WATERVILLE — A November date has been set for the murder trial of Roland Cummings, charged with killing 92-year-old Aurele Fecteau last May.

Cummings, of Waterville, remains jailed without bail on charges of murder, burglary and theft.

The trial date has been scheduled for Nov. 12, said Tim Feeley, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office.

Fecteau’s body was found at his 33 Brooklyn Ave. home in Waterville on May 23 – authorities believe it was three days after he was killed – by his son Ernest Fecteau and daughter-in-law, who came to check on him.

Fecteau was a 1940 graduate of Winslow High School and was survived by seven children.

He worked for 40 years as a paper machine tender for Hollingsworth & Whitney and Scott Paper companies until his retirement.

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Police said his home had been burglarized. Pry marks were found on a back door, boxes of jewelry were found open and items were missing.

Cummings, who grew up in the Bingham and Waterville areas, was charged June 6 in connection with the killing. According to court documents, police matched DNA from the turned-out pockets of Fecteau’s pants to Cummings, who was described as an acquaintance of Fecteau’s who did housework for him.

Cummings, who was 44 at the time, pleaded not guilty to the charges in an initial court appearance in July.

According to court documents, Cummings told authorities that his DNA was on Fecteau’s pants because he had robbed him of $2 that he found while rifling through them during a visit several weeks earlier.

Cummings’ sister, Deborah Berry of Waterville, told the Morning Sentinel that her brother has been taking the prescription drug suboxone, which is prescribed for opiate addiction, and that he had struggled with drug addiction in recent years.

She said her brother’s “downfall” started about three years ago, after the death of their father.

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Ron Bourget, an attorney for Cummings, said the large amount of information pertaining to the case has delayed the pre-trial process.

“Right now the Attorney General’s Office is providing us with various police reports and investigation reports,” Bourget said Friday. “We’re in the process of reviewing it and should be reporting to the court shortly on the process.”

Bourget would not comment on specific findings in the police and investigative reports he has received.

He said he recently visited his client at the Kennebec County jail in Augusta but could not comment on those meetings. Cummings is also being represented by attorney Darrick Banda.

“We are looking forward to aggressively defending his case in a trial and we’re hopeful we will be able to obtain a not-guilty result,” Bourget said.

 


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