LEWISTON — A man accused of running down and killing a pregnant woman in Lewiston on Tuesday is charged with murder in a warrant from the Maine Attorney General’s Office, police said on Wednesday.

New York police say the suspect, 33-year-old Evaristo Deus of 37 Union St. in Lewiston, was about to leave on a plane to Haiti when he was arrested. The New York Port Authority took Deus into custody Wednesday morning  at JFK airport in New York City after he boarded the plane, according to Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland.

Deus was taken into custody about 10 minutes before the plane was to depart. He was being held in New York on Wednesday night while Maine State Police plan to send two detectives there to bring Deus back to Maine.

An arrest warrant was drawn up Wednesday morning by the Maine Attorney General’s Office charging Deus with the murder of Laudrinha Kubeloso, 32, of 78 College St. in Lewiston. She died Tuesday night after she was struck by a vehicle at Birch and Howe streets in Lewiston.

Deus had been living on Union Street, neighbors said. He had been here for less than a year.

One neighbor said she was shocked to find out that Deus was accused of murder. He was always polite and helpful, said Bobbie Sue Anctil, who lived next door to Deus. She said Deus would often help Anctil fasten her 2-month-old child into the car.

“He was a sweetheart to me,” Anctil said. “He always went out of his way to say ‘hello.'”

Anctil said Deus had started working at Wal-Mart in Auburn, where he stocked shelves.

“He was very happy about starting work,” Anctil said, adding that she was stunned to hear that Deus had been arrested in the death of Kubeloso.

“I was sick to my stomach when I discovered it was him,” Anctil said. “I couldn’t believe it. It’s very heartbreaking.”

Deus’ blue 2001 Suzuki SUV vehicle was found Wednesday morning in Portland, police said. A University of New England security guard found the vehicle about midmorning in the parking lot of the UNE campus on Stevens Avenue.

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