The Unsolved Homicide Unit Brings Charges in 38-Year-Old Case

State Police say a former Brunswick man, now living in Farmington, was arrested Friday in connection with the death of his young son, nearly 38 years ago.  

The arrest followed the indictment of 62 year old Burton “Ben” Hagar on murder charges by the Cumberland County Grand Jury. Hagar, who now lives in Farmington, was arrested just before noon at his home on Marvel Street by State Police detectives and transported to the Franklin County Jail. He will make his first appearance in Cumberland County Superior Court on Monday or Tuesday.

Hagar is charged in connection with the death of his four month old son, Nathan Hagar, who was found unresponsive in the family’s 16 School Street apartment and died later at Parkview Hospital in Brunswick on May 9, 1979. The death originally was investigated as a SIDS death, but State Police detectives reopened the case quietly in 1991.

In the past year, Detectives gathered new information about the death and coordinated the investigation with the new Unsolved Homicide Unit, which led to the Attorney General’s Office presenting the case to the grand jury this week.

The Chief of the State Police praised the new investigative unit with bringing charges in its first case. Colonel Robert Williams said:

There are more than 100 Maine unsolved homicides and the new unit is reviewing each case. The hard work of this dedicated group from State Police and the Attorney General’s Office have brought this first unsolved homicide to this point, and there will be other success stories as their work continues.”

The new Unsolved Homicide Unit has been fully staffed since February of 2016. This also is the oldest unsolved homicide case State Police have resolved. The oldest up until now was the arrest of a man in 2012 for an Augusta homicide that took place in 1976, 36 years earlier.

Burton Hagar will be arraigned at 1pm Wednesday in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland.