A Bangor woman is accused of helping her boyfriend escape prosecution, but no warrant for his arrest had been issued
Jul. 27—When police in Georgia arrested a Bangor woman in February for allegedly helping her boyfriend escape prosecution for murder, the suspected killer was with her.
Months later, Khalid Harris, 28, charged in the Dec. 10, 2020, shooting death of Syies Adams, 29, in a Union Street drug house still is on the run.
Mariah Krueger, 22, is being held at the Penobscot County Jail unable to post a $50,000 cash bail. She is awaiting a hearing on a motion to revoke that bail.
Krueger is charged with hindering the apprehension or prosecution of Harris, even though a warrant was not issued for his arrest until May, three months after her arrest.
Details that had not been made public previously about what happened the night Adams was shot and killed are included in a police affidavit for Krueger's arrest.
Adams died of a gunshot wound to the right side of his chest, according to the Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Harris, who remains a fugitive, allegedly shot and killed Adams in the living room of 1702 Union St., described by Bangor police as a drug house. Krueger was dating Harris at the time, according to the affidavit filed in her case.
Krueger allegedly drove Harris to New York and stayed with him for two weeks after the shooting before returning to Bangor. Her car was spotted in New York City nine days after the shooting, the affidavit said.
She returned to Maine and was interviewed by police on Jan. 5, according to the affidavit. Police suspected she was moving to Florida to live with Harris. A warrant was issued for Krueger's arrest two weeks later.
The next month, she was arrested in Georgia as she and Harris were returning to the Northeast following a visit to her family in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, her attorney, Harris Mattson of Bangor, said Tuesday at a hearing on a motion to reduce her bail.
Krueger was returned quietly to Maine in March and has been jailed since then, according to court documents. She phoned Harris from the Bangor jail, a violation of her bail, according to Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue, who is prosecuting the case.
Mattson questioned Tuesday how Krueger could hinder the apprehension of a man for whom police had not issued an arrest warrant. The attorney said that Krueger had not been indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury and that he would seek to dismiss the charges.
Sgt. Wade Betters, spokesperson for the Bangor police, said Tuesday that investigators in January "simply did not have enough information to satisfy the requirements for an arrest warrant [for Harris] at that time in the investigation."
The inquiry into Adam's slaying began when Bangor police were called to the Union Street house for the report of a possible death at about 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 10, according to court documents. When they arrived, officers found Adams dead with a gunshot wound in the right side of his chest but did not find a gun or any other people in the home.
The house is owned by Brenda Shaboski, 65. She was charged in April with maintaining a drug-involved premises and distribution of fentanyl. Shaboski agreed to be held without bail while her case is resolved in U.S. District Court in Bangor.
On the night of the shooting, at least four men whom Shaboski described as "gang members" and several other women were at her house. She allegedly told police that a fight broke out in the living room. Shaboski fled to her bedroom with another man, then managed to escape the house.
A female witness to the fight told police that she overheard Adams — the homicide victim — and Harris talking about how Adams made more money selling drugs, the affidavit said. The fight continued to the other side of the house and she said that she heard a gunshot. The woman left with the three other men in a car that had been waiting for Adams. She and the men allegedly saw Harris walking toward Bangor International Airport but did not stop to pick him up.
Krueger told police that she picked up Harris that night, the affidavit said. He told her Adams had been shot but he did not tell her who pulled the trigger. Harris told her he'd dropped the gun in a snowbank and sent her to look for it in the dark, but she did not find it.
Police recovered a 9 mm handgun on Dec. 17 in a bush between the house where the shooting took place and the Penobscot Job Corps Center campus at 1375 Union St. It was linked to one of the other men who allegedly was in the house when Adams was shot.
Information about whether it was determined to be the murder weapon was not included in the affidavit.
If convicted, Krueger faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. Harris would face between 25 years and life if convicted of murder.
Superior Court Justice William Anderson did not rule Tuesday on Krueger's request to reduce her bail.
