LAMOINE, Maine — A local man who police say was shot and killed by his adult son early Tuesday was concerned that he might die a violent death, according to a neighbor.
Police say that Robert Tilden, 50, and his brother-in-law Russell Pinkham, also 50, both were shot and killed around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday by Tilden’s son, Leon R. Tilden, at the family compound on Bobolink Lane, off Mud Creek Road. Russell Pinkham lived in a separate house a few yards away from the Tilden home.
Leon Tilden, 27, died hours later, after Maine State Police and other law enforcement agencies were alerted to the shooting and began a manhunt for him in the area. According to police, the younger Tilden was armed when he was encountered on the property by a member of the Maine State Police Tactical Team around 10 a.m. and was shot. Leon Tilden was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where he was declared dead later that morning.
According to police, Leon’s mother, Lori Tilden, and his brother Benjamin Tilden, 22, were at home when Leon Tilden allegedly shot his father and uncle outside. Attempts Wednesday to contact the surviving Tildens or other relatives were unsuccessful.
State police continued Wednesday morning to investigate and collect evidence at the scene of the shootings.
Lt. Christopher Coleman of the Maine State Police’s Major Crimes Unit said Wednesday that Bobolink Lane will be kept off limits to everyone but police until the Medical Examiner’s Office has completed autopsies and determined causes of death for all three men, which is expected to be done on Thursday.
“That examination is extremely important because that could tell us how many times those men were shot and what caliber weapon might have been used to do that,“ Coleman said. “We do that in almost every case to make sure the evidence we gather at the scene matches the evidence we obtain through the examination of the bodies and the investigation.”
Coleman said some of the evidence that has been collected at the property over the past two days will be transported to the state crime lab in Augusta for further analysis over the coming weeks. He did not indicate what type of evidence it is that will be taken to the lab.
Stan Olencki, who lives on the other side of Mud Creek Road from the Tildens, said Wednesday that he considered Robert Tilden a good friend. Olencki and his wife bought their property from the Pinkham family when they moved to Maine from New Jersey in 2000. Lori Tilden, Robert’s wife, is Russell Pinkham’s sister.
Olencki said Robert Tilden was “the ideal entrepreneur,” dabbling in different kinds of seasonal work to support his family.
“He made Christmas wreaths. He did a lot of chainsaw art,” Olencki said. “He’ll be dearly missed.”
Olencki said there were problems between Robert Tilden and Leon Tilden, but he did not go into detail and said he wasn’t exactly sure what may have caused the friction. He said both father and son were known to have firearms.
He said that, not long ago, he heard gunshots coming from the woods across the road on the Tilden’s property. Olencki said he wasn’t overly concerned about the gunshots, but went over to ask Robert Tilden about it. Leon, apparently, was shooting targets of some sort, he said.
That’s when Tilden told him he was worried about his son.
“He was afraid his son was going to kill him,” Olencki said. “He wasn’t joking.”
Olencki said he has been thinking a lot about Tilden’s remark since Tuesday morning.
“Maybe there is something I could have done,” the neighbor said. “It’s so senseless. I’ve been having trouble sleeping, to be honest with you.”
Lt. Coleman said Wednesday afternoon that investigators checked local police records to determine if there was a history of domestic violence complaints at the Tilden home, but none have been found.
“We can’t find any evidence there were police calls to that home for domestic violence-related incidents,” Coleman said. “At this point, we don’t know what made [Leon Tilden] snap that night.”
Coleman said Leon Tilden’s family had been worried about his recent behavior in the past few weeks and months.
“They were concerned for their safety,” Coleman said. “As for what particular behaviors those were, I’m not sure yet. We’re still trying to explore that.”
Coleman said he’s not sure to what extent family members may have sought help in dealing with Leon Tilden’s behavior. He said police have talked to Lori Tilden and Ben Tilden, but are giving them time to try to process what happened Tuesday morning.
“Obviously, the family’s been through a lot,” he said. “We’re working with them but we’re also very understanding of what they’ve been through.”
Coleman declined to comment about what kind of firearms may have been recovered from the scene or whether Robert Tilden and Russell Pinkham may have been armed and exchanged gunfire with Leon Tilden before they died.
Other neighbors and local residents who were asked Wednesday morning about the Tildens said they did not want to comment.
In addition to making wreaths and carving wood, Robert Tilden dug for clams and bloodworms.
At one point, Tilden appeared on an episode of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs,” to show host Mike Rowe how to dig for bloodworms.
In an article published in 1998 in the Bangor Daily News, Robert Tilden was quoted about his efforts to cultivate oysters in a tidal creek just down the road from his home.
“My first love was the ocean,” the article quoted him as saying. “I actually feel more proud of my oysters than anything else in my life. They’re like your babies.”
Stu Marckoon, an administrative assistant to the board of selectmen, said Russell Pinkham worked as a truck driver.
“Both of them were the nicest guys you’d want to meet,” Marckoon said of Robert Tilden and Russell Pinkham. “They were delightful when they’d come into the office to transact whatever they needed to transact. They were just good, down-to-earth folks.”
Earlier Wednesday, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland provided some additional details of the initial double homicide: The elder Tilden and Pinkham were both found dead outside the family home. Tilden’s body was found in the driveway; Pinkham’s was in a grassy area near the house.
Leon Tilden fired multiple shots when he killed his relatives, McCausland said.
“There were a number of shots fired. … The question is the cause of death. We’ll await the medical examiner’s decision as to how many times the two victims were struck.”
McCausland said Leon Tilden had been living in a “camplike building” behind his family’s home when the shooting occurred. Police recovered a number of guns on the property, including handguns and long guns.
Police said Tuesday that Leon Tilden was shot by Detective Randall Keaten of the Maine State Police Tactical Team. Following standard procedure, Keaten has been placed on paid administrative leave while the attorney general’s office investigates his use of deadly force.
The fatal shooting is the second in Lamoine in the past seven months. Early on the morning of March 11, Ellsworth resident Lawrence “Randy” Sinclair was killed and three others wounded — including the alleged shooter — when gunfire erupted outside a local home on Route 184.
Michael Carter, 30, who lived at the home, is facing charges of murder, elevated aggravated assault, aggravated assault and illegal possession of a firearm in connection with the March shooting, which according to police arose out of a dispute over a paint job that Garland and McKinney recently had done on Carter’s truck.
Carter is being held without bail at Hancock County Jail in Ellsworth and is expected to face trial on those charges sometime next year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Follow BDN reporters Bill Trotter and Mario Moretto on Twitter at @billtrotter and at @riocarmine, respectively.
This story makes me so sad. I’m glad that the friend who agreed to be interviewed took the time to say a few nice things about these 2 men. These guys sound like they were hardworking people who lived a simple life and were liked by many. My heart breaks for the man who felt he might have been able to so something. What a terrible, terrible tragedy. So sorry for all involved.
And burying his head in the ground keeps the ostrich safe right?
Not teaching kids about gun saftey will make them a danger to themselves or others at some point in their lives. If not them, then the children they fail to teach. (1) Treat every gun as if it’s loaded. (2) Never point a gun at something you’re not willing to destroy. (3) Finger off the triger untill you’re ready to fire, (4) Be sure of your target and what’s behind it.
Spread the word please. It could save a life.
No charge for the life saving tips.
Sorry Midcoast. This was ment for maingal17
Again……Thank you Maine State Police.
When your otherwise healthy and capable son is still living with you at age 27 you’re durn right you’ve got problems.
Sad.
One of our sons lives with us. He’s in charge of the business operations round here. He’s 27.
We have no problems.
As a matter of fact he’s doing such a great job we are retiring and he’s taking over.
There are many 20 somethings that are living at home these days who have much to offer in life. They aren’t all the same.
Your son is the exception to the rule. I’m sure you consider yourself fortunate as well you should.
For centuries more than one generation have lived in the same home. It was common place up until the last fifty years. Many are being forced to go back to some of the old ways because of the tough economic times.
These tragedies always beg the same question. Somebody must have known this “could” happen.
Did somebody see this coming? Could they have done something? And in the aftermath, looking back some will say, I knew this or that would happen. Why didn’t I say something? Why didn’t I call somebody? Don’t beat yourself up over it. There is nothing you could have done even though you
may have had a “gut feeling”. People cannot be arrested on gut feelings.
There is no way to prevent these things. Very sad all around. The only
good thing that can be said is at least the perp was taken out before more people were hurt.
It COULD have been worse.
Pretty sure the article covers that….
I feel badly for the neighbor. No, there is nothing you could have done. Maybe the family, working all together could have made a difference but even that is questionable. There is generally a lot of pain and/or anger in these types of situations, sometimes it has been building for years and it is a seemingly small event that sets it off, but it is not really about that one situation.
This kind of event is like a train wreck. It starts way back down the track, and no matter how many people are near the point of disaster, there is just nothing that can be done at that point to stop it. There are some who believe that this is fate, that these people came together for this event for a reason we may never understand in this life. In some ways, believing that may be the only sense we can make of this kind of tragedy. Hopefully, someone will learn something from this awful scenario and maybe be able to prevent a similar tragedy somewhere down the line. If that were the case, these three deaths will have more meaning.
Can’t help but wonder about the proliferation of guns in this country. I know, I know, here come all the “It’s my right” arguments and the “I’m a hunter” comments, but none of that changes the sad fact that three people are dead.
I am so glad I raised my sons to manhood without their ever going down the “gun road.” They knew weapons were not allowed in our home. Believe it or not, boys can become men without guns in their lives.
Yes of course they can become men without having ever shot or used a gun. Beside the fact that we do have the “right to bear arms”, it is never the gun that kills someone, it’s the person holding the gun that kills.
I have a gun in my home and I always will.
Guns make it soooo much easier though.
And so do knives and baseball bats. Just saying, if people properly took care of the weapons in the house (gun safe, trigger locke, etc) there are still weapons that can be used around a house. This is a shame and I feel for the faily. But if it wasn’t a gun then perhaps a butcher knife one day.
People who have mental illness or emotional issues, become way more impulsive in a time of crisis, they do not think clearly… If a gun is around… we see what can happen, vs, this maybe could have turned out to just be a couple of punches thrown before the killer could calm down.
I have been reading the threads and I completely respect your opinion and you are entitled to it. That being said, I have raised 2 sons, one of which has always been into guns and target shooting and hunting, the other who couldn’t care less about guns. Both are men, and awesome ones I might add.
My opinion is that blaming guns for crime IS the problem with our current state of affairs. People have to be held accountable, not things.
As far as mental problems, give a mentally ill person a knife, a car, access to things to make a bomb, and we’re in the same boat. I don’t think we should ban cars.
I can see your point of view, but I think we both have a valid opinion here.
I agree with you, however, it is like taking the keys from a drunk driver… whom later sobers up, nothing is more leathal or intoxicating as ” the gun”….. We all have to judge how we and our children use them, this young man was brought up to target shoot when upset… Think about it……. I was brought up to curse at my mother when upset, yet later, cooled off. This could have been avoided, but not at current time, earlier in life, with better coping skills.
Would it make you feel better if he had beat them to death with a hammer ??? Stabbed them with a knife ?? Hacked them up with a machete ??? Beat them with a baseball bat ?? You imply that if a gun hadn’t been there they would have just traded a few punches….That’s just plain foolish…
The suggestion is not foolish at all. Guns make death a lot more easy! We will never know what he would have done if he had not had a gun, however…. when u grab a gun in anger, there is less time to process.
I can see your point of view, Mainegal, and I respect your right to raise your sons as you see fit. Im sure you did a fine job.
I grew up in a house with three brothers and a father and at least 50 guns in the house. As an adult, me and my 2 sons have 15 or so guns and between us we have 2 concealed carry permits. Never once, ever, did one of the guns jump up, load itself, point itself at someone, and pull its own trigger. The tragedy of this story is not the fault of the gun. It may be the fault of many different things, but not the gun.
Do you think these two gentlemen would be alive today if Leon didn’t have easy access to guns?
No. It would have just been another method.
Stop blaming the fork for making you fat.
Exactly, Cale!
Although this death was caused by gunshots- I don’t think it would have been stopped had there been none around. Sounds like this young man had issues.
I raised my daughters to ” woman hood” knowing how to shoot a gun/pistol and be safe doing so. Your statement is invalid.
Mainegals statement and point of view IS valid for her and should be respected. She has her right to her opinion.
I just dont think this situation was caused by the proliferationof guns. I would wager that the weapons used here were old and had been around for a long time.
My deepest sympathies for those affected…….
More people die in swimming pools in this country than due to guns. Look it up! Do we see anyone who is concerned about the proliferation of swimming pools? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Can your kids swim?
This is not about guns but about a troubled young man.
Not teaching kids about gun saftey could make them a danger to themselves or others at some point in their lives. If not them, then the children they fail to teach. (1) Treat every gun as if it’s loaded. (2) Never point a gun at something you’re not willing to destroy. (3) Finger off the triger untill you’re ready to fire, (4) Be sure of your target and what’s behind it.
You’re free to raise your kids any way you choose. My two boys are very familier with fire arms and the responsibility that comes with them.
If everybody had guns, there would be far fewer violent crimes.
Hard to read, when two parties have the same last name, call them by their whole name!
It always saddens me that there is no way someone in fear for his life can have the threat neutralized. Our system is only set to act if someone already is assaulted. Mere threats aren’t sufficient to have someone removed from the scene until they calm down. My condolences to all the family and friends who suffered great losses due to the deaths of these 3 men.
Benghazi !
The problem is we can’t seem to do more about preventing crime. Catching the criminal, even trying, convicting the perp, and sending the perp to prison is not near enough to make up for the pain and suffering of the victims.
No matter what the punishment is, even death, it does not seem to have any affect on stopping people from committing crimes. In England long ago when public hanging were the rule of law, two crimes that could get you hanged were prostitution and being a pick pocket. What were the two most common crimes at public hanging, prostitution and pick pockets.
People who commit crimes do not think long term and assume that they won’t get caught no matter how dumb or how little talent they have for their crime. Crime is a matter of opportunity and sometimes emotion. So far we haven’t gotten any better in preventing crime no matter what we use, that includes religious belief.
We need to learn what it takes to prevent crime, because no amount of punishment will ever undo the damage to the victim. We need desperately to prevent there being more victims.
A lot of crap going on around that area lately………..
I’d like to see the comments section of these very sensitive stories closed. People jump to conclusions, and weigh in their personal opinions, and I don’t feel it’s fair for people to have the chance to do that in such a public manner. The bottom line is a family is grieving, and people are making judgements about gun safety, and whether or not the family attempted to get Leon help. Leon was a grown man, who was in control of making decisions for himself. Although the family may have seen warning signs that raised red flags, no one expects something like this to happen in their family.
At this time I think the only statements that should be made are condolences to the Tilden/Pinkham family.
“To live in hearts we leave behind…Is not to die”
May you find peace…
Some of the comments here, while seemingly insensitive, deal with the fact that while Leon was 27, MAYBE he had mental health issues. We are reading, daily, of someone who had mental health issues hurting or killing someone. Many of us are broken hearted, even though we don’t know any of the players, because we know, that with some help or intervention, many of these situations, not all, could be prevented.
Years ago, we started attacking the mental health system in this country. We said institutions could not hold people against their will. So many were turned out and left to their own devices. Today, insurance companies and managed care, limits the number of dollars they want to spend on caring for the mentally ill so again they are left to their own devices. Those with real mental illness are NOT in control. They are not capable of being in control. Families often do not know how, or simply can’t cope and they just give up and try some form of co-existence.
A comment that has since been deleted suggested that the younger Tilden lived in a cabin, under less than ideal circumstances. I don’t know if this is true, but this would be one example of a family maybe trying to put some pressure on someone with a problem they don’t really understand. The mentally ill are not usually born into families full of psychiatrists so even if that comment were true, it might be the family was trying to help him the best way they knew how.
I don’t know if the younger Mr. Tilden had a substance abuse issue or not. Addiction and mental illness go hand in hand. At a certain point, it doesn’t matter which came first, illness or addiction. They become inextricably tied to each other. Our prisons are full of such addicts. Since our prisons are geared to punishment (retribution vs rehabilitation), they turn out still mentally ill criminals who have spent time learning how to become better criminals and not be caught.
Until we as a society decide to tackle the illnesses that plague our society and demand real solutions to real problems, not simply the most cost effective (buzz word for cheap) way out, this kind of scenario will play out over and over.
My condolences to the Tilden and Pinkham families on the incredible losses you have suffered. May you find some peace as you go forward. Don’t be afraid to reach out, there are a lot of hands waiting to take yours in their own.
To the MSP detective who had the unkindest of jobs, know that a community supports you too. This was the proverbial train wreck and no one was able to prevent it.
well a person with mental illness creates friction in a family that they dont understand. i have issues i created issues with my parents and my brother and sister. my parents are now deceased and i still have my brother and sister and because of my issues they dont want deal to deal or have anything to do with me. i dont have a family. the family tries to hide the problem from the outside world. dont know what kind of issues this guy had but with the budget cuts in the mental health programs you will get stuff like this happening this guys family was treating him differently he probably didnt like it .dont know what type father he had he could have been a demanding controlling father verbally abusive we dont know
You are so right. I have tried to stay away from criticizing the father, since he is dead. But hearing of the living conditions from a deleted comment, it does seem the younger Tilden was marginalized for reasons I do not understand.
I don’t know what issues you have or how your family does or fails to deal with them. The point is how you deal with them. If you have a diagnosis, then you have sought treatment. It is important to take meds if prescribed and follow up. Some don’t do that and that frustrates family. Those who self medicate with alcohol or illicit drugs also confound families, because they the problems, they have seen the solution, then a family member decides to stop taking meds, causes problems all over again etc. and this is very difficult for families.
” it might be the family was trying to help him the best way they knew how.”
Can you explain to me how having a man live in an unfinished, unheated cabin with no potable water or electricity (as the deleted comment stated) is HELPING? It sounds to me like abuse. Yes, he was an adult, but if abuse had happened his entire life, he may not have realized he shouldn’t have been treated this way, ESPECIALLY if mental illness is an issue, as has been suggested before in this forum.
I DO NOT know this man, his family, or how they lived. I am simply responding to what you have said in regards to the comment that was deleted.
It strikes me the father was a very intelligent, yet perhaps somewhat unconventional man. If his son was not working or not contributing, because of his mental illness, his father may have tried “marginalizing” him in order to make the younger man do something with himself. For those with mental illness, this very rarely works. It just creates more feelings of self worthlessness.
I agree with you that is seems more like abuse but maybe they had tried a softer approach and failed. If the young man had an addiction problem, maybe this was their version of “tough love.” I don’t know the family so I don’t what issues they had or what they may have tried to do about it.
The problem is a lot of mentally ill people cannot hold down a job for any significant period, thus they have no benefits with which to seek treatment. Hospital stays, psychiatric out-patient follow up and meds are expensive and generally fall out of reach for those without insurance coverage. It then falls back to the family of some mentally ill adults to try and help (cope with) these issues.
In another article, an acquaintance described the father as a very intelligent guy with no real formal education. He worked for himself, is seems, largely, so he would likely not have had the financial resources to help his son, either. This was a family who needed, and did not seek, or receive social services. These are the same social services our government would like to further reduce, leaving more families like the Tildens to cope as best they can with mental illness.
This is similar to the Perley Goodrich Jr. case, where the mother had taken her son to a local hospital, which transferred him to the Dorothea Dix Hosp, that declined to keep him. He killed his father the same day he was released and beat his mother. Sadly, he was found guilty of manslaughter, but not criminally insane which would have sent him to Riverview Psychiatric. Instead he is serving 8 years in prison for the killing of his father. He will still be mentally ill when he gets out.
I think that describing a person you have never met, yet only heard about from his friends as intelligent is a bit premature. He may have been an intelligent individual, but it’s also possible that he put on a good front for those acquaintances who spoke highly of him.
I think that in order for a person to be able to make an informed decision on a person’s intelligence, it takes more than reading what people who have met him say. I can sit here and tell you how smart my ex is, but I’d be lying through my teeth. That doesn’t mean he’s dumb, but he’s not another Einstein, very few are. If you were to take me telling you that he’s smart at face value, without taking the time to find out for yourself, then it seems you aren’t much better than everyone on here trashing Leon. True, you can’t find out for yourself about any of them, as they are all dead, but the theory is the same.
Again, I don’t know this man, his son, or his family, nor do I know anything about their home life, just what has been said on here. I though, am not judging anyone, nor have I said a negative word about ANY of the deceased. I am just once again responding to what you have said, to your assumptions.
I don’t this family either. And I am trying to be careful NOT to make any assumptions. Because the father worked in numerous fields and those who knew him said he was knowledgeable in those areas, I did say he “struck me as an intelligent Man”. That was just my impression from reading multiple articles and their associated comments.
I don’t know that Leon Tilden had mental health issues either, but it does seem likely since few normal people shoot and kill their parents. My point was that while the younger man was living in substandard conditions, I have no idea why the parents allowed that. Was it his own choice? Did they not want him in their home because o behavior or was there something else? There has been no mention of a motive here so I guess we will have to see how the rest of the story plays out.