Sgt. Stacey Blair, left, and Sgt. Alonzo Connor of the Gardiner Police Department secure the exterior Friday afternoon of the house at 16 Bartlett St. in South Gardiner. On Saturday night, a spokesperson for the Maine State Police confirmed the death had been ruled a homicide. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

GARDINER — A man has been arrested in connection with an alleged homicide Friday at a house in South Gardiner.

Gregory Fisher, 52, of South Gardiner was arrested by detectives from the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit and charged with murder.

Maine State Police Detective Hugh Landry assists Friday with the investigation at 16 Bartlett St. in South Gardiner. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

Police had yet to release the name Sunday of the person whose body was found at 16 Bartlett St.

After the family requested a welfare check, Gardiner police arrived at about 3:41 p.m. Friday, where they found a man’s body outside the residence, according to an announcement that Shannon Moss, spokesperson for Maine Department of Public Safety, sent to the news media.

Moss said the man’s body was sent Saturday to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta, where it was determined he had died by blunt force trauma to the head.

Police responded Friday night to the white, two-story house, where they were seen for several hours taking photographs around the outside of the home. Gardiner police and deputies from the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office cordoned off the house with yellow police tape at about 5 p.m. The house was still taped off  at about noon Saturday.

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Shortly after 8 p.m. Friday, Chief Todd Pilsbury of the Gardiner Police Department said there is no threat to the public, and the Maine State Police was conducting an investigation. Moss confirmed Friday night the state police were assisting Gardiner police with a death investigation.

Fisher is being held at the Kennebec County Correctional Facility in Augusta and scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday.

Moss said Saturday night the investigation was ongoing.

 

The house at 16 Bartlett St. in South Gardiner is cordoned off with police tape Saturday. On Saturday night, a spokesperson for the Maine State Police confirmed a death at the house was being investigated as a homicide. On Friday, local police responded to the house for a welfare check and found a man’s body outside the residence, according to officials. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

On Saturday, the house’s shutters were closed and its front door were sealed with evidence tape. The small backyard is visible from the house’s driveway, and a large hill is behind the home.

A Ford F-150 pickup truck was in the driveway and a Toyota Camry was parked next to the end of the driveway and sealed off with evidence tape.

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Neighbors said Friday that police were investigating an unattended death, and a neighbor said Saturday morning that “someone passed away.”

Bartlett Street is a dead-end road that runs off River Avenue, just south of the Mount Hope Cemetery.

The street is a long-established neighborhood lined with well-kept homes.

Gardiner records show the property at 16 Bartlett St. belongs to Dorothy and Alfred MacMaster.

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