Neil Canney

PORTLAND — A man and his niece accused of seriously injuring a 67-year-old Buckfield man last month during an assault in his home were arrested in Tennessee where they had been camping, authorities said.

Neil Roy Canney, 52, of Greene and Hartford and Selena Canney, 49, of Hartford were picked up Friday in Carter County, Tennessee, by deputies with the Carter County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities say the two assaulted Edwin Bennett in the early morning hours of July 27 after breaking into his Bennett Road home.

Bennett suffered stab wounds to his chest and blunt force trauma with a handgun, according to a media statement by Theodor G. Short, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service.

Investigators said Bennett escaped to a neighbor’s house and called police. He was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where he underwent surgery.

Selena Canney

The suspects were reported to have been driving a gray 2013 Chevrolet Equinox registered to Neil Canney. Authorities had surrounded a home in Hartford after the incident, but it was discovered to be vacant.

The U.S. Marshals Service was asked to join the investigation shortly after the incident and developed information that the two suspects were believed to be hiding out in the vicinity of Hampton, Tennessee, according to Short.

Sheriff’s deputies located the suspects’ vehicle early Friday morning on a road near a local trail, Short wrote. They found a tent a few hundred yards along the trail where it was believed Selena and Neil Canney were sleeping inside.

The Canneys were taken into custody without incident, Short wrote. Deputies recovered two guns.

Selena Canney was charged with being a fugitive from justice; Neil Canney was charged with being a fugitive from justice and a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, according to affidavits filed in Carter County.

Both will appear in Tennessee state court pending their extradition to Maine to answer to the Maine charges, Short wrote.

The Maine Violent Offender Task Force was assisted by the Oxford County’s Sheriff’s Office, Maine State Police, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and Carter County Tennessee Sheriff’s Office.