AUGUSTA – Maine State Police suspect some kind of crime in the disappearance of a firefighter from Florida, and want to talk more with a Bangor man as the investigation intensifies.

Meanwhile, the family and friends of Jerry Perdomo, 31, held out hope that the Seminole County, Fla., firefighter will turn up. He has been missing since Feb. 16.

“We just want him to come home,” said Tonya Perdomo, the missing man’s wife, from her home in Orange City, Fla.

In Maine, state police spokesman Stephen McCausland said investigators have spent two days gathering evidence at a house in the Waldo County town of Jackson that’s owned by the father of Daniel Porter, 24, of Bangor.

Police believe that the house is the last place Perdomo was seen. Evidence has been sent to the state police crime lab in Augusta. Porter is “a person of interest” in the case, said McCausland.

He said police interviewed Porter and Porter’s girlfriend, Cheyanne Nowak, 25, after detectives found them in Connecticut in the past week. The two have since returned to Maine.

Investigators also have moved three vehicles to the crime lab: a rental car that Perdomo was driving, which was found in the parking lot of the Walmart in Bangor; a car that Porter owned and was left at a dealership in Oakland; and a new car bought by Porter and Nowak.

“The connection between Perdomo, Porter and Nowak, we’re still trying to piece together,” said McCausland.

Perdomo made frequent trips to Maine, he said.

A woman claiming to be Perdomo’s girlfriend has come forward to police, but McCausland did not have her name.

Police also confirmed that they searched a trash container at the Hannaford supermarket in Bangor, near the Walmart.

Perdomo’s wife described the father of 3- and 10-year-old children as “a dedicated dad. He helps people out a lot.”

“He was always doing something for somebody,” said Tonya Perdomo. “He’s very sociable. He was in the service and knows a lot of people.”

Asked if it would be unusual for Perdomo to drive to Maine from Florida, his wife said, “He had friends from all over so it wouldn’t be unusual for him to go out of town.”

Chris Learch, Perdomo’s brother-in-law, was putting up posters with Perdomo’s picture in the Bangor area.

“We’re just going to keep doing it, going to keep on going until we find Jerry and bring him home,” Learch told WMTW-TV.