LEWISTON, Maine — A man whose pregnant girlfriend was killed in a hit-and-run accident on Tuesday afternoon is facing a murder charge, according to state police.
Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said Evaristo Deus, 33, was taken into custody on Wednesday morning at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York as Deus was trying to fly out of the country.
Deus is charged with murder in the death of 32-year old Laudrinha Kubelso, 32, who was walking down Howe Street in Lewiston when she was struck.
Deus was attempting to fly from New York to Port au Prince, Haiti, at the time of his arrest.
McCausland said Deus was taken off an aircraft by New York Port Authority officers about 10 minutes prior to takeoff. An arrest warrant charging Deus with murder was drawn up Wednesday morning by the Maine attorney general’s office.
Kubeloso, who had moved to Lewiston from Angola during the past year, died at a Lewiston hospital.
The SUV Deus was driving was located in a University of New England parking lot on Stevens Avenue in Portland. McCausland said a campus security guard found the vehicle.
Deus is being held in New York, and Maine State Police are making arrangements to send detectives to question him and start the process of returning him to Maine.
McCausland said the case is being investigated as a domestic violence-related death.
