Former engineer at Elon Musk's SpaceX company Samuel Whittemore, 34, 'murders' wife in driveway of his parents' home

Samuel Whittemore, 34, went on the run, but he did not get far before a state trooper collared him, and is now behind bars charged with murder. He is accused of killing his yoga instructor wife, Margaux Whittemore, 32, who was found lying dead and naked on her mother-in-law's driveway.

His own mother Dorothy Whittemore, 67, was also found injured inside. Whittemore is accused of killing his wife and also nearly killing his own mother.

The full extent of what transpired at the house on Giles Road in Readfield before police arrived on Monday (17 February) to respond to the 10.02am 911 call is still a mystery. The couple appeared to be living on his 50ft yacht, the Havili, before they moved to nearby Belfast, Maine, last month.

Margaux's death was quickly ruled a homicide after an autopsy on Thursday, but how she was killed is so far only know to investigators. Dorothy was rushed to Central Maine Medical Center in a critical condition, but has since improved and is listed as stable. Her injuries were not revealed.

Her husband, Whittemore's father, was not home at the time but arrived home soon afterwards to the shocking scene. Whittemore and Margaux married by a lake in Acadia National Park last September.

They met in 2021, the same year he quit SpaceX where he worked as a senior avionics systems engineer. He was at Elon Musk's rocket company from 2015, with a break from November 2018 to July 2020 where he also took off sailing the world.