The Bangor man accused of a 1984 Calais teenager’s murder allegedly told a jailmate he had suffocated the young woman by forcing her face into a bog and later dumped her naked body in the St. Croix River.
Raymond Brown, 67, is accused of the 1984 killing of Linda Maxwell, whose body was found Aug. 25, 1984, along the St. Croix’s shore in the small Washington County town of Robbinston.
During opening statements Monday in Brown’s long anticipated jury trial in Machias, prosecutors said the more than four decade investigation “ended where it began:” with Brown.
Brown’s trial is the latest twist in a cold case that went unsolved for more than 40 years. Brown, who appeared via Zoom during jury selection late last week, attended in-person, donning blue jeans, a salmon pink button up and white sneakers.
Brown, who had met Maxwell just weeks before her death, was one of several friends Maxwell was drinking with the night she was killed.
After a long night of partying, Brown was supposed to take Maxwell, whose friends said was visibly intoxicated, home that night. Instead, prosecutors say he killed her after she threatened to tell people he had raped her.
Brown first planned to dump her body in her driveway, but then decided to leave her in the water by Robbinston’s boat landing, according to the Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Russell. He later burned her clothes at his home, the prosecution said.
Brown allegedly recalled the night’s events to a Washington County jailmate in January 2026, following his arrest.
Brown told investigators a different story. Brown said he had dropped Maxwell off, alone, at a variety store in Milltown near a cemetery where her boyfriend was camping, roughly 14 miles by water from where she was later found dead.
Brown, who was 25 and married at the time, was seen flirting with Maxwell earlier that night, Russell said. Before the night of her death, Brown told another friend he wanted to have sex with Maxwell, according to the prosecution.
Brown later told investigators Maxwell wanted to swim that night, a claim refuted by those close to her who cited Maxwell’s fear of dark water. Maxwell was found floating in tidal waters about 20 feet offshore. Local police secured her body by tying a rope to her arm before state authorities arrived on scene, the prosecution said.
Brown’s boots were wet after he arrived home the night of the murder, his wife told detectives at the time, according to Russell.
Justine Berry, Brown’s attorney, conceded Brown was among the friends Maxwell was drinking with that night, but said the state still doesn’t know what happened to her. Berry, who said investigators “focused” on Brown, reminded jurors that the state’s medical examiner ruled Maxwell’s death a drowning.
In 2024, a detective with the state’s unsolved murder squad exhumed Maxwell’s embalmed body to perform a limited autopsy, Russell said. DNA found on her body could not be analyzed because of water damage and collection methods used in 1984, when DNA was not an accepted form of forensic science.
The prosecution displayed a map of the various places around Washington County where the teenagers were drinking that night. The jury went on a tour of those sites following opening statements Monday.
Justice Patrick Larson is presiding over the trial.
If convicted, Brown, formerly of Pembroke, faces 25 years to life in prison.
Brown’s defense attorney, Steve Smith, declined to comment on whether Brown would take the stand. The prosecution clarified some details but declined to comment on the pending case.
The Bangor man was arrested in May 2025 after a traffic stop on Broadway and later indicted by a grand jury.
Brown had five criminal convictions prior to the alleged slaying, including felony burglary and simple assault, according to the Bangor Daily News archives. He escaped from Washington County Jail in October 1977 shortly after his first felony burglary.
A local man discovered Maxwell’s naked body near a boat landing two days after she was last seen with friends in Calais, according to the BDN archives.
The Calais teenager was the daughter of the late Cleveland and Nancy Maxwell and sister to Patricia, Frank and Wayne Maxwell.
Maxwell was a member of the Woodland Baptist Church in Baileyville and ran track at the now-shuttered Robbinston Grade School, according to BDN archives. She was on the honor roll at Calais High School her freshman year and played on the school’s basketball team her junior year, according to the archives.
Maxwell would be 60 years old this year.