A Corinth man was fatally shot in a public Bangor park in 2024 because he allegedly owed another man $600, according to an affidavit released Wednesday.
Five people are charged with various felonies related to 27-year-old Dylan Caruso’s death and its alleged cover-up. They were arraigned Wednesday in Penobscot County Superior Court, after which a probable cause affidavit was unimpounded.
The affidavit provides previously unpublished details and motive about Caruso’s death. It outlines that Caruso allegedly owed $600 for drugs and how a confrontation in Coe Park ended in his death.
Kenneth Creamer, 36, and Dylan Boyce, 31, both of Exeter and Holden Melvin, 32, of Charleston are accused of killing Caruso. Dylan Belanger, 31, of Corinth and Samantha McCullough, 38, of Bangor are accused of tampering with witnesses related to the homicide.
They pleaded not guilty to all charges Wednesday morning.
Caruso, 27, was last seen Sept. 30, 2024, on lower Ohio Street in Bangor. His body was found in a wooded area in Exeter on Oct. 23, 2024.
Caruso’s great-grandmother drove him to Bangor so he could meet McCullough and dropped him off at the Price’s Corner Store shortly before 9 p.m. on Sept. 30, according to the affidavit. A few minutes later, Caruso called his great-grandmother and asked her to buy him a drink.
He told her he needed to meet someone on State Street and would come back to the corner store. She waited until 11 p.m. but Caruso never returned, the affidavit said.
McCullough told police that Caruso came over that night and asked if he could stay the night at her apartment on Ohio Street, but her juvenile son was home, she said. She and her son witnessed the shooting, according to the affidavit.
The witness McCullough is accused of tampering with is her minor son, according to the indictment handed down by a grand jury.
Caruso owed money to people from Exeter, McCullough told police. He didn’t answer their calls because “he was scared because of the money that he owed,” but McCullough would not tell police the name of the people involved, the affidavit said.
Eventually she wrote the name “Ken” on a sticky note and gave it to police. The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency told Bangor police about Creamer, who lives in Exeter.
Belanger told police that Caruso was supposed to go to Creamer’s house to pay money he owed for drugs, roughly $600, but Caruso “didn’t have it,” the affidavit said. He was trying to find a way to obtain the money but was unsuccessful.
While Belanger was outside the Ohio Street apartment, he saw a car drive by that he knew belonged to Boyce’s girlfriend. Boyce lived in Exeter at the same property as his mother and her boyfriend, Creamer.
Creamer drove the car past the apartment multiple times that night, Belanger told police, according to the affidavit.
After Caruso’s body was found, Belanger told police that he called Boyce on Sept. 30 to tell him that Caruso was at the apartment. Belanger said he didn’t expect Creamer to kill Caruso over $600.
That night, Caruso left the Ohio Street apartment and started walking to Coe Park, which abuts Ohio Street. Belanger followed Caruso. Once the two were about halfway through the park, Creamer stopped the car and got out, as did another person, the affidavit said.
Creamer started yelling at Caruso, demanding the money he was owed and Caruso pleaded, saying he would get the money, according to the affidavit. Creamer then pulled out a black handgun and put it on Caruso’s head.
Caruso tried to twist his body away from Creamer, who then pulled the trigger and shot Caruso in the head, Belanger told police.
After Caruso was dead, Creamer dragged the body to his car, pointed the gun at Belanger and demanded help putting the body in the trunk. The other man was standing guard, the affidavit said.
Police later identified the other man as Melvin.
McCullough and her son were outside the apartment and saw Caruso and Belanger walk away, she told police. She said she saw the car but she and her son went back into the apartment and “didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary,” according to the affidavit.
Creamer, Melvin and Belanger got into the car and Creamer drove to a dirt road in Exeter. During the drive, Creamer threatened to kill Belanger and his family if he talked, the affidavit said.
When they got to the dirt road, Creamer dragged Caruso’s body out of the trunk, into a ditch and covered it with brush and debris. After that they went to Creamer’s home in Exeter, where Boyce eventually drove Belanger back to Bangor, the affidavit said.
Belanger went back to McCullough’s apartment and he looked “scared and stressed,” but didn’t say anything about what happened at that time. He did later tell her that Caruso was shot in Coe Park and his body moved to Exeter, the affidavit said.
On Oct. 23, Belanger took police to the spot where Caruso’s body was left and police processed the scene. His body was autopsied the next day, and the medical examiner determined Caruso’s death was a homicide, caused by a single gunshot wound to the head, according to the affidavit.
Creamer pleaded not guilty to one felony count each of intentional or knowing murder, aggravated trafficking of fentanyl and aggravated trafficking of cocaine. He pleaded not guilty to aggravated forgery in a separate case.
Boyce pleaded not guilty to one felony count of intentional or knowing murder and two counts of tampering with a witness or informant, which are Class C felonies. Boyce was originally arrested for hindering apprehension or prosecution.
Melvin pleaded not guilty to one count each of felony murder and hindering apprehension or prosecution, a Class B felony. Felony murder is when the death of someone is caused as a “reasonably foreseeable consequence” while committing, or attempting to commit, another crime, according to Maine law.
Belanger pleaded not guilty to one felony count each of hindering apprehension or prosecution and tampering with a witness or informant.
McCullough pleaded not guilty to one felony count each of hindering apprehension or prosecution and tampering with a witness or informant.
The four men are in county jails and McCullough was granted a personal recognizance bond. All five are scheduled for a hearing in June. Trial dates are tentatively scheduled for fall 2026.
