DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — Stephanie Ginn Gebo changed the locks at her Parkman home and was sleeping with a gun the week before she was killed because she was so afraid of Robert Burton, according to the warrant application for his arrest on a murder charge in connection with her death.
Ginn Gebo’s body was discovered by her 13-year-old daughter on the floor of the 37-year-old woman’s bedroom on June 5, states the six-page document released Wednesday after Burton’s first court appearance.
The girl described Burton, 38, as “always angry” and told investigators that he had confronted her mother “with the belief that she had cheated on him,” states the affidavit, filed by state police Detective Thomas Pickering of the Major Crimes Unit North.
The girl said “the only person she knew who would want to hurt her mother was Robert Burton,” according to the affidavit.
Burton turned himself in to authorities Tuesday, ending a historic manhunt that put the entire region on edge for more than two months. On Wednesday, he wore an orange jail jumpsuit and appeared healthy in the courtroom at Piscataquis County Superior Court. District Court Judge Kevin Stitham oversaw the proceeding via videoconference from the Lincoln courthouse.
Stitham decided Burton will be held without bail pending a bail hearing scheduled for Monday. The judge did not ask Burton to enter a plea because he has not yet been indicted by the grand jury.
Stitham appointed Ellsworth attorney Jeffrey Toothaker to represent Burton, pending paperwork that Burton needs to file requesting a lawyer, the judge said. Attorney for the day Chris Smith represented Burton on Wednesday.
Three officers, two from the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office and one Maine State Police trooper, stood behind Burton in court.
While little was said in court, the affidavit contained details about the case that had not previously been released by police.
The victim’s 10-year-old son, whose sister woke him up and shielded him from seeing their mother’s body, told police Burton “has a lot of guns,” according to the affidavit.
As a convicted felon, Burton was not allowed to possess weapons.
After finding her mother, Ginn Gebo’s daughter called 911 and Piscataquis County deputies arrived to investigate.
Four 9 mm casings were found on the floor of the deceased woman’s bedroom, according to the affidavit.
The daughter allegedly told police that Burton had lived with the family for about two years until about May 31, when her mother broke up with him.
One of Burton’s friends told investigators that Burton had threatened to kill Ginn Gebo, and another said Burton told him “he would never go back to jail,” the affidavit states.
Both children noticed Burton’s camouflage backpack and jacket on the ground outside of their mother’s ground-floor bedroom window, and police later found the pack contained a knife, duct tape, binoculars, five prescription medication bottles for Burton, flashlights and water bottles, according to the affidavit. His eyeglasses were in the jacket.
Ginn Gebo was found with two gunshot wounds to the center of her back, and evidence that a pillow was used to silence the sound of the shots.
She also “had black duct tape partially wrapped around the right wrist,” according to Dr. Margaret Greenwald, the medical examiner.
Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin previously said Ginn Gebo was shot to death with her own gun after wounding Burton as he broke into her home.
The manhunt, which was concentrated in southern Piscataquis County where Burton grew up, involved hundreds of law enforcement personnel from multiple agencies in and outside Maine, including the FBI, which came in force to Maine on June 20 to assist and continued working with local agents until the end.
It is one of the longest active manhunts for a person suspected of murder on record, according to the Maine State Police.
No details were released at court or in the affidavit about how Burton eluded police for 68 days. Vance Ginn, the father of the deceased woman, said he thinks someone helped Burton.
“Now my biggest push is they find out who was helping him,” Ginn said as he walked into the courthouse along with his wife, Angel. “It’s pretty obvious someone was. He was wearing clean clothes, no bug bites, no nothing.”
Ginn said the first thing he did after hearing that Burton turned himself in was put his own gun away.
“My grandson was in the bedroom watching TV,” Ginn said. “And one of the first things I did was I went out and picked my gun up out of the living room, where I’ve had it for nine weeks, and brought it back into our bedroom and told my grandson, ‘There is no reason to have this out anymore. He’s incarcerated. He’s in jail, right where he should be.’”
Ginn also expressed the relief felt by the community.
“We really literally never used to lock our doors at night,” Ginn said. “And then all of a sudden for nine weeks we had to lock ourselves in during the day with loaded guns. That is not what our community is all about.”
The news about Burton’s arrest spread like wildfire in the rural communities of Parkman, Abbot, Guilford and Dover-Foxcroft.
“Everybody is so happy,” Ginn said. “School is getting ready to go back. The kids can go outside and play. At the end of last year, they had weeks where they couldn’t go outside for recess.”
While Ginn knows that the court process can take years, he said that now that Burton is behind bars, his family and everyone else can start thinking about returning to normal.
“Hopefully, he’ll do what he should do and plead what he should plead so maybe this trial will not have to go [forward],” Ginn said. “Maybe he’ll do the right thing, for once in his life own up for what he did.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and would like to talk with an advocate, call 1-866-834-4357, TRS 1-800-787-3224. This free, confidential service is available 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in Maine.