SKOWHEGAN — Amy Drake had been missing for two months when her body was found nine years ago Tuesday by deer hunters in woods off River Road in Norridgewock.
Drake, the mother of a 2-year-old, had been murdered. No one has ever been charged with her death, and no suspects have been officially named.
Maine State Police Lt. Jeffrey Love said Monday, however, there has been “some activity” in the last six months on the case, which remains open.
Love, the head of the Unsolved Homicide Unit of the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit, said Detective Chris Tremblay, who was the original investigator assigned to the case, remains the primary detective.
“Detective Tremblay has received leads on it within the last six months,” he said. “He’s been involved with it since day one. He always has and will continue to be hopeful that we can bring some closure to the family.”
Drake disappeared without taking her purse or even a change of clothes. Her mother, Norma Drake, reported her daughter missing on Sept. 20, 2006. Her body was found Nov. 24, 2006, in an area of woods and fields about two miles southwest of the Skowhegan line.
On Monday, the Rev. Mark Tanner of the Federated Church in Skowhegan, who officiated at Drake’s funeral, recalled the heartbreak of her family and friends.
“I remember sitting in that living room, talking to her mum and realizing the sadness that came through her entire body when she talked about her daughter and losing her daughter and why would someone do this to her,” he said.
Tanner said some of Drake’s friends from high school made posters and cards in her memory and talked about what she meant to them.
“I remember that basic sadness that was so present there,” he said. “Looking at her mum who wondered what she was going to do and how she was going to be able to move on dealing with this tragedy in her life.”
State police detectives have not shared any of the details of the investigation or of possible suspects in the case. Autopsy results and the manner of Drake’s death have not been released.
In 2009, Maine State Police Lt. Gary Wright said, “As with these open homicides, there is certain information that we have to keep close to the vest.”
“Manner of death is always an issue that we withhold,” said Wright, who in 2009 was with the state police Criminal Investigative Division II in Augusta, the predecessor of today’s Major Crimes Unit. “We feel it’s very important. That kind of information can make or break the case, and what we don’t want to do is put information out there that could take away the possibility of narrowing down our focus on individuals.”
Drake called or visited her mother every day before her disappearance, police said. It was her mother who reported her missing when she hadn’t heard from her for a few days.
Drake also spent time at the home of her boyfriend, Jason Forbus, who lived on South Factory Street in Skowhegan at the time.
Forbus, now 40, was sentenced in September 2006, just before Drake’s disappearance, to a six-month jail term for assaulting her that July.
Drake told police that Forbus had punched her in the head, broken her nose, thrown her to the floor and threatened to kill her.
Forbus pleaded guilty to domestic violence assault, but was given a stay that allowed him to remain free until Oct. 9, so he had not started his sentence when Drake was last seen alive, police said.
Court documents at the time showed that Forbus had contact with Drake after his arrest in violation of his bail conditions.
Drake was born Nov. 22, 1987, in Farmington, the daughter of Charles A. and Norma (Gagne) Drake, according to www.findagrave.com. She was educated in Jay and Skowhegan schools. She was a cheerleader in grammar school and liked fishing, swimming, music and shopping. She loved being with her friends and her cat, Sissy.
She is buried in Pleasant View Cemetery in Livermore Falls.
Family members, including Drake’s mother, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Forbus, who has never been officially named as a suspect in the case, has had a checkered criminal record since his release on the domestic violence charges in 2007. His record over the last two years shows a variety of charges and court appearances.
In July 2014 Forbus was fined $1,100 and sentenced to four years in the Department of Corrections, all but nine months suspended, two years probation and a six-year license suspension for two charges of operating under the influence with priors.
In August 2014, he was sentenced on charges of criminal operating under the influence, operating after suspension, unlawful use of license, unlawful possession of scheduled drugs — clonazepam — and operating beyond license condition or restriction, all related to a May 26, 2014, arrest in Winslow.
Last December he was sentenced on additional charges related to that arrest — OUI and operating while license suspended or revoked and operating vehicle without a license — to five years in jail, all but 90 days suspended, two years of probation, a $2,100 fine, and a seven-year license and registration suspension. The operating under the influence charge was a felony because of two prior offenses, according to court records.
Earlier this month Forbus was sentenced to 10 days in jail for harassment by telephone Aug. 10 in Clinton.
In 2010, Forbus was arrested on felony drug trafficking charges when, police said, Forbus sold two Maine Drug Enforcement Agency officials morphine, once in Waterville and again in Skowhegan. Forbus pleaded guilty to the drug trafficking charge and violating the condition of his release and spent 30 months in jail.
Forbus also has burglary and assault convictions dating back to 1997, when he was sentenced to two years in prison for a string of Solon-area burglaries.
There are 20 to 25 homicides that occur every year in Maine, according to the Maine State Police unsolved homicides website.
While the clearance rate on the cases is more than 90 percent, some remain unsolved. The page lists a 40-year accumulation of victims’ names whose cases remain open with a brief synopsis, including 13 in central Maine beginning in 1971.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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