A 71-year-old Boothbay Harbor man murdered his wife and son before killing himself last week, according to Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland.
Svend Jorgensen, 71, of 236 Lakeside Drive, shot his wife, Carol Jorgensen, 75, of the same address, and his son, Eric Jorgensen, 40, of 46 Montgomery Rd., McCausland said in a press release Monday, July 6. All three died of gunshot wounds to the head.
Svend Jorgensen left a handwritten note with information about his “financial affairs and real estate,” but no explanation for the murders, McCausland said.
There is no indication of previous domestic violence nor any sign of financial issues, medical problems, or substance abuse, McCausland said. The couple’s surviving son was not able to provide any insight into a possible motive.
“There’s nothing we have been able to discern as to what made this man snap and murder his family,” McCausland told the Portland Press Herald.
“The last time anyone had contact with the family was on July 1 and state police say the shootings likely took place that day” or Thursday, July 2, McCausland said in a press release.
A friend asked the Boothbay Harbor Police Department to check on the family Saturday, July 4, leading to the discovery of the elder Jorgensens in their home and their son when police went to his house to notify him.
Carol Jorgensen was found in her bed, Eric Jorgensen in the kitchen of the Montgomery Road home, and Svend Jorgensen in the basement of the Lakeside Drive home with his revolver next to his body, McCausland said.
The Boothbay Harbor Police Department and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office assisted state police with the investigation, McCausland said.
Svend Jorgensen retired from Bath Iron Works in March 2014 after 27 years and seven months with the company, according to the shipbuilder’s April 2014 newsletter. He was reportedly a naval architect.
Carol Jorgensen previously worked at the Portland International Jetport, according to reports.
Eric Jorgensen taught social studies at Catherine McAuley High School in Portland, a Catholic school for girls, according to the school. He was a graduate of the University of Maine at Farmington.
Neighbors have told news outlets Eric Jorgensen moved into the Montgomery Road house this spring. Town records list the owner as his late grandmother, longtime Boothbay Harbor businesswoman Gladys Pratt.
State police detectives will compile the results of their investigation into a report and give it to the Maine Attorney General’s Office for review. The Maine Domestic Violence Homicide Review Panel will also look into the case.
The murders are the first in Lincoln County since another domestic violence shooting almost three years ago in Waldoboro.
Arline H. Lawless, 28, is serving a 35-year sentence at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham for shooting her boyfriend, Norman P. Benner Jr., 34, in the head in July 2012 because she was afraid he was going to leave her for another woman.
