Lewiston Sun Journal

Victim Remembered

AUBURN - More than 150 of Casey Stanley's friends and family gathered Monday night at the spot behind Florian's market where he was knifed to death last week. With lit candles and incense sticks, they told stories about Casey, and gave personal messages for him.

Those who spoke agreed that Stanley would do anything for anyone. One woman said he let her stay in his apartment when she was homeless. Another said that he was always willing to help out when work needed to be done.

"There will never be enough words to say thank you to everyone who's been helping," said Loretta Leet, the mother of Stanley's girlfriend, Erica Griffin.

Pastor Paul McLaughlin of the Hope Haven Gospel Mission in Lewiston had a different kind of story.

About a week before his fatal stabbing, Stanley, who was 26, went to a service by McLaughlin at the mission. McLaughlin said he'd seen Stanley at the soup kitchen before, but this time, when McLaughlin asked those present to raise their hands to accept Jesus Christ as their savior, Stanley did.

The pastor said after the service he asked Stanley if he was sincere. He was, McLaughlin recalls, and remembers telling Stanley, to take the Bible at his pew, and to write his name and the date he accepted Christ inside.

He said he remembers Stanley crying. "It was a very emotional moment."

"Little did I know that I would hear about a fine guy getting stabbed," a week later, and that he would learn it had been Stanley.

"I know Casey was very sincere about it - he said he wanted to get his life together," McLaughlin said.

There was sadness in the air, but anger, too. Scott Mason of Lewiston, a friend of Stanley and his family, was at the vigil. "The people who did this had better hope God has mercy on their souls," he said.

Mason said he himself has been stabbed twice in the past two years.

"The stabbings in this city are getting worse and worse every year," Mason said. He pointed to large scars on the top of his head and on his neck. "It definitely could have been me, you know?"

In Illinois, Ryan Muncey and Alisha Turner, the Lewiston couple who had been sought for questioning in connection with Stanley's death, are in custody on a material witness charge. Brent Broshow, supervisor for the U.S. Marshal Service for the Southern District of Illinois, told the local newspaper, The Southern Illinoisan, that Muncey was "the No. 1 suspect," although no charges have been filed.

Muncey has a history of arrests in Lewiston-Auburn dating back to 1999, when he was 19 years old. In January 2000, he was charged with aggravated assault for sttacking another man with a kitchen fork. That charge was later amended to misdemeanor assault, for which he paid a $500 fine.

In April 2003, Muncey was again charged for assault, but the charge was dismissed when he instead pled guilty to disorderly conduct. He was charged $200. He was again charged for assault for a June 19, 2005 incident. The case went to Superior Court, where it was dismissed because a witness was unavailable.

Turner has no criminal record.

Broshow also described Muncey's Sunday morning arrest to The Southern Illinoisan. He said Muncey and Turner were staying with her family in Cobden, Ill., and that a police officer pulled a car over into their driveway on an unrelated traffic stop.

Muncey, thinking the police were coming for him, ran into the woods, Broshow told The Southern Illinoisan. Later that night, Turner's family convinced her to turn herself in. About midnight, Turner, accompanied by her father and brother, arrived at Union County Sheriff's Department in Jonesboro.

The next morning, police, U.S. Marshals and officers from the Union County Sheriff's Department swarmed on the house. Muncey jumped out a bedroom window, but was caught about 20 yards from the house by a police dog.

According to Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland, two state police detectives arrived in Illinois late Sunday night. Detectives John Hainey and William Ross will question Muncey and Turner.

A key part of the investigation, McCausland said, "is information that we'd hoped we would glean from Muncey and Turne