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One of the seven buildings on the Poland campus of the defunct Elan School was destroyed by a fire that started early Sunday morning.The private, for-profit boarding school was opened in 1970 by psychiatrist Gerald Davidson and Joe Ricci, the former owner of the Scarborough Downs race track.The Elan School, which closed in 2011, was known as a place for troubled teenagers. The annual fee for parents was $55,000 per child.Former students have come forward over the years to say they were victims of physical and emotional abuse. One former student produced a documentary about the Elan School called “Last Stop.”In 1982, 15-year-old Phil Williams Jr. died when witnesses said he was forced to take part in a boxing match with another student. Maine’s Total Coverage spoke with Williams’ sister, Pam Newell, in 2016 when the Maine State Police opened an investigation into his death.”I thought it was a wonderful place. I thought they were helping my brother. I thought he was coming home,” Newell said. “He came home all right, in a box.”Williams’ death certificate states he died of a brain aneurysm. No charges were ever filed in connection with his death.The Elan School was also mentioned in the murder trial of Michael Skakel, the nephew of Ethel Kennedy. Testimony during Skakels trial in 2002 indicated he confessed to classmates while at Elan, telling them he killed his neighbor Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1975. Skakel was convicted, but the conviction was later overturned.All that remains of the Elan School are empty, boarded-up buildings sitting on 33 acres of land near Upper Range Pond.Poland fire Chief Thomas Printup said he is suspicious of the fire’s origin.”There’s no power in the buildings. At this point, it seems like a questionable occurrence,” Printup said.Printup said the Poland Fire Department would defer to the state fire marshal’s office, which is investigating the cause of the fire.Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.Previous coverage: