CHERRYFIELD, Maine — A man was killed Thursday night during a home invasion on Tenan Lane, according to state police.
The body of 36-year-old Matthew Adams of Whitneyville was transported to the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta where an autopsy was performed Friday morning, according to Shannon Moss, spokesperson for Maine State Police. His death has been ruled a homicide.
A woman at the home had serious injuries and a man had minor injuries as a result of the home invasion, Moss said. The woman’s injuries are not life threatening, though she was taken to the hospital for treatment.
It’s unclear what part each of the three people played in the incident.
No charges have been filed in the death, Moss said.
A neighbor said Friday that a nearby relative of hers had heard three gunshots not long before police rushed to the scene at around 9:15 p.m. Thursday. Police have not confirmed whether anyone had or used a gun during the home invasion.
Police remained at the house on Friday evening processing the scene for potential evidence. They said there is no ongoing threat to the public.
The killing in Cherryfield is the ninth homicide in eastern coastal Maine in the past year, and the seventh in Washington County.
Washington County had a homicide each month for six straight months, from Brandin Guerrero’s shooting death on a residential street in Machias on Nov. 4, 2021 until Kimberly Neptune was stabbed to death in Passamaquoddy tribal housing in Perry on April 21.
Both Guerrero’s and Neptune’s killings have been linked to drugs, as has the shooting death of Paula Johnson at her home in Pembroke on Feb. 8. The other prior deaths in Washington County — of Jason Aubuchon on Dec. 26, of Eva Cox on Jan. 8, and of Darren Laney Sr. on March 10 — all appear to be a result of alleged domestic violence.
Since Neptune was killed, two other people have died under suspicious circumstances in eastern Hancock County.
Nicole Mokeme was killed in an allegedly deliberate hit-and-run at Schoodic Point on June 18. Mokeme’s former boyfriend, Raymond Lester, has been charged with murder in her death, and police have said that Salisbury’s death is a homicide.
Neil D. Salisbury was found dead in his Lamoine home on Oct. 3.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated where Matthew Adams was from.