A Fallen Star: The Murder of Ebenezer Parker and Execution of Joseph Drew

In 1808, when the United States was in its infancy, and before Maine became a state, the murder of Cumberland County Deputy Sheriff Ebenezer Parker saw two men jailed and tried for the capital offense. In the end, one man was acquitted, one was convicted, and an execution took place.

Widespread apathy for the victim - amid rising sympathies for the condemned - had spawned the birth of a mystery, and a mythical legend, which has endured for over two centuries until a Historian’s Inquiry sought to solve an “ultimate cold case.”

This is the story of two men – forever linked in history – and a modern-day examination to solve a complex and tangled mystery to uncover the enigmatic life of Deputy Ebenezer Parker, explain the surprising effort to spare the life of Blacksmith Joseph Drew, and answer a basic question: Where is Cumberland County Sheriff’s Deputy Ebenezer Parker buried?