The Maine State Police (MSP) have arrested a suspect in the murder of William “Nate” Robinson, 34, of Austinville, Virginia, whose body was found inside a trash barrel in the Schmid Preserve in Edgecomb on December 3, 2023.
The Maine Wire previously reported on Dec. 19 that the Maine State Police were investigating a homicide linked to the location of an illicit cannabis operation at 57 Conant Road in Turner—a location previously described in police records obtained by the Wire as being controlled by a “Chinese gang” from New York.
The Maine Wire subsequently reported on Dec. 24 that the victim of the homicide was Robinson.
At the time, a spokesperson for the MSP was unwilling to confirm the Maine Wire’s reporting that the suspect in the alleged murder was Luke A. Krott, 26, also of Austinville.
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta confirmed Robinson died of a gunshot wound, ruling the death a homicide, after he was discovered by a hunter.
According to an MSP press release Tuesday, detectives executed a search warrant on Dec. 12 at 57 Conant Road in Turner.
The MSP said evidence found at the Turner location implicated Krott, who had been staying at his parents home in Edgecomb, less than two miles from where Robinson’s body was found.
Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Krott, who had been staying with his parents in Edgecomb but fled the state.
Krott was located on Jan. 6 aboard a sailboat at a marina in San Diego, California, with the help of the San Diego Police Department’s Fugitive Task Force, FBI, and the U.S. Marshals Service, MSP said. He is currently being held at the San Diego Central Jail on a fugitive from justice charge, pending extradition to Maine to face a murder charge.
Connections to Black Market Cannabis Operation
Krott’s arrest adds another chapter to the ongoing investigation into illegal cannabis operations tied to Chinese criminal organizations in Maine.
Sources have linked Robinson’s murder to the illicit activities at 57 Conant Road, a location identified by law enforcement in 2021 as a hub for organized crime.
The Maine Wire has reported extensively on the individuals and shell companies that operated in and around the facility. You can read that reporting here.
A source familiar with the investigation into Robinson’s death said that Krott, shortly after shooting his alleged friend in the head, went on to describe himself as a hired hitman for “the triad,” though the MSP haven’t disclosed any clear ties between Krott and the Chinese criminal organizations that have proliferated throughout Maine since 2019.
The property, previously controlled by Green Future LLC, has been at the center of multiple law enforcement responses, including incidents involving claims of armed robbery, hostage situations, missing persons, and suspected drug trafficking.
Robinson, who had a lengthy criminal record in Virginia, is believed to have been involved in illicit drug trafficking, as was his alleged killer.
This latest development raises questions about the effectiveness of enforcement against black market cannabis operations in Maine and the role these criminal networks play in escalating violence.
The Maine Wire can confirm that, despite the lengthy and documented role the 57 Conant Road location has played in illicit Chinese cannabis trafficking, Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy has very recently issued a license to a medicinal “caregiver” to grow cannabis legally at the location.
