HOULTON — A young man and a teenager were arrested and charged with murder Friday evening in the death of a 61-year-old local man.

Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said Friday evening that 18-year-old Reginald Dobbins and a 16-year-old, whose name was not being released because of his age, both were taken into custody in connection with Keith Suitter’s death.

Both teens, who are from Houlton, were taken to the Aroostook County Jail. They will make their first court appearances Monday in Aroostook County Superior Court, according to McCausland.

The spokesman said that no other details would be released about the homicide, such as a cause of death or what led investigators to the pair. He said that additional information may be included in court paperwork that will be filed on Monday.

McCausland confirmed Friday that police secured and searched two properties in Houlton in addition to the home at 412 Hillview Ave. where Suitter was found dead on Sunday and the place where his vehicle was found abandoned approximately a half-mile away.

More information was released earlier this week about how the homicide was discovered.

The Houlton Police Department first investigated the case as a motor vehicle accident, Chief Joe McKenna said on Thursday.

McKenna said that two women discovered Suitter’s red Ford F-150 pickup truck stuck in a snowbank about a half mile from the victim’s home and contacted the Houlton Police Department. The women realized that they knew Suitter and went to his home to check on him. One of the women then found him deceased.

The homicide investigation then was turned over to state police.

At the police station Friday, McKenna conducted a brief news conference focused on community safety. He told media representatives before the start of the event that he could not answer questions about the Suitter homicide because the case was not being handled by his department, but said that he wanted to assure people that “there isn’t anything to worry about.”

“We want to reassure everyone that there is not a mad, crazy individual out there looking to cause death,” said McKenna, before adding that residents should always take normal safety precautions such as locking doors and that police are always “out there.”

Suitter, a longtime Houlton resident and military veteran, ran his own painting business and lived alone in the mobile home.

His home was in an isolated location on a dirt road in a heavily wooded area of town. The closest neighbor is approximately a half mile away.