Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

Deaths link 3 former Mainers

Couple found dead in California; ex-Augusta man held as 'person of interest'

BY BETTY ADAMS AND CRAIG CROSBY, Staff Writers

A former Augusta man is being held in California after the suspicious deaths of a central Maine couple there.

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Frank Maddox

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Yvette Maddox

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Robby Alan Beasley, 29, is being held without bail at the Lake County Jail in California. He was arrested March 6 on a warrant from Kennebec County for probation violation, according to Capt. James Bauman, Lake County's public information officer.

Beasley is a "person of interest" in the deaths of Frank Maddox, 32, and Yvette Maddox, 40, both formerly of Augusta, Bauman said.

Beasley and the Maddoxes had lived in various communities throughout central Maine over the past several years. Autopsies to determine how they died are scheduled for today, Bauman said.

The bodies were discovered down a roadside embankment last Thursday in rural Lake County, Calif., about 6 miles outside the township of Lower Lake. The bodies were identified Monday.

The Maddoxes had been staying in nearby Clearlake, Calif., for several months, Bauman said. Maine relatives reported Yvette Maddox, formerly Yvette Colon, missing to the Lake County sheriff on Jan. 28. Frank Maddox was reported missing to the Clearlake Police Department on Feb. 11.

Police believe the Maddoxes had been dead for several weeks before they were found.

"Beasley ... reportedly hired the Maddox couple and brought them to Lake County to help him with a marijuana operation," Bauman said.

Detectives believe Beasley convinced the Maddoxes to give him a ride to the Sacramento airport the last week of January.

"The couple reportedly agreed, despite unverified information that Beasley had previously threatened one of them with a gun," Bauman said.

Beasley was arrested Saturday while police searched two locations where he was known to live, Bauman said. Police found 96 marijuana plants and about $5,000 in cash.

Police continue to look for Frank Maddox's 1982 Toyota pickup, which investigators believe may be connected to the death, Bauman said.

The Maddoxes and Beasley have lengthy criminal histories in central Maine dating back several years.

Published records show members of the Maine State Police tactical team arrested Beasley at his Pittston home in December 2002 after he allegedly fired several shots out of his home and at a guest's vehicle. A 17-year-old girl was injured in the incident.

He also was arrested in October 2005 after a standoff with police in Augusta.

Beasley was indicted in January 2007 for threatening a woman with an AK-47 assault rifle in Vassalboro. He pleaded guilty to criminal threatening and assault and was sentenced to five years in prison with all but 10 months suspended and two years' probation.

Beasley was also accused of trafficking in marijuana in 1999 in Gardiner.

Frank Maddox has convictions for unlawful sexual contact in 2001, possession of scheduled drugs and failing to comply with notification requirements of the Maine Sex Offender Registry, Kennebec County District Attorney Evert Fowle said.

Maddox and Beasley were both sent to the Maine Correctional Center in Windham in 2007.

"Their sentences overlapped," Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty said Tuesday. "They did share time together."

Yvette Maddox served time in Kennebec County jail after pleading guilty to unlawful drug possession, Fowle said. She was sentenced in September 2005 to three years in jail, with all but 90 days suspended and two years' probation.

Fowle said Frank Maddox was behind bars in Maine as recently as fall of 2009.

"He hasn't been out of jail that long," Fowle said Tuesday.

Craig Crosby-- 621-5642

ccrosby@centralmaine.com