Just one month before a Newport man was charged in connection with his wife’s death, court records show that the couple had filed for divorce but dismissed the proceedings one week later.

In what police are calling a domestic violence homicide, the body of Anielka Allen, 37, was found by Newport Police at a home at 16 North St. on Jan. 9. Police were dispatched to the home Anielka Allen shared with her husband, Frederick Allen Jr., 40, after they received a 911 call at around 10 a.m.

Frederick Allen was arrested and charged with his wife’s death later that day.

Court documents filed at the Newport District Court in December showed that the couple, who had been married since 2000, were experiencing trouble in their marriage.

The couple signed an agreement that was dated Dec. 8, which stated they were unable to make their marriage work. The statement disclosed that the couple planned to split all house bills equally, forgo the payment of child support or alimony, divide ownership of their cars and leave ownership of the house to Frederick. A document filed on Dec. 9 listed Anielka Allen as the plaintiff and Frederick Allen as the defendant in the case.

On Dec. 10, Frederick Allen filed a notice of change of address and listed a location approximately 2 miles from the couple’s home on North Street, which they had lived in since 2012.

Frederick Allen Jr.  Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office via News Center Maine

On the same day, Anielka Allen filed a handwritten request for an expedited trial and a statement retracted her agreement to the couple’s original agreement due to “Frederick Allen Jr. taking the kids while I was at work. I do not know where my kids are and unable to speak or see them.”

But just one week after filing for divorce, Anielka Allen submitted another handwritten statement that dismissed the case. The couple had agreed to attend counseling to “work (the) marriage out,” according to court records.

“The court wishes the parties well toward this objective,” the court magistrate wrote on the dismissal document.

Frederick Allen made his first court appearance Friday afternoon in Bangor where he was arraigned on a murder charge. He is being held at the Penobscot County Jail without bail.

The body of Anielka Allen was taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta where an autopsy was performed Friday. The autopsy report will take several weeks to process, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Newport Police were dispatched to the home one time prior to Anielka Allen’s death, according to Newport Police Chief Leonard Macdaid.

“We had been called to the home before for a dispute,” Macdaid said Friday. “I wouldn’t even call it a domestic call. It was for a disagreement. There was no assault.”

Macdaid noted that the homicide was an “isolated incident,” and that Newport is “safe at this point.”

Newport Police and State Police continued their investigation into the alleged homicide Friday. As of Monday afternoon, the home is still marked with caution tape and the couple’s three cars are parked in the driveway.