LEWISTON — Authorities are continuing to search the Rangeley area for a former Turner man who is wanted on a Michigan murder warrant in the strangulation death of his wife.

Harold “Butch” Knight, 66, is suspected of killing his wife, Sara Lee Porter-Knight, 48, at their Fennville, Mich., home, authorities said. Authorities discovered her body Jan. 13 after a phone tip, which is believed to have been made by Harold Knight.

Knight returned to Maine, driving his wife’s Subaru Forester, which he abandoned at a retail store in Farmington on Jan. 16, according to Steve Hetherington, a task force supervisor at the U.S. Marshals Service in Grand Rapids, Mich. The vehicle wasn’t discovered until Jan. 31, according to Hetherington.

The mode of transportation Knight is currently using is unknown, Hetherington said.

“We do not have a good new vehicle description,” he said, adding that Knight may not be in a motor vehicle.

Knight stayed at the Town and Lake Motel in Rangeley from Jan. 15 to Jan. 19, Hetherington said, but his direction of travel from that location was unknown.

“We don’t have any solid leads at this point as far as what direction he was headed or is heading,” Hetherington said. “We don’t have anything to say he left Rangeley, but we don’t have anything to say he’s still there.”

Knight changed his appearance, dying his hair and mustache a dark color, Hetherington said.

Knight was last seen wearing a one-piece camouflage suit and a dark-colored bomber hat. He is 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 265 pounds. He is believed to be armed and dangerous, Hetherington said. Anyone who might have seen him should call 911 and should not approach him.

Until now, Knight has apparently behaved in a “cordial” manner, Hetherington said.

The U.S. Marshals Service in Portland has coordinated its search with Maine State Police and local law enforcement agencies in the Franklin County area, Hetherington said.

A Michigan TV station reported an interview with the owner of the Rangeley motel, where Knight apparently had stayed.

The owner, Joey Morton, told the station that Knight appeared calm and said he was in the area to do some snowmobiling, though he didn’t seem to have one with him. Knight paid cash and used a fake name, according to the news report.

Roxanne Harris, 28, of Lapeer, Mich., is one of Sara Lee Porter-Knight’s three children. She told the Sun Journal last month that Harold Knight had set aside his wife’s money, converting her assets into cash, which he took with him when he fled Michigan in her car. 

Sara Lee Porter-Knight had worked at Central Maine Medical Center as a respiratory therapist for years before returning to Michigan last year.

The couple had been married for 13 years.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com