A Damariscotta man has been nabbed on a charge of murder in his ex-wife’s death in Waldoboro.
James R. Clark Jr. was arrested at the Red Carpet Inn in South Daytona, Florida, and was charged with killing Levern Kelley, Maine State Police said.
A warrant was issued for the 49-year-old Clark’s arrest on Friday following several days of investigation into Kelley’s death.
Clark fled the area and was located in Florida with assistance from the Maine Information and Analysis Center and Volusia County, Florida, authorities said.
Waldoboro Police had received a 911 call Aug. 9 from a person checking on Kelley, 53, who lived on Genthner Road.
Waldoboro cops and Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies went to the home and found Kelley’s body.
The state medical examiner later ruled her death a homicide.
On a GoFundMe page set up to raise money for Kelley’s “final wishes,” her daughter Amanda Gustafson wrote that someone had called the cops after her mother hadn’t shown up for work.
“There was foul play involved, and my mom was murdered, I’m still in disbelief,” Gustafson wrote. “We all are.”
Gustafson said her mother’s maiden name was Levern Fogg, and that family and friends called her “Bernie.”
“She was kind and loving to everyone she knew, she had the biggest heart,” Gustafson said in a post on the GoFundMe page, titled Justice For Bernie.”
Kelley grew up in Lincolnville and later moved to Camden, graduating from Camden Rockport High School.
She eventually moved to Union, where she lived 20 years, raising her two daughters, Amanda and Jade Gustafson, then relocated to Waldoboro.
Gustafson has an older sister Marion.
“She was a grandmother to my three boys, a sister, a mom and one of the best friends you could have,” Amanda said.
Gustafson worked at Pen Bay Medical Center for over a decade.
Following the arrest and the continuing donations to the GoFundMe campaign, Amanda said, “Thank you everyone for your support. Words cannot express the gratitude I have towards this community for helping my family.”
Court records show that Clark was fined $500 in Lincoln County Court in January and sentenced to a month in jail for being an habitual offender.
During that same court appearance charges against him for targeting Kelley with domestic violence criminal threatening on May 26, 2024 and domestic violence assault on May 28, 2024 were both dismissed.
He was then arrested in February on Main Street in Damariscotta by Deputy Sheriff Joseph Booth for operating after habitual offender revocation based on a prior OUI and violating condition of release.
When Kelley and Clark announced their Boothbay Harbor engagement in October 2, 2021 they said they were planning to get married in October 2022.
They divorced in 2023.
