Court documents detail brutal Brunswick killing, man held without bail

Tanner Dostie was held without bail after a judge heard allegations that he killed his 61-year-old neighbor, Dennis Blasens, then tried to hide the evidence in a backyard fire pit behind his Brunswick home on Randall Circle.

Court papers say the 45-year-old Dostie was charged with intentional or knowing murder after his first court appearance Monday, April 13, 2026. Investigators allege he told police he attacked Blasens with a baseball bat, stabbed him, dismembered the body with a chainsaw and burned remains outside. In the fire pit, police reported finding bones, chainsaw parts and what appeared to be a melted baseball bat.

The case moved quickly after Bath police were called around 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 10, to a disturbance at a church Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Officers then followed statements from Dostie to the Brunswick property, where they found a dead man. The Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit South took over the investigation with help from Bath police, Brunswick police, the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

Dostie was transported to the Cumberland County Jail after the charge was filed. The murder case now heads into the next stage of the court process as investigators continue working to piece together what happened in the wooded cul-de-sac near the Durham town line.

Neighbors on Randall Circle said Dostie had long worried people in the neighborhood. Local residents described him as acting strangely and making inappropriate comments toward women and girls, and one neighbor said Dostie and Blasens could be friendly one moment and enemies the next. The yard, where trees had recently been cut, became a focal point as police and fire investigators searched for evidence.

No public motive has been confirmed. For Brunswick, the killing has shaken a quiet stretch of road and put a harsh light on how quickly a neighborhood dispute can turn into a homicide case now being handled through the courts, with the state’s major crimes investigators still building the record that will shape what comes next.