Waterville, Maine. 1991.

When I drove to 7 Reservoir Street in Waterville, Maine, I was struck by how familiar it was. It’s nondescript and small. Only three houses on it before it dead ends—the end being number seven. But it’s not the same house... at least I don’t think it is. A new family lives there now. I wonder if they know the story they’re sitting on.

Parts of Waterville feel like they’re plucked right out of the late 80’s. This is one of those parts, on the outskirts of town. You’ll find once beautiful old buildings in need of repair, remnants of small-town variety stores and agency-liquor grocery shops that, at one point in time, also offered video rentals. Plastic light-up store signs persist that were most likely new in 1988. 7 Reservoir is just past a Dairy Queen, one of the oldest in the country—it’s been there since the 1950’s.

Less than a mile up the road from 7 Reservoir stands “The American Lodge”, a run down motel and extended stay that once included “The USA Lounge”, a dive bar that no longer exists. I am surprised at how close it was, actually. I imagine it was a no-frills bar where the beer was cheap, the dart boards were falling apart and half of the pool balls were missing... but the company was great, and everyone knew each other. It was the local hang. This is also the last place 25-year-old Lorna Eva Labbe Bracket and 46-year-old Maynard Vincent White were seen alive.

A brutal conflagration

It was a chilly night, a week and a half before Thanksgiving: November 17th, 1991. Waterville police responded to a noise complaint, which isn’t typical for a small-town Sunday night in Maine. The complaint said there seemed to be fireworks, or gunshots, mixed with loud voices coming from the house next door.

At 3:17 am, police arrived at 7 Reservoir Street, but the house was quiet. Whatever commotion had caused the neighbors to call seemed to have died down, so they left and headed back to the station.

A little over two hours later, police once again found themselves on Reservoir Street, but this time the same 2 1/2 story home was on fire; an explosion had sent it up in flames almost instantly. After firefighters were able to contain the fire around 6am, two bodies were found—charred beyond recognition—on the first floor.

Steve McCauseland, the spokesperson for Maine’s Department of Public Safety, said “the fire was so intense when firefighters arrived, that the electrical wire had melted off the building, and was arcing.”

Two victims identified

Because of the suspicious nature of the fire, police took it seriously right away. They obtained a search warrant and brought in a team that consisted of six Maine State Detectives, four Fire Marshall’s-Office Investigators, and technicians and electricians from the State Crime Lab. Dogs were also brought in to help pinpoint places of interest as detectives sifted through debris and took samples to test for accelerants and flammables.

The first victim to be identified was Lorna Labbe Brackett, age 25. After a short delay, the second victim was identified as Maynard Vincent White, age 46, who was the owner of the torched home.

Autopsies & investigation

The autopsy revealed the medical examiner determined both victims had died from smoke inhalation, and that there was no sign of violent trauma prior to or contributing to their deaths. Despite the lack of antemortem trauma, the blaze and their deaths certainly weren’t accidental.

The following day, Steve McCauseland confirmed the fatal fires had been deliberately set. Lab analysis of the debris recovered from the site determined that, just like they suspected, an accelerant was present, causing them to officially reclassify the deaths as homicide from arson.

Vincent Maynard White

The Waterville Sentinel reported that Maynard Vincent White, 46 years old, grew up in the Belfast area and graduated from Crosby High School, and was one of ten children. Throughout his life he worked as a general contractor and had 2 children with his wife, who he was divorced from at the time of the fire. In 1971 he had a general contracting business in the Waterville area. Vincent was close to his mother, and was shaken by her death—just three weeks before his own.

One of Vincent’s brothers, Steve, said that he was quiet and shy and that he had a heart of gold. “Vince was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back. If he had five bucks, he’d give you four of it. Vince used to ride around in snow storms with his truck, pulling people out the ditch. That’s the kind of guy he was.” He was a private guy who liked to hunt and fish, and he was over the moon for his granddaughter. Like Lorna, Vincent loved helping people, and always offered up his home if somebody needed a place to stay.

Lorna (Labbe) Brackett

Lorna grew up in Oakland and graduated from Mesalonskee High School. She excelled at field hockey. She was remembered as spunky and energetic. They described her as a hard worker, and said she loved to ride horses and snow ski. But her father said her real passion in life was helping people who were down on their luck. Lorna was forever reaching out to try and help others.

Lorna was was divorced; her two children residing with their father, Terry Brackett, 43 years old, in Randolph, a town 45-minutes away from Waterville.

Kathy said Lorna was “full of life, and a little bit unpredictable... in the best way!” According to Kathy, one night Lorna had a little too much drink and while sitting on her front porch on Main Street, decided that she couldn’t stand the crab apple tree in front of the old People’s Heritage Bank building. It’s blocking the clock on the building! I can’t even see what time it is! So, what did she do? Full of liquid confidence—not that she needed it—she cut the damn tree down (even though it was definitely illegal). That was Lorna.

Lorna’s tree has since grown back.

Drug ring involved?

Steve McCauseland said, “at this time, we have no idea whether drugs had anything to do with the fire or with the deaths. We have not made that connection. But we are interviewing anyone and everyone with connections to the couple.”

Since the fire, according to McCauseland, over 19 people had been arrested for cocaine and marijuana trafficking charges, with more on the horizon. No further information was revealed about Vince’s involvement with the ring, but police theorized that the fire may have been set to silence Vince by people who were involved with the drug trade, fearing that he was cooperating with police and BIDE. Most of the arrests that had been made so far were all in the Waterville area. McCauseland said that no arrests for the murders had been made, but promised that progress had been made.

Investigators worked through the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, conducting 150-200 interviews seeking information and leads from both the drug scene and the bar scene in the area. Vince and Lorna frequented several bars in the area, including the USA Lounge up the street, the last place they were seen alive. Knowing this, investigators hit the bar scene to talk to people who knew them, trying to find anyone who may have information they might not even realize could help connect them with the killer.

The last article I found came from the Bangor Daily News in March of 1993 and it stated that detectives had turned up boxes of evidence, and interviewed more than 400 people in regards to the case... but they still didn’t have answers. The case remained a mystery.

If you’re holding onto any information or think you might know something about the murders of Lorna Brackett and Vincent White, I urge you to submit a tip to the Maine State cold case unit.

Special thanks to Kathy for sharing her personal stories with me for this episode.

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Sources For This Episode

Newspaper articles

Various articles from Bangor Daily News and the Waterville Sentinel, written by Brenda Seekins, Daniel Austin, and MF Chip Gavin, here

Online written sources

'Lorna Brackett and Vincent White' (Maine State Police), 11/18/2017

Photos

Photos of the burnt house, Waterville Sentinel and Bangor Daily News; photos of Lorna from her daughter, Maureen Mosher; photo of Vincent widely circulated (unknown source)

Credits

Created, researched, written, told, and edited by Kristen Seavey

Research, writing, and photo editing by Byron Willis