BANGOR, Maine — An East Millinocket man charged with slaying high school student Joyce McLain more than three decades ago was indicted Wednesday by the Penobscot County grand jury on one count of murder.
Philip Scott Fournier, 55, was arrested March 4 without incident at his home and charged with intentional or knowing murder and depraved indifference murder in the death of McLain, 16, on Aug. 8, 1980.
He is being held without bail at the Penobscot County Jail.
An arraignment date has not been set.
McLain last was seen the night of Aug. 8, 1980, while jogging. Her partially clad body was found two days later in a clearing near Schenck High School. Her head and neck had been hit with a blunt object.
Fournier also was involved in a vehicle crash within hours of McLain’s death and suffered head injuries, according to a previously published report.
U.S. District Judge John Woodcock identified Fournier as “a person of interest” in McLain’s homicide when he sentenced him in 2009 to 6½
years in federal prison for possession of child pornography. Fournier’s criminal history also includes convictions in state court for burglary and unauthorized taking in 1979, burglary and theft in 1980 and burglary in 1984. After his conviction for possessing child pornography, he was ordered to be a 10-year registrant of the Maine Sex Offender Registry.
Fournier was released from federal prison on Jan. 6, 2015, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Inmate locator.
According to the affidavit filed in connection with McLain’s death, investigators spoke with Fournier at least 27 times in the last 35 years, and in some of those interviews, he confessed to the slaying.
Police also interviewed people who said they heard Fournier confess to killing McLain, including his parents, a local minister and a couple in 2010 who said he told them he was among several young men who attacked and sexually assaulted the girl before killing her.
During interviews with police, Fournier named at least five different men, saying they were involved in McLain’s death. At times he said he was a witness, other times “he was forced to participate.” The Bangor Daily News is not naming the men because they have not been charged with a crime.
If convicted of murder, Fournier faces between 25 years and life in prison.
BDN writers Nok-Noi Ricker and Nick Sambides Jr. contributed to this report.