Portland police arrested three men Thursday on charges of murdering Freddy Akoa, whose body was found Tuesday in his apartment on Cumberland Avenue.

Police charged Abil Teshome, 23, Mohamud Mohamed, 36, and Osman Sheikh, 31. All three are from Portland but they have no fixed addresses, police said.

The suspects were being held in the Cumberland County Jail without bail pending a court appearance, possibly Friday or Monday. Police had arrested them on unrelated charges before they were charged with murdering Akoa.

Police did not authorize the release of their photographs because the killing remains under investigation.

Detectives moved swiftly on the case, arresting one of the men Wednesday on a charge of criminal trespassing, then another on a similar charge around midday Thursday. After the final suspect was booked late in the day, police announced the arrests.

Akoa, 49, had no record of criminal convictions, according to a database maintained by the Maine Department of Public Safety, but at least two of his alleged killers do.

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Sheikh has 33 criminal convictions, mostly public order crimes such as criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and drinking in public, according to the State Bureau of Identification. Teshome’s criminal record includes convictions for drinking in public and theft. Criminal records for Mohamed had not been provided Thursday night.

Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck released little new information about the investigation at a news conference early in the day before the arrests were announced. He said Akoa’s body was discovered after his mother called management at the building where her son lived to have someone check on his well-being.

Sauschuck acknowledged that the state Medical Examiner’s Office had concluded its autopsy, but wouldn’t reveal how Akoa died, saying the state Attorney General’s Office would decide when to release the information.

“The Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that the manner of death is a homicide. The cause of death is not for us to release,” he said.

Timothy Feeley, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said in an email that the cause of death is being withheld because the investigation continues.

Records in Cumberland County District Court in Portland indicate that Akoa was married to Maria Ferreira of Portland until their uncontested divorce was finalized in April 2012, and that they had three children. However, his brother, Benoit Akoa, said the children are Ferreira’s, not his brother’s.

Ferreira did not return a phone call seeking details about her ex-husband.

Akoa’s brother, Benoit Akoa, said before the arrests were announced that he wanted to talk about his brother’s life, but first wanted to let police investigate further.


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