LEWISTON — The boy was 16, small for his age, and crying, shaking and begging not to be taken back to the Elan School. It was 1979. The boy was sitting in the front seat of Lt. Max Ashburn’s ...

LEWISTON — For nearly 40 years, Max Ashburn kept a secret: When he was school liaison officer for the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department, he helped a boy escape from the Elan School.