Murder of Douglas J. Parent

Background Douglas J. Parent, born in Waterville, Maine, March 24, 1919, After graduating High School, he worked for the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as the A&P. Drafted into the US Army in 1936, Parent said it was the best time of his life. "The major turning point in my life," Parent recalled, "was being drafted into the United States Army. If it hadn’t been for Pearl Harbor in 1941, I never would have been outside the State of Maine. I still would have been a hick from the sticks." In 1967, Parent purchased Ludwig's Newsstand in Waldoboro, Maine from Margie and Bill Freeman. He opened the Waldoboro Newsstand on May 1, 1967. Along with selling local, regional and national news publications, confectioneries and packaged beverages, the newsstand was a collection station for Central Maine Power, the area telephone company and the water utilities for local residents to pay their bills.

Petrovitz interview In April 1977, University of Maine student Richard Petrovitz interviewed Parent for COM 101 - Speaker / Audience communication coursework; documenting oral histories of Maine. In the interview, Parent expressed interest in writing a book about his time running a newsstand in a small town after he retired: "Let me tell you, it would be on the best-selling list. Ooh, there are a lot of things that I would like to tell about; but we don’t repeat everything."

Petrovitz asked Parent if there had been any recent crimes committed in the Waldoboro area; specifically murders. "What do you think about any of the crime around here? Were there any bad crimes that you can ever remember?" Petrovitz asked. "No," Parent replied, "There’s never been a major crime committed since I’ve been here." "No murders?" asked Petrovitz. Parent answered, "No, no. No murders. No murders in the town of Waldoboro." Tate called up to Parent in his apartment above the newsstand throughout the morning, but received no answer. Around 10:30AM, a frequent customer and local fisherman, Sidney Geyer, came into the store and asked for Parent. Attempting to locate him, Geyer found Parent dead in the apartment on his bedroom floor.

When the autopsy report came back, the findings revealed Parent died of a fractured larynx.

Shortly after the Maine State Police Unsolved Homicide Unit was formed in 2015, Parent's name was added to its unsolved homicide list; classifying his death a murder. According to the Dark Downeast Podcast, a new detail emerged along with this classification. Parent was last seen alive on 10.2.83 at approximately 8:45PM in his apartment. He presumably told a witness that he was going to meet a person at 9:00PM about money that was owed him.

Parent was found dead the next morning on Monday, October 3, 1983. He had just 10 weeks left before his planned retirement on January 1, 1984. Parent's main street apartment was found to be in a disrupted state. However, this could not confirm a struggle had occurred due to the fact that Parent was "chaotic in his personal habits."

Parent left the newsstand to Jackie Tate in his will.

Legacy Dark Down East. Low, Kylie. New England True Crime Podcast. Kylie Media Production.