On a crisp autumn day in Anson, Maine, the life of 60-year-old Everett Leroy Cameron came to a violent end. It was Halloween, October 31, 2009, when the male victim was found deceased in his pickup truck on a quiet woods road near his home. An investigation by the Maine State Police swiftly classified his death as a homicide, the result of a fatal gunshot wound.
There were no initial witnesses to the shooting, leaving investigators the task of reconstructing the final hours of Cameron's life.
The inquiry into his death revealed that Cameron, who had been battling non-Hodgkin lymphoma, had been selling his prescription painkillers to supplement his disability income. This detail became a crucial element in understanding the motive behind his murder. Detectives learned that Cameron had arranged to meet with Robert Lee Nelson, a 41-year-old acquaintance, on the day he was killed. The purpose of their meeting was reportedly a drug transaction involving oxycodone pills.
The investigation culminated in the arrest of Robert Lee Nelson, who was subsequently charged with the murder of Everett Cameron. During the trial, prosecutors argued that Nelson's motive was a mere $35 drug debt he owed to Cameron. Despite the lack of a murder weapon, DNA evidence, or a direct confession, the state built its case on circumstantial evidence. Key testimony revealed that Cameron's last phone call was to Nelson, and both Cameron's son and fianc e stated he was going to meet Nelson on that fatal afternoon.
In December 2012, a judge found Robert Lee Nelson guilty of murder. The court concluded that Nelson had both the means and the motive to kill Cameron and that the state had proven his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge characterized the killing as "clearly a homicide that was drug-related." Nelson was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the crime, bringing a close to a case that shed light on the devastating consequences of prescription drug abuse in the community.
