Gardiner man charged with murder in father’s death

AUGUSTA — A Gardiner man has been charged with murder in connection with the death of his father.

Gregory Fisher, 52, who lived on and off with his parents at their home at 16 Bartlett St. in South Gardiner, was arrested July 26. He was charged with killing his father, Alfred MacMaster, 75.

Police say the murder took place on July 21, nearly a week before MacMaster’s body was found in the home.

On Aug. 21, a Kennebec County grand jury indicted Fisher on a charge of intentional or deliberate homicide. He was also charged with possession of a firearm by an unauthorized person.

Police who responded to the South Gardiner home on July 26 to check on her welfare found MacMaster’s body and soon after took her son into custody as a suspect, court records show.

A probable cause affidavit filed by police alleges Fisher left his father’s body in the yard of his parents’ home on Bartlett Street, where he had been living for the past week with his girlfriend.

Gardiner police visited the home after receiving a call requesting a welfare check on MacMaster. When police arrived, they encountered Fisher, who said her father had died five days earlier in a car accident.

According to court records, inside the residence, police found blood stains on the carpet. In the backyard, they found a body wrapped in a comforter that was hidden by a rug and cardboard. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner concluded that MacMaster had died between five and seven days earlier due to blunt force trauma to the head.

The affidavit states that several people in the neighborhood told police they had not seen MacMaster or his wife, Dorothy MacMaster, in several days, and that Fisher and his girlfriend also lived at the home.

Fisher’s girlfriend told police he failed to pick her up at the agreed-upon time on either July 21 or 22. On July 23, she said, Fisher asked her if she could help take care of his mother because “his father had passed away.” The girlfriend then took Dorothy MacMaster to look for cemetery plots for Alfred.

The girlfriend told police she noticed a strange smell and told Fisher to take out the trash.

According to court documents, when Fisher was arrested on the night of July 26, he told Gardiner police he had been using crack cocaine during the week and forged a check for $21,000 using his father’s name and bank account. Several people interviewed by police said they saw Fisher smoking a long pipe in front of the house.

Fisher was convicted of domestic violence assault in Franklin County in 2003 and twice in Kennebec County, in 2009 and 2011. His domestic violence conviction made it illegal for him to possess a firearm, resulting in a charge of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

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