Police say fatal Great Pond fire was a murder-suicide

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and would like to talk with an advocate, call 866-834-4357, TTY 1-800-437-1220. This free, confidential service is available 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in Maine.

A woman whose body was found in the burning rubble of her Great Pond home was killed by her ex-boyfriend, who also was found dead at the scene, according to police.

Marie Robbins, 35, died May 20 at her home on Old Dam Way, but her cause of death has not been determined, Maine State Police said. She was killed by Ryan Devisme, 38, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning and a gunshot wound, they said.

“The investigation indicates that Devisme set the house on fire before sustaining a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” said Shannon Moss, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Police were not planning to release additional information about the investigation, according to Moss.

The bodies of Robbins and Devisme were found when firefighters responded to the blaze at 5 a.m. on May 20. At the time, Robbins was a member of the Aurora Fire Department , which serves the two towns as well as Amherst and neighboring unorganized townships.

Robbins grew up on Mount Desert Island and was a 2007 graduate of MDI High School. She also was a lifelong equestrian who enjoyed barrel racing, in which horseback riders try to get the best time while galloping in tight turns around a course of 55-gallon drums.

Robbins’ two horses were unharmed in the fire and now are living with her parents on MDI, according to family and friends.

In addition to volunteering as a firefighter, Robbins volunteered as a poll watcher during local elections in Great Pond, where her mother grew up and where she was living on property owned by her parents.

Robbins also worked at Lunaform , a company in Sullivan that makes large ornamental concrete pots by hand. She worked there for a decade, serving as operations and color studio manager for the past four years, staffers said.

Robbins’ family and friends declined additional comment.

Attempts to find additional information about Devisme have been unsuccessful.

Francine Stark, executive director of Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, said Tuesday that when women are murdered, it is not unusual for them to die at the hands of their current or former domestic partners.

Maine’s homicide rate is low compared to most other states, but roughly half of the homicides in Maine from 2020 through 2022 were a result of domestic violence, she said.

Most domestic violence victims are women, and in most homicides stemming from those situations, women are killed with guns, according to Stark. Every day in Maine, prevention organizations on average offer help to 500 people who are seeking protection from abusive relationships, but that doesn’t include all domestic abuse victims in the state, she said.

“For every time we hear of a domestic violence homicide, there are literally thousands of people in Maine living in a state of fear,” Stark said.