Brunswick man pleads not guilty in neighbor’s murder case

Tanner Dostie’s not-guilty plea on May 28 moved the Brunswick homicide case out of the arrest-and-investigation stage and into the courtroom, where Cumberland County prosecutors now have to prove that the 45-year-old intentionally or knowingly murdered his neighbor, Dennis Blasens, 61.

The plea came in Portland, and it set up the next round of pretrial work in Cumberland County Superior Court. Dostie’s defense also asked for a Harnish bail hearing, the Maine process used when the state seeks to keep a defendant jailed before trial in a murder case. Dostie had been held without bail and was transported to Cumberland County Jail after his arrest.

The case began the evening of April 10, when Bath police responded at about 6:30 p.m. to a reported disturbance. Officers spoke with Dostie at the scene, and investigators say he made statements that led to a search of a Brunswick home on Randall Circle. Police found Blasens’ body there. Court-reporting coverage says prosecutors allege Blasens was stabbed, dismembered with a chainsaw and burned in a backyard firepit behind Dostie’s home.

A not-guilty plea does not settle the facts. It means the state still has to present evidence that meets the murder charge, while the defense can challenge the accusations, the police work and any conclusions drawn from the scene on Randall Circle. The Maine State Police said the case remains active and ongoing, and the investigation includes the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit South, Bath police, Brunswick police, the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

For Brunswick, the case has cut through a quiet neighborhood near the Durham town line where the two men had lived across the street from each other for about a decade. Blasens was remembered by family and friends as a dedicated family man and a talented mechanic who often helped others. He served in the U.S. Navy for 25 years, including time at Brunswick Naval Air Station, and military honors were held May 19 at Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Augusta.

The next steps will now play out in court: bail arguments, motion practice and eventual trial preparation. For Blasens’ family and for neighbors still absorbing the violence of the April 10 killing, the plea keeps the case moving, but it leaves the central question unanswered and places the burden squarely on prosecutors to prove what happened.