As Scott Libby’s friends and family struggled to come to grips with his sudden death this week, a long-time acquaintance was arrested and charged with the murder of the popular, 25-year-old Raymond man.

Agostino Samson, 23, most recently of Bethel and Windham, was arrested just after noon on Tuesday at his grandparents’ house in Windham, said Lt. Brian McDonough of the Maine State Police. He is now at Oxford County Jail, and was scheduled to make his initial appearance Thursday in Oxford County Superior Court, he said.

“It just makes me sick, probably everybody else too. It’s senseless,” said Karen Harter, who worked alongside Libby at the Lakes Region Farmers’ Market in Windham. Libby did not seem the type to be reckless, or to take his own life, so the news that he may have been murdered was not a surprise, she said.

“I thought, there’s no way this kid did this on his own. There was always something in my head saying, ‘There’s something else here,'” said Harter.

Investigators believe Samson, who had known Libby for seven years and worked for Libby in his landscaping business, killed Libby during a fight, placed his body in Libby’s car and moved the car to the railroad tracks off Route 2, where the car was hit by a train at around 2:35 a.m. Feb. 20.

After the initial investigation showed Libby’s injuries to be inconsistent with a collision with a train moving 25-30 mph, investigators looked into why Libby was in Bethel, and found that he had met with Samson, he said. The state Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death to be multiple traumatic injuries to the head, and the manner to be homicide, McDonough said.

Samson had been staying at the Bethel Hostel, where police executed a search warrant on his room the weekend after Libby was found dead.

Wyling Cambrium, manager at the Bethel Hostel, said last week that a guest told him he had a confrontation with Libby in the hours before Libby’s car was hit on the train tracks.

According to Cambrium, the guest said Libby had met with him to collect a loan and return collateral for the loan. Cambrium said Libby had employed the man during the summer. A disagreement followed, and the guest said he punched Libby a couple of times in the head.

McDonough would not speak to the motive behind the alleged murder, and would not comment on Cambrium’s story.

Libby was such a kind and easy-going soul that it is hard to believe he would get in a fight, that he wouldn’t be able to diffuse the situation just through the force of his affable personaliy, said Harter.

Harter, of West Baldwin, also runs a landscaping and greenhouse business, and she bonded with Libby over their mutual interests. He made her feel comfortable when she first joined the Farmers’ Market, and she made sure to always get her annuals from Libby.

“Any time he got something new, he’d scamper over and say, ‘Come look at this,'” she said. “I didn’t realize he was so young. He was so professional, but so fun. We are all wondering how we are going to replace that energy.”

Dr. Rodney Voisine of Cape Elizabeth recognized instantly that same fervor when he met Libby four years ago while trying to find a landscaper.

“Scott was the most innovative and energetic of them,” said Voisine. Libby regularly worked 18-hour days during the busy summer months, but it hardly seemed like work to those who watched him, he said. “You never had a bad day with Scott.”

Libby had an uncanny ability to find the right flowers, in just the right colors, for the coming season, Voisine said. He was set to meet with Libby last week to discuss a group of 1,500 plants they were to transplant to Voisine’s property in order to get them ready to sell at the Portland Farmers’ Market this summer. The spring planting season, he said, will feel hollow this year without Libby around to supply his singular cheery attitude.

The same empty feeling will no doubt fall on other people in Libby’s large circle of friends. It will just not be the same for a long time to come, said Harter.

“I will never look at an annual again without thinking of him,” she said. “It’s going to be a tough year.”

As Scott Libby’s friends and family struggled to come to grips with his sudden death this week, a long-time acquaintance was arrested and charged with the murder of the popular, 25-year-old Raymond man.

Agostino Samson, 23, most recently of Bethel and Windham, was arrested just after noon on Tuesday at his grandparents’ house in Windham, said Lt. Brian McDonough of the Maine State Police. He is now at Oxford County Jail, and was scheduled to make his initial appearance Thursday in Oxford County Superior Court, he said.

“It just makes me sick, probably everybody else too. It’s senseless,” said Karen Harter, who worked alongside Libby at the Lakes Region Farmers’ Market in Windham. Libby did not seem the type to be reckless, or to take his own life, so the news that he may have been murdered was not a surprise, she said.

“I thought, there’s no way this kid did this on his own. There was always something in my head saying, ‘There’s something else here,'” said Harter.

Investigators believe Samson, who had known Libby for seven years and worked for Libby in his landscaping business, killed Libby during a fight, placed his body in Libby’s car and moved the car to the railroad tracks off Route 2, where the car was hit by a train at around 2:35 a.m. Feb. 20.

After the initial investigation showed Libby’s injuries to be inconsistent with a collision with a train moving 25-30 mph, investigators looked into why Libby was in Bethel, and found that he had met with Samson, he said. The state Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death to be multiple traumatic injuries to the head, and the manner to be homicide, McDonough said.

Samson had been staying at the Bethel Hostel, where police executed a search warrant on his room the weekend after Libby was found dead.

Wyling Cambrium, manager at the Bethel Hostel, said last week that a guest told him he had a confrontation with Libby in the hours before Libby’s car was hit on the train tracks.

According to Cambrium, the guest said Libby had met with him to collect a loan and return collateral for the loan. Cambrium said Libby had employed the man during the summer. A disagreement followed, and the guest said he punched Libby a couple of times in the head.

McDonough would not speak to the motive behind the alleged murder, and would not comment on Cambrium’s story.

Libby was such a kind and easy-going soul that it is hard to believe he would get in a fight, that he wouldn’t be able to diffuse the situation just through the force of his affable personaliy, said Harter.

Harter, of West Baldwin, also runs a landscaping and greenhouse business, and she bonded with Libby over their mutual interests. He made her feel comfortable when she first joined the Farmers’ Market, and she made sure to always get her annuals from Libby.

“Any time he got something new, he’d scamper over and say, ‘Come look at this,'” she said. “I didn’t realize he was so young. He was so professional, but so fun. We are all wondering how we are going to replace that energy.”

Dr. Rodney Voisine of Cape Elizabeth recognized instantly that same fervor when he met Libby four years ago while trying to find a landscaper.

“Scott was the most innovative and energetic of them,” said Voisine. Libby regularly worked 18-hour days during the busy summer months, but it hardly seemed like work to those who watched him, he said. “You never had a bad day with Scott.”

Libby had an uncanny ability to find the right flowers, in just the right colors, for the coming season, Voisine said. He was set to meet with Libby last week to discuss a group of 1,500 plants they were to transplant to Voisine’s property in order to get them ready to sell at the Portland Farmers’ Market this summer. The spring planting season, he said, will feel hollow this year without Libby around to supply his singular cheery attitude.

The same empty feeling will no doubt fall on other people in Libby’s large circle of friends. It will just not be the same for a long time to come, said Harter.

“I will never look at an annual again without thinking of him,” she said. “It’s going to be a tough year.”