with information about his whereabouts are asked to call their local police department or the Bangor Police Department. Trickett has “sleeves” of tattoos running down his arms and onto his hands.

Andy D. Smith, 38, was mortally stabbed during a group fight near 67 First St. around 1:45 p.m. May 22. He later died at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

Bangor police Detective Sgt. Paul Kenison said Thursday that Trickett is a transient who was involved in the First Street fight.

“He’s one of many people we’ve been interviewing on and off,” Kenison said.

The detective said police believe Trickett should still be in the Bangor area.

“We don’t have any information that leads us to believe he has gone anywhere else,” Kenison said.

Since May 22, police have been interviewing people involved in the fight that led up to the stabbing. Police haven’t said what weapon was used.

“It takes time to sort through everything and figure out who did what,” Kenison said when asked about the status of the investigation on Tuesday, two days before the arrest warrant was issued.

All of the department’s detectives responded to the scene initially, and Detectives Brent Beaulier and Tim Cotton now are heading up the investigation.

Bangor Police Chief Ron Gastia announced Thursday afternoon that the Maine Superior Court had issued an arrest warrant for Trickett.

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.

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.

Trickett has appeared in Bangor Daily News court listings for drug-related offenses in 2011, 2010 and 2005.

BDN reporter Nok-Noi Ricker contributed to this report.