SKOWHEGAN — Invoking the name of a former Harmony man who murdered his wife and two children before killing himself in Dexter in 2011, a Unity man allegedly threatened family members in Anson this month, telling one of them to choose which child would be killed first.
Mark E. Dodge, 40, of Albion Road, Unity, allegedly told a woman in the home that he had worked with Steven Lake, 37, who in June 2011 used a shotgun to kill 38-year-old Amy Bagley Lake and their two children, 12-year-old Monica and 13-year-old Coty, at their home in Dexter.
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“Go figure,” Dodge told the woman, according to a court affidavit. “The wife and kids get a bridge named after them, and Steven gets nothing and it was not his fault.”
Gov. Paul LePage signed legislation in February 2012 naming two bridges in Harmony in memory of domestic homicide victims, the Lakes in particular.
A bridge on Route 150 was renamed the Amy, Coty and Monica Bridge in memory of schoolteacher Amy Lake and her two children. A bridge on Route 154, also in Harmony, was renamed the Remember Me Bridge in memory of all domestic violence victims.
Bagley Lake grew up in Harmony and was a Dexter school teacher. She used the bridge as an alternate route to work so she and her children did not have to drive by her estranged husband’s business on Route 150.
Dodge was indicted in the Anson case last week by a Somerset County grand jury on four counts of domestic violence criminal threatening with a weapon and four counts of domestic violence terrorizing.
According to a court affidavit filed by Somerset County Sheriff’s Deputy Don Avery, Dodge was highly intoxicated May 5 when he punched holes in walls and broke items in the kitchen before threatening four members of his family with a knife.
Nobody was going to leave the house alive that night, Dodge said, according to the affidavit. He allegedly ordered one of his victims to start picking which child for him to kill first.
The central victim, a woman identified as a family member, feared Dodge was going to stab her and the children, Avery wrote. Dodge reportedly left the house through a back door. Police, using a tracking dog, searched for Dodge, who later turned himself in, according to court paperwork.
“I am glad Mr. Dodge is in custody and will do everything I can to keep him there,” District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said Friday. “For Mr. Dodge to compare himself to known murderer Steven Lake is especially terrifying. The number of domestic violence cases in Somerset County is sharply increasing.
“It is not clear whether that is because of more violence or because victims feel more comfortable reporting. Either way, my office is working hard to speak with every victim and to give each case the attention needed.”
Two of the four counts against Dodge are class C felonies, punishable by up to five years in prison on each count. He remains held at the Somerset County Jail on $25,000 cash bail or $100,000 in property bond.
Also indicted by the grand jury on domestic violence charges was Danny G. Parrish Jr. 38, of Moscow, who allegedly put a gun to his wife’s head June 1 and pulled the trigger. The gun did not go off.
Parrish is charged by the grand jury with two counts of domestic violence assault, one on May 31 and again on June 1 at the family’s home on Donagin Road in Moscow. He also is charged with two counts of criminal restraint with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and four counts of domestic violence terrorizing.
One of the alleged victims is an 8-year-old boy, according to court documents.
Parrish allegedly yelled “that he was going to kill everyone in the house,” Dale Lancaster, chief deputy for the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department said at the time. Sheriff’s deputies later were told that Parrish had allegedly doused his wife with lighter fluid May 31 and attempted to light her on fire.
The woman and children, ages 2, 9 and 10, all are members of Parrish’s family. Lancaster said the rifle was magazine-fed and apparently a bullet had not been loaded into the chamber so the gun misfired when Parrish pulled the trigger.
Parrish is prohibited from possessing a firearm under federal law because he is a convicted felon. Somerset County authorities confirmed Parrish has a felony conviction in Missouri. He said Parrish Jr. was convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine and was sentenced to five years in a Missouri prison. He served three years.
Lancaster said the family recently had moved to Maine from Vermont.
Parrish is being held at the Somerset County Jail on $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 worth of property.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt, but is a determination by the grand jury that enough evidence is present in a case to proceed with trial.
Others indicted by the grand jury this month are:
• Samson P. Racioppi, 33, of Salisbury, Mass., charged with two counts of reckless conduct with a weapon, March 24 in Pittsfield.
• Kyle T. Green, 22, of Skowhegan, charged with trafficking in heroin, May 14 in Skowhegan.
• Kyle M. Wyman, 20, of Skowhegan, charged with burglary and theft, April 17 in Skowhegan.
• Jonathan R. Fuller, 44, of Hallowell, charged with eluding an officer, operating after license revocation and failure to stop for a police officer, Oct. 1, 2006 in Cambridge.
• Burleigh Luther Witham Jr., 29, of West Paris, charged with burglary and theft, May 21 in Canaan.
• Alicia Laura Cora Goodwin, 30, of Jackman, charged with possession of heroin, March 18 in Moscow.
• Adam B. Clarke, 32, of Canaan, charged with reckless conduct with a weapon, two counts of criminal threatening with a weapon, assault and terrorizing, May 23 in Canaan.
• Scott T. Salley, 30, of Pittsfield, charged with trafficking in and two counts of possession of oxycodone, April 11 in Pittsfield.
• Todd Stanton, 39, of Benton, charged with receiving stolen property and violating the conditions of release, May 4 in Fairfield.
• Joseph T. Adams, 21, of Skowhegan, charged with aggravated trafficking in heroin, trafficking and two counts of possession of heroin, June 10 in Skowhegan.
• Daniel D. Dubois, 37, of Jackman, charged with possession of heroin, April 18 in Moscow.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter: @Doug_Harlow
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