UPDATE: Maine State Police identify man driving car with woman’s body in trunk
Fri, 08/10/2018 - 4:45pm
Maine State Police said Aug. 10 that a Massachusetts man shot and killed himself Thursday afternoon in Gardiner after being stopped by a State Trooper. The body of a woman was discovered in the man's trunk of the car and State Police say her death did not take place in Maine.
State Police say the dead man is Gyrth Rutan, 34, of Sturbridge, Mass. An autopsy at the State Medical Examiner's Office determined he died of a shotgun wound to the head and his death was ruled a suicide.
State Police are referring information about the woman's death to the Worcester County District Attorney's Office in Mass., whose office and MA State Police are investigating the woman's death there.
It is not clear why Rutan drove to Maine, but he has family located in Maine and his Facebook page indicates that he grew up in Brewer, police said.
A State Trooper stopped Rutan's car along Timberwood Dr. in Gardiner after State Police received a report of an erratic driver along I-295 Thursday, according to a news release from the Maine Department of Public Safety. The trooper spotted the car on the Interstate and then followed it along Route 201 until it turned onto Timberwood Dr., which is when he stopped the car. The trooper reported that Rutan got out of his car armed with a shotgun and turned the gun on himself.
Around 4:45 p.m., Aug. 9, Maine State Police stopped a vehicle on Timberwood Drive in Gardiner. The car was pulled over after State Police received a report of erratic operation on Interstate 295 a short time earlier.
The operator, a man, immediately got of the vehicle and shot himself, resulting in his death. While conducting the investigation a body was located in the trunk.
A team of State Police detectives are investigating the incident and the bodies will be transported to the State Medical Examiner's Office in Augusta for autopsies and examination.
The investigation is ongoing and no additional information is being released at this time. There is no ongoing threat to the public, the Maine Office of Public Safety said.
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