A Limington man accused of killing his neighbor with a machete and covering his body with rotting deer carcasses has been indicted by the York County grand jury on a charge of murder.
Bruce Akers, 58, has remained in custody since his arrest on June 11 and is being held without bail by a judge’s order.
Akers is next scheduled to return to York County Superior Court in Alfred on Sept. 13 to enter his plea to the murder charge. His attorney, Robert LeBrasseur, said Akers intends to plead not guilty.
Akers is accused of killing his Ossipee Trail neighbor, Douglas Flint, after a long-running dispute that included incidents in which Akers trespassed on Flint’s property and one instance when Akers bathed in Flint’s pool.
An affidavit filed with the court last month by Maine State Police Detective Corey Pike describes how Akers first called the York County Sheriff’s Office on June 9 to say he believed Flint had stolen a six-pack of beer from him.
Flint’s daughter Amanda Flint and his brother Roy Flint called the sheriff’s office the next day to report the 55-year-old missing. Amanda Flint worried that her father might have been suicidal after the 2014 death of his wife, Dawn, Pike wrote. When investigators interviewed Flint’s relatives in person, family members told the authorities that there had been a history of disagreements between Flint and Akers.
Officers went to Flint’s house on June 10 and did not locate him. They then went to Akers’ property and found Akers in his camper. They asked him if Flint was still alive. Akers told them he wasn’t, and then, when asked if he could take them to Flint, he said he could.
Detectives noticed scratches on his finger, shins, back, arm and abdomen. They obtained a search warrant for Akers’ property, where a search dog found Flint’s body, covered with rotting deer carcasses, on June 11. More deer carcasses were found near Akers’ camper.
A machete that tested positive for the presence of blood was found in the camper.
An autopsy found that Flint had nearly been decapitated, dying of severe and extensive blunt and sharp injuries to his head and neck.
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