A Presque Isle man with an extensive criminal record has been indicted on two counts of murder in the August shooting deaths of two people in the town of Castle Hill.
A grand jury in Aroostook County handed down the indictments Friday against 38-year-old Bobby Nightingale, who has been in jail on unrelated charges since a week after the killings of Allen Curtis, 25, and Roger Ellis, 51, both of Castle Hill.
Nightingale is expected to appear in court on the murder charges next week, according to a news release from Maine State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland.
McCausland did not include any information about whether Nightingale knew the victims or whether he had any motive to kill either man.
Curtis and Ellis were found dead from gunshot wounds inside Ellis’ pickup truck on Aug. 13. The truck was found in the middle of Route 227 and appeared to have collided with an ATV. Police thought they were responding to a vehicle crash until they discovered the bodies inside the pickup truck.
Police did not release much information about the deaths at the time – including whether Curtis and Ellis knew each other – which put the small northern Maine community on edge. Officials increased patrols in the area and, at one point, offered a reward for information.
More information is likely to be released in court documents next week.
In addition to the murder indictments, Nightingale has been charged in connection with two other incidents in August, prior to the killings.
He’s been charged with robbery, burglary and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person in connection with an Aug. 5 home invasion on Elm Street in Presque Isle.
Nightingale also is charged with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person for an incident at a home in Castle Hill on Aug. 10.
McCausland did not provide details about either of those incidents.
Nightingale’s criminal history goes back nearly 20 years.
According to records from the State Bureau of Identification, he was charged in 2000 with burglary in Presque Isle and was sentenced to six months in jail.
In 2004, he served two years of a four-year prison sentence for burglary and theft. Not long after his release, he was sentenced to three years and six months in federal prison for possession of a firearm by a felon and possessing a stolen firearm.
In 2014, he was indicted on four counts of theft and five counts of burglary of a motor vehicle. It wasn’t clear how those charges were resolved.
In August 2017, Nightingale was one of three people arrested after an alleged kidnapping in Caribou. A man told police that he was forced into a car at knifepoint, beaten up and left in a parking lot, according to news accounts at the time. Nightingale later pleaded guilty to reduced charges and served 178 days in jail.
And in May 2018, Nightingale turned himself in to police after being sought in connection with a shooting at a house on Oak Street. No one was injured in that incident.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
