ABBOT, Maine — Many residents of Piscataquis County are living in fear as the search for murder suspect Robert Burton continues into its fourth week, according to area officials and the stepmother of the woman he is accused of killing.
Burton, 38, also known as Robert G. Elliot, is wanted in connection with the homicide of Stephanie Ginn Gebo, whose body was discovered in her Parkman home on June 5, a week after their relationship ended and the day after his probation for previous domestic violence crimes ended.
“He’s got this whole area held hostage,” Angel Ginn, who is married to Vance Ginn, Ginn Gebo’s father, said Tuesday. “Nobody even dares to do much until he’s caught. They feel uncomfortable.”
Residents of the region are scared, Abbot Town Clerk Barb Brackett and Deputy Clerk Lorraine Leeman said.
“It’s frightening,” Brackett said. “There are a lot of woods here, and a lot of people live in the woods.”
Leeman said people who have never locked their doors are doing so, and “we’re even locking ourselves into our homes.”
Burton, who grew up in the area, knows the woods well, authorities have said.
“I think that the area feels very frustrated that he hasn’t been captured, and folks are somewhat nervous, especially when outdoors,” Piscataquis County Chief Deputy Robert Young said Tuesday in an email. “There has been a very heavy police presence, so perhaps that adds to the sense of being hostage.”
Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office personnel were the first to arrive at Ginn Gebo’s Kulas Road home the day her body was discovered by her two young children, who are staying with Ginn Gebo’s mother. After securing the scene and interviewing witnesses, the sheriff’s office identified Burton as a suspect and the search began.
That was more than three weeks ago.The last confirmed sighting of Burton was on June 19 in Guilford, just over 11 miles from Ginn Gebo’s home.
Piscataquis County sheriff’s deputies continue to search for Burton, with seven officers spending part of Monday investigating a tip the suspect was in a remote area that required the team to use all-terrain vehicles and boats.
“We are literally working on this every day, both in responding to and investigating reported tips and information but also conducting area sweeps,” Young said. “Some of our efforts are based on general information while other efforts are based on more specific information.”
“As the Fourth of July weekend approaches, we are expecting our calls to increase due to the number of people who will be going into the woods and to their camps,” Young said. “We are still asking folks to report anything that seems out of the way and to report any thefts, even if it seems minor. We also are encouraging folks who come to their camps to report things out of place or broken into. If they find their camp has been entered, we ask them not to go into camp until we can have deputies clear it to make certain no one is in it.”
Maine State Police and the Maine Warden Service also are in the area searching.
“We feel Burton remains in the area, and residents need to continue to be watchful and report any suspicious activity,” Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said in a Tuesday email.
“Until he’s caught, right now, it seems like one long continuous day,” Angel Ginn said. “It just won’t end until he’s caught. We‘re doing a nice memorial garden right here at the house and that helps to occupy our minds.”
The Ginns have taken safety precautions.
“We keep our door locked and we have a loaded gun,” Ginn said. “We don’t really think that he would come here but it’s a precaution because we live in the area where he’s been sighted. It’s in the back of our minds.
“We’ve never locked our door before. Now we lock our doors during the day. We lock ourselves in. It’s just an extra precaution,” the grandmother said.
Because the Piscataquis County region where the homicide occurred is filled with small, tight-knit communities, the two families — the Ginns and the Burtons — have mutual friends and know each other.
“Vance has known [Burton’s] grandfather for 40 years,” Ginn said. “Nobody in our family blames anybody in their family. Our hearts do go out to his family. They’re going through their own hell, too. He not only wrecked our lives, he’s done so much damage to his own family.”
Burton’s father issued a plea for his son to stop running from police nearly two weeks ago.
“We plead for Robbie to immediately turn himself in to the police,” his father, Roger Burton, said in the statement from his family.
Ginn said she also is thankful for the many who have contributed to the GoFundMe account set up last week by her stepdaughter’s friend to raise reward money for Robert Burton’s capture. The fund stood at more than $3,200 Tuesday.
“It’s a sad thing to say, but it might take something like this to [persuade] a person who is right on the edge … this might give them that last little incentive to give him up,” she said.
A separate GoFundMe account has been set up for her grandchildren, who Ginn said are “doing OK.”
“When you watch things like this on TV, you never think you’re going to be that family,” Ginn said.
Burton is 5-foot-11, about 180 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. He sometimes wears glasses and was last seen wearing camouflage clothing and carrying a dark backpack.
Those with information about Burton’s whereabouts are asked to call state police at 973-3700 or 911.