Police have arrested a Leeds man and charged him with murder after investigating a Windham man’s disappearance for more than 10 months.

Joseph Chute, 30, was arrested Friday without incident and taken to the Androscoggin County Jail, Maine State Police said Saturday.

Chute is being held without bail and is scheduled to make an initial appearance in Androscoggin County Superior Court on Monday.

The development comes on the heels of a nearly yearlong search for 34-year-old Alex Jackson, whose family reported him missing on May 12, 2023. Police say they still haven’t located Jackson or recovered his body.

Jackson was considered missing until now, a spokesperson for Maine State Police said Saturday. Their investigation involved several law enforcement agencies, including Windham police, Lewiston police, the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office and New Hampshire State Police.

Jackson was last seen near the Turner area. His mother, Patricia Jackson, told the Portland Press Herald last spring that he regularly traveled back roads in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, hauling items for farmers with his flatbed trailer.

Police said they believed he was about to travel to upstate Vermont with his dog, Hazel, who was found three days later in North Yarmouth. There was no sign of Jackson or his truck.

Patricia Jackson said it was unusual not to hear from her son. He usually checked in on her and his girlfriend several times a day, she said last spring.

He had been living with his mother in Windham for several years but had bought property at the time he went missing and was planning to build his own home.