PORTLAND, Maine — A Brunswick man facing a murder charge will remain in custody without bail.
Tanner Dostie, 45, appeared at a hearing in Cumberland County on Monday afternoon. He was arrested Friday evening after state police said he made “disturbing statements” that led officers to search a home in Brunswick where they found a dead man.
Authorities have not yet identified the victim. Autopsy results to determine his identity, as well as the cause and manner of his death, are pending, Maine State Police said in a news release Saturday.
During the court hearing Monday, Dostie stood solemnly in a yellow jumpsuit, flanked by his attorneys. He spoke only to acknowledge he understood the charge against him.
Cumberland County Superior Court Justice Deborah Cashman agreed with prosecutors’ request to hold him without bail at the county jail in Portland. He did not have to enter a plea Monday; an arraignment has not yet been scheduled.
Court documents detailing the reason for Dostie’s arrest were sealed Monday afternoon, according to the state attorney general’s office.
WMTW, which viewed the court documents before they were sealed, reported that Dostie told police that he fatally stabbed his neighbor, dismembered the body with a chainsaw and burned the remains in his fire pit.
According to an affidavit, Dostie told police detectives that he attacked neighbor Dennis Blasens with a baseball bat Friday and then stabbed him to death, WMTW reported. State police and fire marshal’s investigators later executed a search warrant at Dostie’s home and found bones, chainsaw parts and what appeared to be a melted baseball bat in the fire pit, WMTW reported.
Dostie’s attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Morgan Womack can be reached at [email protected].
