Cheryl Methot, the mother of Jonathon Methot, who was shot early Monday morning in Biddeford, holds a phone with a photo of her son Friday. She said her son had struggled with prescription opiate addiction, but was working to get his life back on track, and “was doing really good.” Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
BIDDEFORD — Police charged a New York City man with murder Friday in the shooting death of a 30-year-old Biddeford father next door to his West Cutts Street apartment on Monday.
Timothy Ortiz, 20, of Brooklyn was charged with killing Jonathan Methot of 68 West Cutts St. Ortiz is expected to make his first appearance in Alfred Superior Court on Monday. His attorney, Jon Gale, declined to comment.
While police have not released information about the circumstances of the shooting, Cheryl Methot said she last saw her son alive Sunday night, when he had two friends over to watch a football game.
Around 1 a.m. Monday, one of those friends burst into her bedroom screaming that Jonathan had been shot inside the apartment next door at 70 West Cutts St. One of his friends dragged Methot’s body onto a shared wooden porch outside.
“The last thing I’d think I’d see is my son lying on the porch, dead,” she said. “I’ve never seen so much blood.”
Cheryl Methot identified the residents of 70 West Cutts St. as Peter and Becky Quimby. No one was at home at the unit Friday, as police had still sealed the door with evidence tape, but a blood-soaked towel and bloodied carpet sat undisturbed on the front porch.
Contact information was not available for Peter or Becky Quimby, and they could not be located for an interview.
Cheryl Methot said there was heavy foot traffic in and out of the apartment at all hours of the day and night, and that Ortiz was among the visitors.
“He’d be there for a few weeks and then he’d be gone,” Methot said of the Brooklyn man.
Murders are relatively rare in Biddeford, a city of 21,355. There were no killings in 2015, two in 2014, one in 2013, and five total between 2002 and 2012.
According to Biddeford police, Peter Quimby was arrested in March at an unidentified West Cutts Street address and charged with aggravated drug trafficking, but there is no sign that the drug case against him moved forward, and the criminal record for someone whose name and age match Quimby’s gives no indication of the March 2016 allegations.
The owner of the duplex, Long Hang, according to city assessing records, could not be located for comment.
Ortiz, who has no prior criminal record in Maine, has been held since Monday at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland after he was found by Portland Police to be in violation of the terms of his probation related to a sex trafficking and drug charge from New York City.
After he appeared in court Friday on the probation violation, he was charged with murder in the Biddeford case.
Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine State Police, would not give details of the investigation, say whether police had responded to previous calls for service at that address, or discuss whether drugs were involved.
Methot, who was the father an 8-year-old boy, attended Biddeford High School and later earned his GED before spending several years assembling pallets at IFCO in Scarborough.
He had a criminal history in Maine dating to 2005. Most of the charges were misdemeanors, including a charge for operating under the influence, but he also was convicted of felony drug trafficking and furnishing scheduled drugs, state records show.
Methot’s mother said her son had struggled with prescription opiate addiction in the past, but that he was working to get his life back on track, and was attending drug counseling sessions regularly.
“He was doing really good,” Cheryl Methot said. “He was going to his group.”
Jonathan Methot shared custody of his son with the boy’s mother, who looked after him on weekends, Cheryl Methot said. Although the couple had split about three years ago, Cheryl Methot said they worked together to care for their child without having gone to court over custody rights.
Methot had moved back in with his mother in January, and she helped care for his son.
Cheryl Methot said her son was a dedicated father who loved to play baseball or basketball with his son, or take their dog, Louie, for walks.
“His son was his world,” she said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story