A Washington County man arrested in March for allegedly killing his father is accused of stabbing his father to death with a pair of scissors, according to a police affidavit.
Darren Laney Jr., 36, is facing a murder charge in the March 10 death of Darren Laney Sr. at the family home on Sunshine Lane in Big Lake Township.
The homicide was the fifth in as many months in Washington County, dating back to November 2021. A sixth homicide occurred the following month in Perry where Kimberly Neptune allegedly was stabbed to death in her home.
The affidavit was sealed when Laney Jr. was arrested but was made public this week at the request of the Bangor Daily News.
Laney’s Jr.’s parents, who were longtime life partners, picked him up in Baileyville on March 10. They had just arrived at their house when the attack occurred, according to the affidavit.
During the car ride, Laney Jr., who had been living in Portland, made “bizarre” remarks, including that “something bad was going to happen to them all” when they got to the house, according to the affidavit.
Laney Jr.’s mother discussed with Laney Sr. whether they should take their son to the hospital, but they ultimately decided to take him home to see if he would settle down, his mother later told police.
Instead, almost immediately, Laney Jr. allegedly used a pair of scissors to attack his father, who yelled that he was being stabbed. Laney Jr.’s mother said she had not heard them arguing or even talking prior to the attack. She fled to a neighbor’s house where the neighbor called the police.
Laney Jr.’s girlfriend was on the phone with his mother when the attack began, police said. The girlfriend heard what was happening and drove to the Laneys’ house, but when she got close she found him running away along West Street. She took him back to the house, but he ran away again and then was caught a short distance away by police responding to the emergency call.
Inside the house, police found Laney Sr. lying dead on his living room floor with a pair of scissors protruding from his chest, police wrote in the affidavit.
When police later interviewed the son about what happened, he told them he returned to his parents’ house to confront his father about alleged sexual abuse “from when he was a child.” When confronted, about 10 to 15 minutes after they arrived, his father attacked him with the pair of scissors but he managed to wrest the scissors away, Laney Jr. told police. However, police said there were no visible impact marks, redness or bruising on Laney Jr.’s neck or face during the interview.
Laney Jr. told police he stabbed his father in the chest, arm and possibly in his back.
Laney has a prior criminal record in Maine that dates back to 2005. Between that year and 2020, he was convicted of various charges of theft, refusing to submit to arrest, operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicants, furnishing liquor to a minor, forgery, unlawful possession of drugs, violating conditions of release, failure to provide his correct name and unlawful possession of fentanyl powder.
He is being held without bail at Washington County Jail in Machias.