Roommate ordered held in fatal stabbing

A man was ordered held without bail yesterday in the fatal stabbing of his roommate in their Jamaica Plain home Sunday night, authorities said. Kim John Gaines, 52, was arrested at the scene when police arrived at 6:53 p.m. and was initially charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney. The victim, whose name was withheld pending notification of kin, was described as an Asian male between the ages of 25 and 40. The charges against Gaines were upgraded to murder after the victim died at Brigham and Women's Hospital at 8:05 p.m. Sunday. Gaines pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in West Roxbury District Court and was scheduled to return to court on June 24.

The Coast Guard ended its search off the New Hampshire coast last night for a 46-year-old lobsterman from Maine. The Coast Guard had searched into the night for Christopher Tobey of Kittery, who was reported missing yesterday morning. Searchers covered about 270 square miles by sea and air. Tobey's 16-year-old son and another crew member were rescued by a private vessel from Duck Island yesterday afternoon. Officials said the three started swimming together after their 40-foot boat Save-A-Buck capsized Sunday night. The teenager was helping his father swim, but at some point, Tobey went under. The two survivors swam to Duck Island and built a fire before they were rescued. (AP)

Police are investigating the kidnapping and assault of a teenage girl early Sunday morning. The girl was awakened in her bed when the suspect covered her mouth with his hand, the police report states. The suspect told the girl he had a knife and threatened her and her family if she refused to cooperate with his demands. She was taken from the residence and assaulted nearby, according to police. The teenager reportedly talked the suspect into letting her go, and she alerted her parents and was treated for her injuries. Police described the suspect as about 5-foot-6 and in his late 20s or 30s.

A judge says jury deliberations will begin today in the case of a former altar boy suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington in a clergy sexual abuse case. The eight-man, four-woman jury heard closing arguments yesterday capping the case of a 40-year-old Lakewood, Colo., man who says a parish priest groped him in the 1970s and that the diocese bears responsibility because it knew of similar allegations against the priest before he was hired. The Associated Press and Boston Globe do not identify alleged victims of sexual abuse without their consent. (AP)

Three Massachusetts residents were sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to stealing $140,000 worth of merchandise from a Vermont jewelry store. Nicholas Blagojevic, 27; Wesley Rose, 26; and Allison Martino, 21, were sentenced Friday in Brattleboro by Judge J. Garvan Murtha to no more than seven years and eight months in federal prison. Blagojevic and Rose, who have prior criminal histories, must also pay restitution to Dana Jewelry in St. Johnsbury, Vt. In January 2007, the three tied up the jewelry store's female employee before robbing the store.

Three more jurors - two men and a woman - have been selected in the insanity trial of Sheila LaBarre, putting the total number of jurors at 18. LaBarre's trial is to resume today with a view of the Epping farm where she admitted killing 24-year-old Kenneth Countie, formerly of Wilmington, Mass., in March 2006, and Michael Deloge, whose parents had not heard from him since 2004. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Opening arguments will be heard after the view. (AP)

A 21-year-old Massachusetts man died after he lost control of his dirt bike and plunged into a Derry pond. Jonathan Garcia of Lawrence was pronounced dead yesterday at Massachusetts General Hospital, a spokeswoman said. Police said Garcia was riding east Sunday on an abandoned rail bed when he lost control of the bike and hit a tree. (AP)