Two months after a Newport woman was killed in an alleged domestic violence homicide, her husband, Frederick Allen Jr., 40, pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.

Anielka Allen Contributed photo

The cause of her death was determined to be asphyxiation by manual strangulation. Frederick Allen entered his plea on Tuesday.

Details in the death of Anielka Allen, 37, were included in an affidavit filed in court.

Shortly after 10 a.m. on Jan. 9, Officer Jesse Gee of the Newport Police Department was dispatched to the Allens’ home at 16 North St. in Newport to investigate a report of an unresponsive female believed to be dead.

The call was made by Richter Clavey, Frederick Allen’s brother-in-law, after he was told to go to the home by his wife, Kathleen Clavey, Frederick Allen’s sister, who said her brother had gone “off the deep end.”

Frederick Allen, who was injured during his service in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and “blackouts,” according to the affidavit. Before his arrest, he was receiving counseling from the Togus VA Medical Center in Chelsea and was supposed to be on medication for PTSD.

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

On the morning of Jan. 9, Richter Clavey was met at the door by Frederick Allen who said, “I think I did something bad.” Then he led Richter Clavey to a bathroom in a living space in the garage. There, Richter Clavey saw Anielka Allen laying on her back on the bathroom floor, wearing only a T-shirt and underwear, with noticeable injuries to her face. He later told detectives that Frederick Allen didn’t appear to be injured “at all,” but Anielka Allen was black-and-blue and her eyes were swollen.

Richter Clavey checked Anielka Allen for a pulse, but was unable to find one and began to perform CPR until paramedics arrived and took over. During this time, Frederick Allen only said that he had done something bad, paced and went outside to smoke a cigarette, according to the affidavit.

Paramedic Kevin Brown was the first medic to arrive, coming at 10:01 a.m. and found Richter Clavey doing CPR on an unresponsive Anielka Allen. In an interview with Maine State Police, Brown noted that water appeared to come out of Anielka Allen’s mouth when medics attempted to use a bag valve mask to get air into her lungs. Brown also said that she had bruising to her neck, her body was wet and water was in a bathtub near where her body was found.

Gee arrived at the house after Newport Fire and Rescue and met Frederick Allen in the driveway. Gee asked him who was in the house and what had happened. Frederick Allen told Gee that his wife needed help, that they had a fight and then “lifted his arms in front of him as if to be handcuffed.” Gee asked no further questions, placed Frederick Allen in handcuffs and put him in the back of a police car.

The couple’s 16-year-old daughter was home the morning of Anielka Allen’s death and “saw her father with her mother in a headlock,” according to the affidavit. The daughter thought Frederick Allen was trying to stop Anielka Allen from hurting him but knew something was wrong by the look on her father’s face because “he blacks out when he is pushed to the limit.”

Frederick Allen allegedly told his daughter to leave so she went outside, walked to the park on Grove Street in Newport for about 30 minutes, then went back home to see the police, ambulance and her aunt and uncle, Kathleen Clavey and Richter Clavey, at the house.

Kathleen Clavey, Frederick Allen’s sister, told detectives that the couple, who were married for around 19 years and had three teenage children together, had an abusive relationship and “problems for years.”

Just one month before Anielka Allen’s death, the couple filed for divorce and signed an agreement that stated they were unable to make their marriage work and divided their assets, according to documents filed in Newport District Court.

One week later, Anielka Allen filed a handwritten statement that dismissed the case on the premise that the couple agreed to attend counseling and work their marriage out. However, Frederick Allen had consulted with a lawyer about divorcing Anielka Allen the day before her murder, according to the affidavit.

When asked about any history of domestic violence between the couple, Kathleen Clavey said her brother “never laid a hand on Annie,” and that one time, Anielka Allen had hit Frederick Allen in the face.

A few days before her death, Anielka Allen allegedly broke the glass out of a framed family photo and scratched her face out of a photo of the family with a piece of glass, according to the affidavit.

Anielka Allen’s body was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta where Dr. Lisa Funte performed an autopsy Jan. 10. Funte determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation by manual strangulation and the manner of death as a homicide.

Frederick Allen was arraigned on a murder charge on Jan. 10 and a trial has been set for Feb. 22, 2021. He is being held without bail at the Penobscot County Jail in Bangor. He faces a sentence of 25 years to life if convicted.

During a conference on Feb. 20 between Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue and Frederick Allen’s defense attorney, Jeffrey Toothaker, it was disclosed that the defense had hired an independent provider to conduct a psychological evaluation of Frederick Allen.

The affidavit was filed in court on Tuesday by the case’s primary investigator, Detective Jonah C. O’Roak of the Major Crimes Unit of the Maine State Police.