March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Former Harrington man slated to be arraigned in murder case

MACHIAS — A former Harrington man arrested last week in Florida on charges of murder and manslaughter in the June 27, 1993, death of his 9-year-old son will be returned to Maine Monday for arraignment on the charges.

A Washington County grand jury indicted Robert J. Ardolino, 42, Aug. 10 on charges of depraved indifference murder and manslaughter in connection with the death of his son, Matthew Ardolino. The indictment, which was sealed by court order until after Ardolino’s arrest, was not released until Tuesday.

Arrested Aug. 11 by the Coco Police Department, Ardolino remains in custody at the Brevard County Jail in Florida. He appeared in the Brevard County Jail Court Friday on fugitive-from-justice charges, at which time he waived extradition, clearing the way for his return to Maine.

Maine State Police Det. Brian Smith said Tuesday that Ardolino is known to have left Maine sometime in January, seven months after his son’s death. He was not wanted by the police at that time.

Smith and Maine State Police Det. Robert Cameron will fly to Florida Friday and return next Monday with Ardolino, Smith said. Ardolino is expected to be arraigned in Bangor or Ellsworth either Monday or Tuesday, Smith said.

While refusing to divulge details specific to the case, Smith explained that “depraved indifference murder” typically involves a death which results from the action of another person in a moment of anger. He agreed the definition would fit a death caused by a person striking another person with a fist or blunt instrument in anger.

Kristin Sweeney, the deputy state medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Matthew’s body, ruled that Matthew’s death resulted from a “blunt force to the abdomen, which ruptured the small bowel and caused peritonitis or an inflammation of the lining of the bowel.”

Speaking about the 14-month-long probe that followed, Smith said it took Maine State Police investigators “a lot of hours and hard work” to put together a case that could be presented to the grand jury by the state Attorney General’s Office.

In an interview shortly after the boy’s death, Ardolino said his son had fallen about 20 feet from a tree at his home in Harrington and then began complaining of a stomachache. Ardolino claimed he asked Matthew if he wanted to go to the doctor, but the boy declined.

He went on to say that he found his son unconscious and not breathing several hours later. His own attempts to revive Matthew through mouth-to-mouth and cardiopulmonary resuscitation before an ambulance arrived were unsuccessful, Ardolino said. The boy was taken by ambulance to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where he was pronounced dead.

Ardolino faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of murder.


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