Each of the three men accused of beating and kicking 49-year-old Freddy Akoa to death last month in his Portland apartment has been indicted on a charge of murder.

The men – Abil Teshome, 23, Osman Sheikh, 31, and Mohamud Mohamed, 36 – have remained in custody since their arrest Aug. 13 and will next be scheduled to return to the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland to enter their pleas to the murder charges.

Akoa had 22 rib fractures from the savage attack, cuts and bruises all over his head and torso, and a lacerated liver when his accused killers left him on his living room floor in Apartment 18 at 457 Cumberland Ave. on the morning of Aug. 10.

Timothy Feeley, a spokesman for the Maine Attorney General’s Office, said Monday that the Cumberland County grand jury handed up an indictment against each of the three men Friday. He said a date has not been set for their arraignment.

Authorities have yet to identify a motive for the attack on Akoa, which police say went on for hours.

Portland police Detective Christopher Giesecke wrote in an affidavit that the men were seen in surveillance footage entering the apartment building with Akoa and a woman at 4:40 p.m. on Aug. 9. Police learned of Akoa’s death two days later when his mother became concerned that she couldn’t reach her son and asked the apartment building management to go into his apartment to check on him.

Police found Teshome, Mohamed and Sheikh in Deering Oaks park on the morning of Aug. 13 and arrested Teshome on a charge of criminal trespassing.

“Teshome said he lost control of himself and started hitting Akoa several times in the head. Teshome admitted to punching and kicking Akoa multiple times and knocking him to the ground. Teshome also stated that he also struck Akoa with his hands and feet while Akoa was lying on the ground,” Giesecke wrote.

Teshome also allegedly confessed that he used a board from a makeshift coffee table to beat Akoa over the head and to strike his foot, the affidavit says.

“(Teshome) said that he and Sheikh left Akoa’s apartment around the same time and that he believed Akoa was alive when he left,” Giesecke wrote.

Video surveillance footage from the apartment building shows the woman and Mohamed leaving the building at 5:38 a.m. on Aug. 10, but Teshome and Sheikh cannot be seen in the footage, the affidavit says.

Police did not charge the woman in connection with Akoa’s death.

If convicted of murder, each of the men will face a minimum of 25 years and up to life in prison.

 

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