NEWS_ARTICLE.RttP{Man charged with murder in Portland fire}

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PORTLAND — A 27-year-old Portland man is due in court today to face charges that he killed a woman and then set fire to his Cumberland Avenue apartment with her body inside.

Police arrested Chad Gurney in Old Orchard Beach early Tuesday, charging him with murder and arson.

Police had been searching for him since shortly after firefighters received a report of smoke emanating from the apartment building at the corner of Cumberland Avenue and Avon Street at 6:35 p.m.

Firefighters quickly doused the fire in the third-floor apartment at 463 Cumberland Ave., with minor damage to nearby apartments. Inside, police found the body of a woman and determined that she had not been killed in the fire.

"There were some injuries," said Police Chief James Craig. "There was some sort of trauma."

There was no indication the pair were using drugs, Craig said.

The fire apparently was set after the woman was dead, said Capt. Vern Malloch, although he and the chief would not speculate on whether the suspect was trying to cover up a homicide.

At a news conference Tuesday, police would not say how the woman died. An autopsy is being performed by the state medical examiner.

The victim's identity was withheld because her family had not been notified. Police said late Tuesday that they still were not prepared to release any additional details.

Investigators were able to find Gurney after a fortuitous traffic stop early Tuesday morning.

Officer Jason King was in a cruiser at the Portland Fire Department's central station when he spotted a car running the red light at Pearl and Congress streets at about 2 a.m. When King approached the driver, the man said he was talking on his cell phone with Gurney, and he knew that police were searching for Gurney.

Police had issued a bulletin to other police agencies in an attempt to locate Gurney, and had notified his friends that they were looking for him.

King took the phone from the motorist and spoke with Gurney for the next 90 minutes, learning that he was in Old Orchard Beach.

"He was able to establish a rapport and maintain that for a lengthy period of time," Malloch said of King. "Certainly (Gurney) released his location and James was able to keep him calm."

Helped by Old Orchard Beach police and members of the Southern Maine Violent Crimes Task Force, Portland police arrested Gurney without incident at the Crest Motel on East Grand Avenue around 5 a.m.

Gurney had showed up at the motel Monday night, said owner Paul Rousseau.

"He said he needed a couple days off and rented a room," Rousseau said. "We had no issues with him, no problems. He checked in at 7:30 p.m. and sat in the hot tub for a while."

Rousseau said he received a telephone call at 5 a.m. that police were at the hotel. When he arrived 10 minutes later, Gurney was already in custody and police were loading his car onto a flatbed trailer.

Police said Gurney did have access to a gun, but there were no shots fired just before the arrest.

Craig said police investigators continue to work the case.

Police did not characterize the relationship between Gurney and his alleged victim, other than to say she was not a resident of the apartment.

The apartment building is actually two attached structures of eight units each, separated by a fire-resistant wall, said Fire Chief Fred LaMontagne.

Craig credited witnesses and other members of the community for helping police make a swift arrest in the case.

LaMontagne said two firefighters were hurt battling the blaze. One was treated for a leg injury and released; the other was admitted to the hospital with a medical condition that LaMontagne would not describe, other than to say it isn't life-threatening.

Gurney was being held without bail on a suicide watch at Cumberland County Jail pending an initial appearance in Cumberland County Superior Court at 1 p.m. today.