Police say statements from a 45-year-old man led investigators to a Brunswick residence where they found a dead adult male.
BRUNSWICK, Maine — A murder charge against a Brunswick man sent shock through a neighborhood over the weekend after police said his statements during a Friday disturbance response led officers to a home where they found a dead adult male.
Maine State Police say 45-year-old Tanner Dostie was arrested Friday night and taken to the Cumberland County Jail after officers searching a Brunswick residence found the body. The case quickly drew attention across Midcoast Maine because it began with a disturbance call in nearby Bath, moved into a homicide investigation in Brunswick and, by Monday, had reached Superior Court, where a judge ordered Dostie held without bail. The victim had not been positively identified by authorities at the time, even as court paperwork named the man investigators believe was killed.
The investigation began about 6:30 p.m. Friday, when Bath police responded to what state police described as a disturbance. According to the state police account, Dostie made statements that prompted officers to investigate a home in Brunswick. There, investigators found a deceased adult male. State police later charged Dostie with murder. In court records described by local television reporting, investigators said the man believed to be the victim was 61-year-old Dennis Blasens, a neighbor who had known Dostie for years. By Monday afternoon, Dostie stood before a Cumberland County judge in Portland, speaking only to acknowledge he understood the charge, according to accounts from the hearing.
For people living on Randall Circle, the arrest landed with a mix of fear, disbelief and confusion. Neighbors told WGME they were stunned because they had known Dostie as someone who was often kind and familiar around the area. At the same time, some said they had noticed unusual activity outside his home before the arrest, including tree cutting and clutter in the yard. Video from the scene showed a downed tree across the driveway along with logs and other items outside the house. Residents declined to speak on camera, but they told the station they believed the victim also lived in the neighborhood. That left neighbors not only reacting to the charge itself, but also to the idea that the people at the center of the case may have been known to many on the same street.
As the weekend turned into the first court hearing, the case also raised questions about what exactly happened inside and outside the property. Maine State Police said only that the man found in Brunswick was dead and that an autopsy would be used to confirm identity and determine the cause and manner of death. Court details reported Monday by local outlets offered a more graphic account, saying investigators found blood inside and outside the property and human bones in a fire pit. Those same reports said investigators believed Blasens had gone to Dostie’s home Friday while the two were working on a truck. Officials, however, had not publicly confirmed those details in a formal court filing available to the public after the hearing because the arrest documents were later sealed.
The court proceeding Monday added another layer to the case. Justice Deborah Cashman granted the state’s request to keep Dostie in custody without bail at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland. He did not enter a plea, and no arraignment date had been scheduled by the time local reports were published. The attorney general’s office said the documents laying out the reason for his arrest were sealed Monday afternoon. That means the formal criminal case is moving ahead while some of the most detailed allegations are not currently open for public review. Investigators from the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit South are leading the case with help from Bath police, Brunswick police, the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
The scene in Brunswick remained one of the story’s strongest contrasts: a quiet residential circle, a house crowded by debris in the driveway, and residents trying to square the serious charge with the man they thought they knew. One neighbor told WGME the arrest was hard to believe because Dostie had usually been pleasant. But police accounts and later court reporting pointed to a far darker picture, one that officials are still working to test through autopsy findings, physical evidence and the sealed court record. No defense response was immediately available in the public reports reviewed, and authorities had not released further information about the victim beyond the pending identification process.
The case now stands at an early but serious stage: Dostie remains jailed without bail, the victim’s official identification is still pending, and investigators have said the homicide investigation remains active as they continue collecting evidence and preparing the next court steps.
Author note: Last updated April 14, 2026.