CARIBOU, Maine — A hearing to address bail for a man accused of killing a woman who has been missing for nearly 13 years did not take place as scheduled Wednesday.
The hearing for George Jaime Sr., 75, of Presque Isle, was continued to an as yet unspecified date.
Deputy Attorney General Bill Stokes said Wednesday evening that the case has been assigned to Justice Ann M. Murray, who works out of the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor. Stokes said that scheduling conflicts prevented Wednesday’s hearing.
Jaime remains at the Aroostook County Jail in Houlton, where he is being held without bail.
He was arrested and charged on July 12 with intentional or knowing murder in the death of Starlette Vining, who last was seen alive in October 1998 in the Presque Isle area and who would have been 38 years old at the time. Vining and Jaime were in a relationship in 1998, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
State police, working with the Presque Isle Police Department, arrested Jaime at The Star City Trading Post in Presque Isle. The trading post, a pawn shop, is located in a large apartment house at the corner of Main and State streets, which police searched for four days last week.
Vining’s body has not been found.
According to Vining’s missing person profile on the state police website, she last worked at Smythe’s IGA in Presque Isle. That store closed in July 2007. Described as a dependable employee, Vining suddenly stopped going to work in the fall of 1998 and never returned to pick up her last paycheck.
Vining’s former husband and her three now-adult children told police that they last saw her in 1998.
Maine State Police Detective Josh Haines said that family members reported her missing in October 2006. The detective said the family was not close and Vining tended to relocate often. She did not always keep in touch with her family but she never was out of their lives for more than a few years at a time.
Jaime was represented at his initial appearance last Friday in Aroostook County Superior Court in Caribou by Alan Harding, a Presque Isle attorney. Jaime did not enter a plea.
Few details about the case are known, as Harding successfully argued for a judge to seal an affidavit and search warrant filed by Maine State Police. Harding also filed a motion to preserve evidence in the case.
Stokes said that Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson has been assigned to the case and that his office will not release any more information. More details will be available when the affidavit is unsealed.
I could be wrong, but my guess is that if he’s being held without bail, there’s more evidence that the press has not released. I’m not sure how a person can be CHARGED with murder when there has been NO BODY found. Did he admit to murder? I don’t fully understand how this works.
Anyway, I always thought Goerge Jamie was creepy. I’m not surprised by this.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Starlette Vining.
If you had been following, the affidavit was sealed so obviously there is evidence that only investigators and courts have at this time.
I wasn’t able to follow as much as I liked…I work weird hours….thanks! I didn’t know that.
I believe that “remains” were found and that police are waiting on family DNA samples to confirm that it is Vining’s remains before they release more information. I hope they dont let him post bail….he will flee for sure.
Probably had to wait for Alan Harding to get his ankle monitor on.
nice one!!!
I am thinking he might have finially confessed after they brought his son into the pawnshop wearing his orange jumpsuit..The pawnsop was locked up with a sign until he was brought on the scene in handcuffs and then less than an hour later Jaime was being put into the police car…thats what everyone around here is saying but keep in mind that “Rumors” is what people thrive on to survive in this town.