READFIELD — One person will face murder and arson charges in connection with the death of a local person whose body was found inside a burned-out Church Road home Wednesday.
David Silva Jr., 32, who had been living at 447 Church Road with homeowners Robert and Janet Orr, was arrested by Massachusetts State Police this afternoon, Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Steve McCausland said.
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Silva will face charges in Maine of murder, robbery and arson, McCausland said, and is being held in Massachusetts on a fugitive-from-justice warrant.
Meanwhile, the Maine State Medical Examiner’s Office said today that additional work is required to determine who died in Wednesday’s fire and the cause of death. The person’s remains were found in the basement, McCausland said. The body was burned beyond recognition and will require DNA to confirm an identity.
Police had been searching for Silva — and Lindsay Spence, who also lived at the home — a day after the home they rented went up in flames. Spence’s status was not immediately clear Thursday afternoon, McCausland said.
Earlier Thursday, police discovered a pickup truck connected to the fire in Marshfield, Mass.
The Patriot-Ledger of Quincy, Mass., reported a pickup truck registered to the Orrs was found in a parking lot at Rexhame Beach in Marshfield.
An American bulldog was found alive beneath the truck, according to the Patriot-Ledger report.
Police searched the area on foot and by air and later apparently engaged Silva in a standoff near Carver, Mass.
Officials said Wednesday that five people lived in the Readfield home.
Police across the country on Thursday were asked to be on the lookout for Spence and Silva, who were reportedly driving a gray Mazda with Massachusetts license plates.
The 2006 gray Mazda belonging to Spence, of Plymouth, Mass., and Silva was not in the driveway when firefighters arrived around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.
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