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March 11, 2010

Police say pickup key in death case

Kennebec Journal Staff

STAFF REPORT

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California authorities are searching for this truck in connection with the suspicious deaths of a former Maine couple, Frank and Yvette Maddox.

Lake County, Calif., Sheriff's Office.

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Frank Maddox

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Police in California are escalating their search for a missing Toyota pickup truck believed to be a key piece of evidence in the suspicious deaths of a former Augusta couple.

The Lake County, Calif., Sheriff's Office on Wednesday released two photographs of the truck taken by a local code enforcement officer on Feb. 2, when it was reported as an abandoned vehicle. The rusted, beige truck was to be towed, but disappeared before the wrecker arrived.

The truck, with California tags, belongs to Frank Maddox, 32. He and his wife, Yvette Maddox, 40, were found dead on March 4 in rural Lake County, Calif. Their bodies were discovered in a roadside embankment by a pair of passersby, about 6 miles outside the town of Lower Lake.

The Maddoxes are from the Augusta area. They had been missing since late January.

A person of interest in the deaths of the Maddoxes, and also a native of Augusta, remains behind bars in Lake County. Robby Alan Beasley, 29, is being held without bail on violation of probation warrant issued from Kennebec County. Police have said Beasley allegedly threatened the Maddoxes with a firearm sometime around the time of the couple's disappearance, after demanding a ride from them to the airport in Sacramento.

Authorities have deemed their deaths suspicious, pending the results of their autopsies conducted Wednesday. Capt. James Bauman, spokesman for the Lake County Sheriff's Office, said information from the autopsy would not be available until today at the earliest.

Additional charges of cultivating marijuana, marijuana possession for resale, and maintaing a residence for marijuana selling were levied against Beasley by California authorities on Wednesday. Beasley is reportedly a marijuana grower, and had hired the Maddoxes to work for him in Lake County.

Bail on those charges has been set at $1 million.

California police are scouring the region for the missing truck. After it was photographed on Feb. 2, the truck was spotted again on Feb. 18 and Feb. 23 in the Lake County region.

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

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Additional Photos

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Robby Alan Beasley, 29.

Lake County Jail, Calif.

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Yvette Maddox, 40.

Kennebec County jail

 


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