He showed up on their doorstep wearing worn out jeans and a ratty t-shirt.

It was clear he hadn't washed in days.

The boy, no older than 16, had bruises along his arms and was visibly nervous, shaking, obviously

scared of something or someone.

Not knowing what to do, but determined to help, the family called the one man they thought might have an answer.

Lieutenant Max Ashburn, Officer Smiley, as he'd come to be known around Lewiston, Maine in the late 70s.

So as the two sat together in his police cruiser, Lieutenant Ashburn tried calming the small

crying teen. He gained the boy's trust and finally he spoke up.

The boy was a runaway and he'd run for his life from a place that had become all too well known to Lieutenant Ashburn,

a place the boy had been staying for several months and vowed he wouldn't return if it was the last thing he did.

It's been 10 years this month since that place closed its doors for good.

Only 10 years. I'm Kylie Lowe and together with researcher and writer Olivia Gunn,

we're examining the origin and dark legacy of this recent and yet often unheard of peace of Maine's history.

This is the story of Elan School on Dark Down East. down east. Lieutenant Ashburn had a decision to make in recalling the event to the Sun Journal nearly 40 years later, he described

the moment he knew what to do. He was crying, and he was begging me not to take him back. He reminded me of me when I'd been a punk kid."

Should he take the runaway back to the place he was so desperately fleeing?

Any other officer bite?

In fact, other officers did.

The boy wasn't the first,

and he would not be the last of the students

to accept the risk that came with attempting to escape

the residential school situated in the Poland-Main woods.

...