Maine lawmakers on Wednesday ordered a state investigation of any interactions between the Department of Health and Human Services and a teenager accused of killing his relatives in Chelsea while he was allegedly in foster care this year.

The investigation was approved unanimously by the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee and comes after Republicans on the committee had requested the review.

 “I want to know if the department could have prevented this from happening in the first place and what did they do?” said Sen. Jeff Timberlake, R-Turner. “What could have been done differently to make sure things like this don’t happen?”

Police have not identified the teenager, who was 16 years old at the time of the killings in June. He is charged with murder in the deaths of Christopher Hunnewell, who family members say was the teen’s foster father and cousin, and Ty Carter, Hunnewell’s adopted adult son.

Lawmakers said previously that they were troubled by reporting in the Press Herald detailing interactions the teen and his family had with DHHS’ Office of Child and Family Services.

Relatives of Hunnewell’s said at the time of the killings that the teen was in state custody and Hunnewell and his wife, Jessie Carter, had taken him into their home about two years ago.

Carter told the Press Herald that she and her husband had raised concerns with DHHS about the boy’s mental health and had sought another foster home for him.

And a cousin of Hunnewell’s said the family had repeatedly warned social services officials that the teen needed psychiatric help but was told no beds were available. She said the killings occurred after a caseworker had told the teen that he was being placed in a new foster home.

In response to questions Wednesday, a spokesperson for DHHS said that the department is prohibited by law “from offering comment on cases related to minors who may or may not be involved with the department,” including whether the teen was in state custody at the time.

The investigation will be conducted by the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, which supports lawmakers by conducting independent reviews of state government and programs.

Peter Schleck, director of that office, said Wednesday that there are some unique circumstances surrounding the Chelsea case that make it different from other recent investigations into child welfare cases and that could impact how the investigation unfolds.

Unlike the cases of four children who had been in the state’s child protection system and died from abuse or neglect in 2021, Schleck said the child in question in the Chelsea case is accused of perpetrating a crime. That could make it more difficult to obtain information on the case that can be publicly shared under Maine law, Schleck said.

He also did not have information on whether the teen could be tried on the murder charges as an adult, which could make information more accessible. Either way, he said his office will pursue the investigation.

“We will find a way to do as much as we can to get to some kind of analysis,” Schleck said. “It is certainly the case as I understand it that OPEGA is going to be able to look behind the curtain and see everything. The question is … making sure that whatever we would propose to say publicly does not run afoul of those (confidentiality) provisions.”

Lawmakers on the Government Oversight Committee previously sued the state in an effort to gain access to the confidential records of the four children who died in 2021, but lost in a case that went before Maine’s highest court. The court ruled that while professional staff in OPEGA should have full access to the DHHS records, the law does not grant that same access to the elected members of the committee.

Rep. Adam Lee, an Auburn Democrat on the committee who is also an attorney, said Wednesday that he supports the review but acknowledged it could take some time in light of the pending criminal case.

“We need to be realistic as to when the investigation can actually occur by OPEGA,” Lee said. “It could be quite some time before OPEGA could actually do anything that would be an effective investigation.”