JEFFERSON, Maine — The stepson of a Jefferson man whose remains were discovered last week on Neck Road says he reported the location of the man’s body to authorities as early as 2010.
The remains are believed to be Charles E. “Chuck” Woodburn, who was last seen alive in 2002, according to Steve McCausland, spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety. McCausland said the State Medical Examiner’s Office has reported that the individual was a victim of a homicide.
Woodburn was married to Diane Darling Woodburn, who died Aug. 17, 2010.
“As far as we know, she never reported him missing,” McCausland said.
Brian Darling, Diane Darling Woodburn’s son who now lives in Iowa, told the Lincoln County News on Wednesday that about the time he got married in 2004, Diane Woodburn said Charles Woodburn “was just gone,” leaving his truck, wallet, cash, everything.
Diane Woodburn later married Robert Gaudette and they resided at the 219 Neck Road property.
According to Darling, after his mother’s death Gaudette allegedly told him the location of Woodburn’s buried body: near a building on the Neck Road property that used to be a garage when Darling was growing up.
“Bob said that the body was over by those concrete steps in front of that garage,” Darling alleged.
A number of attempts to reach Gaudette for comment on the allegation — personally, electronically, and through family members and acquaintances — were unsuccessful on Thursday.
Darling said he and his brother reported the information Gaudette allegedly shared to the Maine State Police back in 2010, but he never received a call back.
“I don’t know if it’s because I’m out of state, or what,” he said.
According to the state police website, Charles Woodburn was reported missing by a former stepson on Sept. 2, 2010, 16 days after Diane’s death.
“We honestly thought nothing was going to happen,” Darling said. “It’s been four years since we reported it.”
On Wednesday, McCausland said he did not have any more specific information to release other than what has already been shared with the media.
“At this point the details are probably it, are it for the time being until we’ve proceeded a little further in this case,” McCausland said.