HOULTON, Maine — Samuel Geary of Houlton was a typical 16-year-old boy who had received a Christian education, enjoyed playing football and caring for and riding horses.
But on March 6, he became one of the youngest people in the state ever to be charged with murder, along with Reginald Dobbins, 18, in connection with the March 1 death of Keith Suitter, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.
Dobbins and Geary were arrested and charged with murder in the death of the 61-year-old, but Geary’s name was not made public until his petition for detention in juvenile court was released on Monday. Dobbins did not enter a plea to the charge, but Geary entered a plea of denial. Dobbins is being held without bail in the Aroostook County Jail.
Geary is in a state juvenile facility, Aroostook County Sheriff Darrell Crandall said Thursday. Geary also originally had been taken to the jail in Houlton, but juveniles can only be held at such adult facilities for very short periods of time, and only once, Crandall explained.
Suitter, a longtime Houlton resident and military veteran, ran a painting business and lived alone. He was found dead in his home after two friends spotted his vehicle abandoned about a half-mile away from his property and went to check on him.
Last week, a Maine State Police Criminal Investigations Unit was stationed at the Abbie Lane home that Geary shares with his family.
In December 2012, six people who were living at the dwelling were left homeless by a fire, which gutted the property and killed several animals.
The house, including all the family’s belongings and Christmas presents, was destroyed in the blaze. An attached barn and stable area also were consumed by fire. The family did not have insurance, and a benefit later was held to help them rebuild on the same property.
John Bishop, head of school at Greater Houlton Christian Academy in Houlton, confirmed Tuesday afternoon that Geary had been a student at the pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school. He added, however, that he could not confirm whether Geary was still a student when he was arrested.
Sources indicate that Geary most recently had been attending Houlton High School, but that could not be confirmed this week.
“This is a tragedy for the community, and that is all I really want to comment on about that,” Bishop said.
One friend of Geary’s, who requested that her name be withheld, said she was “completely shocked” when she first heard the 16-year-old had been charged with murder.
“Sam has never displayed any violence in front of me,” she said Tuesday. “He was always close with his family and friends. He loves to ride horses, he plays football, and I never really saw him being cruel to other kids.”
McCausland said Monday that no details would be released about the homicide, such as a cause of death, motive or what led investigators to the two suspects. All documents pertaining to the case, including what was filed to obtain search warrants for the Geary and Dobbins properties, were impounded by the court Monday.
Assistant Attorney General Deborah Cashman indicated Monday during Dobbins’ and Geary’s first appearance on the murder charges that the state would seek a bind-over hearing to determine if Geary could be tried as an adult.
McCausland said this week that while Geary is a “young suspect” to be charged with murder in Maine, “there have been younger.”
He did not specify names or ages.
But a search of BDN archives shows that several minors have been tried in homicides in recent decades.
Among them:
— Patrick Armstrong was 14 when he killed a teenage neighbor in November 2005 in Fayette. He was charged with murder as an adult, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 25 years in prison with all but 16 years suspended. Armstrong was the first juvenile in Maine to be ordered to serve part of his sentence at a juvenile facility before being transferred to an adult prison after he turned 21.
— In July 1984, Daniel Ness, 17, Shawn I. Mabry, 16, and James Francis Baines, 15, all of Bangor, were charged with murder in the death of Charlie Howard of Bangor. The teens pleaded guilty to manslaughter as juveniles, however, after a judge determined they should be tried as juveniles. They were sentenced to the Maine Youth Center in South Portland for an indeterminate stay not to exceed their 21st birthdays. Information about their juvenile records is sealed.
— Christopher Fitch was charged when he was 15 with armed robbery and murder after the 1988 robbery-killing of an 82-year-old farmer in Norway. Fitch’s conviction was overturned by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and he pleaded to a reduced charge of acting as an accomplice.
— In 1993, 14-year-old Sheri Lee Johnson of Skowhegan was tried as a juvenile and found guilty of murdering her elderly aunt. She was sentenced to the Maine Youth Center until she turned 21.