Members of the Maine Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee are calling for an investigation into the Department of Health and Human Services’ interactions with the family of a teenager accused of killing his relatives while in the state’s custody.
In a letter sent Wednesday, Sens. Jeff Timberlake, R-Androscoggin, and Brad Farrin, R-Somerset, said a “series of failures” by the department appear to have led to the slayings of a father and son found dead in their Chelsea home in June. Christopher Hunnewell, 43, and his adopted son Ty Carter, 22, were killed by Hunnewell’s foster child, police said. Relatives of the victims have said the teenager had previously threatened both men — and that the Office of Child and Family Services knew about those threats.
The lawmakers requested that DHHS Commissioner Sara Gagne-Holmes appear before the oversight committee to “address concerns resulting from these homicides and offer a full accounting of the issues raised” by the teenager’s relatives.
They pointed to a series of articles in the Portland Press Herald in which the victims’ family members said the department and its Office of Child and Family Services were aware of the teenager’s threats and had found a notebook detailing planned killings. A cousin of one of the victims said officials recommended psychiatric inpatient care but did not have any beds available.
“Ultimately, the death of two people at the hands of a minor in state custody shows inaction
and negligence are to blame,” the lawmakers said in the letter.
The Press Herald is not identifying the teenager accused in the killings because he is a juvenile.
The pair, joined by Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, also called on committee leadership to open an investigation into the case.
In a second letter, this time to the oversight committee chairs, the lawmakers also note that 31 children involved with the office died in 2024, according to state data. From 2020 to 2024, 136 children involved with the office died. That’s one more than the 135 deaths reported from 2007 to 2019.
“It is an appalling record that is showing no sign of improvement despite the repeated promises that it would,” the trio wrote.
They requested an investigation by the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability to explore why the juvenile was given insufficient mental health resources and why the family that was fostering him was not notified of his full mental health history, among other questions.
They also questioned why the teen was not immediately removed from Hunnewell’s home after a caseworker informed the teen that he would be moved to a different foster home. The teen attacked just a few minutes after the caseworker left, relatives told the Press Herald.
Lindsay Hammes, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said Thursday that the department has received the letter and is reviewing it but declined to comment further, citing procedural rules.
“The Department is prohibited per State and Federal law from offering comment on cases related to minors who may or may not be involved with the Department,” Hammes said in a written statement.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Sept. 4 to include a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services.
