Police offered no new details Friday about the shooting death of a Belfast woman late Wednesday, including how she may have been connected to the suspect.

Todd Gilday, 44, made his initial appearance Thursday in Waldo County Superior Court on charges of murder and elevated aggravated assault. A judge ordered that he be held without bail pending a hearing that is expected to be held next week.

Police say Gilday went to the home at 162 Waldo Ave. in Belfast late Wednesday and, after arguing with one of the occupants, shot Lynn Arsenault, 55, and her son, Mathew Day, 22.

Arsenault died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest and shoulder, according to an affidavit filed in support of Gilday’s arrest.

Day was shot in the arm and stomach. He was treated at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for life-threatening injuries. His condition was upgraded to serious but stable by late Thursday. The hospital could not say Friday whether Day was still there.

The home, about a mile from downtown Belfast, was owned by Arsenault, and Day was living there, police said.

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Two neighbors, Angela and Joseph Mitchell Jr., said the house was notorious for parties and they often called police to report noise and drug-related activity.

Police have not disclosed any possible motive for the shootings.

Belfast Police Chief Michael McFadden has not returned calls for comment about whether local police had visited the home before Wednesday night.

Gilday, who has no criminal history in Maine, does not have strong ties to the state. His most current address is Spring Brook Drive, a condominium complex in Belfast less than two miles from the home on Waldo Avenue. He has lived in Maine for the last three years.

State police Lt. Christopher Coleman said Gilday knew at least one of the home’s occupants and the shooting was “not random,” but he declined to be specific.

He said police are still trying to determine how Gilday knew the victims. A Waldo County court clerk said Friday that police had not filed any search warrants in connection with the case.

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By the time police responded to 911 calls about a shooting late Wednesday, the suspect had fled. Day and another man who was in the house, John Riley, identified Gilday as the shooter.

For several hours early Thursday morning, local and state police searched for Gilday or his vehicle. They got a tip that the car was parked at Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport and later discovered that Gilday had checked himself into the hospital for undisclosed reasons.

Police arrested him at the hospital before he could check out.

Neighbors and others knew little about Gilday and called the shooting senseless.

He worked briefly as a tax examiner for Maine Revenue Services, but recently was terminated from that job, according to a spokesman for the agency. His online profile indicated that he owned and operated Spinnaker Financial LLC, but the state has no record of that business.

Arsenault was well known in the community. She was a manager at the Bank of America call center in Belfast for part of the week and stayed with her son in Belfast often. The rest of the time, she lived in Garland with her husband, Don Arsenault. Attempts to reach him have not been successful.

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Day was charged with aggravated assault and domestic violence assault in an incident involving an ex-girlfriend in May at the home on Waldo Avenue.

Eric Russell can be contacted at 791-6344 or at:

erussell@pressherald.com

Twitter: @PPHEricRussell

 


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