WESTBROOK – A man wanted in the stabbing death of a Westbrook man was arrested Wednesday morning in Syracuse, N.Y., after more than a year on the run, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Tareek Hendricks, 31, formerly of Worcester, Mass., is accused of murdering 40-year-old Robert Stubbs at the victim’s Central Street apartment on April 21, 2011. Stubbs’ wife, Melissa, was also stabbed.
Police said at the time that they had no motive for the crime, but that the three had spent a significant amount of time together before the stabbing. Police said they were looking into whether the three were involved with drugs.
The U.S. Marshals Service began doing surveillance in Syracuse after learning from their counterparts in Maine about three weeks ago that Hendricks might have been in the area, according to Joe Ciciarelli, supervisor of the New York-New Jersey Fugitive Task Force.
Through questioning informants, deputy marshals narrowed down Hendrick’s location to the north side of Syracuse, and then to an apartment above a store, Ciciarelli said.
Law enforcement officers entered the apartment Wednesday after Hendricks refused to come out, and found him alone and unarmed in a corner of a bedroom, Ciciarelli said.
He did not resist arrest.
Two Maine State Police troopers are on their way to New York to begin proceedings to return Hendricks to Maine. It wasn’t immediately clear when Hendricks would be back in the state.
Hendricks was arraigned as a fugitive from justice Wednesday afternoon in Syracuse City Court, Ciciarelli said. He is being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center in Syracuse.
Staff Writer Ann S. Kim can be contacted at 791-6383 or at:
akim@pressherald.com
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