Suit alleges suspect in senior home killing was protected by a high-ranking employee — his mom

Hours after finding her partner’s blood-soaked body in their senior home apartment on Valentine’s Day, the elderly woman told investigators she thought she knew the culprit: a staff member who administered the couple’s medications.

Yet the worker continued to arrive alone at the woman’s apartment at the upscale Cogir of Potomac for 10 days after the killing, spoon-feeding drugs mixed with applesauce to the 77-year-old Parkinson’s patient as she trembled with fear, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

In the end, the suit contends, it was not senior home officials who stopped the worker from attending to his accuser, but police.

The employee, Maurquise Emillo James, 22, was arrested on Feb. 24 in Rockville on attempted first-degree murder charges after police said he fired at a Maryland State Trooper during a traffic stop in Baltimore. James was then charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of the woman’s partner, well-known Maine attorney Robert Fuller Jr., 87.

Michael Stark, a lawyer for Maurquise James, texted The Banner Thursday that he was “concerned and focused on Maurquise James and his innocence.”

”This is America, and the courthouse doors are open for anyone to file frivolous claims," he wrote. “Mr. James and his family have bigger fish to fry.”

A Cogir spokesperson in a text to The Banner said the company is working closely with authorities on the investigation and that to preserve its integrity and out of respect for those involved could not share details.

The suit lays out an alarming series of alleged events leading to the killing of Fuller, who paid $20,000 per month to reside at Cogir.

A Cogir nurse had emailed supervisors 11 days before the killing, alleging that James had sexually harassed a coworker, mishandled medications and arrived at work intoxicated, the suit claims.

It also alleges the nurse’s complaints reached one of James’ top allies at Cogir— his mother.

Shenise James-Dubose, Cogir’s regional health and wellness director, is James’ mother, the suit alleges.

The suit accuses James-Dubose of using her position to “suppress complaints about her son Defendant James and reprimand employees who, in keeping with their professional and ethical obligations, reported his troubling behaviors.”

James-Dubose filed paperwork Friday in Baltimore County Circuit Court requesting a name change. She asked to drop “James,” noting she shared it with her children, who are now grown.

Several attempts by the Banner to contact James-Dubose were unsuccessful.

Rather than investigate the accusations against James, Cogir officials fired the nurse who sent the email, according to the legal filing, which does not name the nurse.

“The Cogir Defendants’ response was swift and revealing, but not against Defendant James: Nurse Jane Doe was fired. Defendant James was not,” the suit alleges.

The suit, filed by attorneys Michael J. Belsky, Catherine A. Dickinson and Andrew G. Siske of Schlachman, Belsky, Weiner & Davey, P.A., demands $1,125,000 for client Linda Buttrick, who was friends with Fuller for many decades before becoming his romantic partner after their spouses died.

“We are continuing to investigate this matter and urge anyone with relevant information to contact us,” said Belsky.

The senior home’s failure to act on the nurse’s complaint about James or to reassign him after Buttrick accused him of killing her partner led Buttrick to experience “severe psychological torment,” the suit alleges.

Buttrick’s “body shook, her heart raced, and she felt physically ill each time she found herself alone in her apartment with the man she had identified to police as her partner’s suspected killer,” according to the suit.

The suit also alleges that multiple Cogir employees recognized James when they saw security footage released by Montgomery County Police on Feb. 20, due to James’ “unusual gait” and distinctive plaid jacket that he had previously worn to work, yet James continued to work at Cogir and provide medications to Buttrick.

‘Suspicious behavior’

The suit claims James used a paper towel to block a door sensor in a stairwell leading to the couple’s apartment on Jan. 9, and the door remained disabled until after Fuller’s killing, according to the suit.

On Feb. 13, the night before the killing, James administered medication to the couple and returned 20 minutes later to ask Buttrick if the oxycodone he had given her had “kicked in,” the suit contends.

The following morning, Buttrick, who slept in a separate bedroom, was awakened by the screams of a staff member who discovered Fuller’s body.

Buttrick hurried to Fuller’s room and “saw everything—the gunshot wound, the blood soaking his pillows and sheets,” the according to the suit.

Police documents allege that James wore a wig and mask to conceal his identity when he entered the couple’s apartment around 5 a.m. on Valentine’s Day.

Hours later, Buttrick told police that she suspected James had killed Fuller “based on his suspicious behavior and the unusual return visit the night before,” according to the suit. “She had never been comfortable with him,” the filing said. “She had noticed at times that something did not seem right.”

Yet James continued to be assigned to be Buttrick’s medication technician, according to the suit.

On Feb. 23, three days after police released the security video, James acted “erratically” in Buttrick’s apartment, dropping her medications and repeatedly coming in and out of her room, the suit alleges.

Later that evening, James remained at Cogir hours after his shift had ended and “acted evasively” when coworkers questioned his presence, according to the suit.

‘Unnatural Deaths’

The following morning, according to police, James fired at a Maryland State Trooper during a traffic stop in Northeast Baltimore. Later that day, he was arrested in Rockville before a court appearance related to a traffic violation.

Fuller was a prominent attorney in Maine known for his charitable donations in Augusta, the state capital.

He and his wife, Moira, who died in 2023, contributed millions of dollars to numerous causes in and around central Maine, including MaineGeneral Medical Center, Kennebec Valley YMCA, Lithgow Public Library and Kennebec Historical Society, according to the Portland Press Herald.

Fuller also donated generously, including at least a $100,000 gift in 2022 to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

He self-published a crime novel in 2009 titled “Unnatural Deaths.”

Shell casings collected from the Baltimore traffic stop matched those collected from the Potomac facility, Montgomery County Police said.

The suit contends that Cogir employees failed to properly protect Buttrick after Fuller was killed, although senior home staff had sent multiple emails to residents and their families assuring them of safety.

The senior home did not post a security guard at Buttrick’s door until three to five days after the shooting, the suit says.

After a guard was assigned, Buttrick’s son discovered that guard “asleep in his chair with his phone in his hand,” according to the suit.