The inmate accused of killing one of his cellmates last year at the Bolduc Correctional Facility in Warren will make his first court appearance next week.
Zachary Titus, 34, formerly of Thomaston, was indicted by a grand jury last week on one count of murder for allegedly causing the death of Dana Bartlett in June of last year. Titus is scheduled to appear for his arraignment at 8:45 a.m. Monday in Knox County Courthouse.
Bartlett, 28, died June 24, 2018, but it wasn’t until early this January that Maine State Police acknowledged they were investigating his death as a homicide.
At the time of his death, Bartlett and Titus were living with two other men in a four-man room at the Bolduc Correctional Facility, near the Maine State Prison. The minimum security facility is often an inmate’s last stop before release.
Bartlett’s death is the first alleged homicide to occur at Bolduc Correctional Facility in at least a decade.
Prior to his death, Bartlett was reportedly afraid of his cellmates, according to former inmates who spoke to the Bangor Daily News. They said Bartlett asked a guard to move him to another cell, though the guard allegedly refused.
An investigation by Maine State Police and Department of Corrections officials found that there was no indication that Bartlett asked to be moved because of safety concerns, according to Randall Liberty, former Maine State Prison warden and acting Maine corrections commissioner.
For the past month, Titus has been held in a close-custody pod at the Maine State Prison. He is currently serving a two-year sentence for theft. His scheduled release date is August 2020, according to Maine Department of Corrections record.