Year-old drowning unsolved PORTLAND (AP) - A year after his body was found floating in the Saco River, the death of Thomas F. Napier remains a mystery. Friends and family members say the 22-year-old Lyman man was murdered, possibly by someone who had gotten into a fight with him or because of his past involvement with drugs. Others suggest he fell into the water accidentally. Maine State Police termed the death suspicious, but stopped short of calling it a homicide. A worker at the Maine Energy incinerator in Biddeford spotted Napier's body floating face down in the river on Feb. 20, 1994, 1 more than three months after he vanished. The state Medical Examiner's Office concluded that Napier died of asphyxia by drowning. "Why he wound up in the river is part of the investigation," said state police Lt. Michael P. Harriman. Napier had been in trouble in the past, after he began taking drugs, family members said. He served three months in jail for a market burglary in Bingham, but friends and family say he cleaned up his act when he got out. Napier was last seen alive Oct. 29, 1993, a Halloween weekend night. He left work at Cyro Industries in Sanford, stopped at his grandparents' home in Lyman and went partying in Biddeford and Saco. The next Monday, his car was found abandoned on Bradley Street in Saco. The windows had been rolled down and his stereo speakers were missing. Napier's stepparents believe they were stolen by his killer, or by someone who knows how he wound up in the Saco River. Two days later, Napier was officially declared missing by the state police. State police divers searched the river in Biddeford and Saco but turned up nothing. Over the past year, after Napier's body was found, the victim's friends and family have grown frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of interest on the part of investigators. "I'll tell you this is a sick state when the police don't want to do anything about it," said Mike Baker, Napier's grandfather Police dispute the family's criticisms, saying they continue to follow up leads in the case.
