A Maine man who captured headlines by sawing his neighbor’s garage in half has lost his childhood home to his ex-wife after they divorced following his petty property dispute, it has been revealed. 

Gabriel Brawn, 49, moved out of his longtime family home in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, following his divorce from his wife Tracy, 49, in 2023. 

His social media profiles show he has since moved on with a new girlfriend, Samantha, while Tracy reportedly remains in his childhood home next to the garage – which has not been repaired over six years later. 

Brawn drew international attention during the Covid-19 pandemic when he took a chainsaw to his neighbor’s garage amid a contentious boundary dispute in 2020, severing it clean in half. 

He had returned to the home he grew up in in 2012, and initially had a friendly relationship with his neighbor Steve Ritter, even as they understood they had a vague property boundary.

But when Steve passed away, his wife, Theresa Laythe-Ritter, left the home to her son Blake, and the two men clashed. ‘Blake got the idea in his head that the property line was somewhere else’, Brawn says. 

He told the Bangor Daily News that in 2020, his new neighbor ‘put a stake in the ground and told me that was his property’, sparking a hostile dispute that made headlines around the world.

Brawn said he eventually had enough, and he used a Sawzall hand-held blade to sever Ritter’s garage in half along their property line.

A Maine man who captured headlines by sawing his neighbor’s garage in half has lost his childhood home to his ex-wife after they divorced following his petty property dispute

Gabriel Brawn, 49, captured headlines in 2020 when he ‘had enough’ of his boundary dispute with his neighbor, and he took a saw to his garage and severed it in half 

Brawn moved out of his childhood home following his divorce from wife Tracy (above), who reportedly still lives in the property next to the severed garage 

Brawn said he has no regrets over the stunt six years later, and insisted if he faced the same dispute again, he’d ‘do it every day.’

‘I’m not ashamed of it or embarrassed by it. I think anybody who’d gone through the same situation, if they had the ability, would have done the exact same thing,’ he told the Bangor Daily News.

Neither Brawn nor Ritter currently live in either home that became the subject of international attention, as Brawn’s no-nonsense approach to their boundary dispute sparked debate online. 

Many said at the time that Brawn crossed the line, while others hailed him as a hero after becoming embroiled in a hostile argument that languished in the courts.

Brawn grew up in the home in Dover-Foxcroft, and after moving out in his adulthood he returned to the home with his then-wife Tracy in 2012, and they discovered the property included a 0.23 acre area that covered Ritter’s home. 

When Blake Ritter raised the dispute, Brawn said they argued for some time before he ‘just had enough and couldn’t take it anymore.

‘Legal or not I’m taking that thing down, but I did it with precision, I didn’t do it like a crazy man. I went over and precisely cut it — it’s laser straight,’ he said. 

Brawn said he has no regrets over the stunt six years after capturing headlines by severing his neighbor’s garage in half 

Brawn, seen with his ex-wife Tracy, faced a lawsuit from his neighbor but he now says he paid nothing for cutting their garage in half with ‘no legal repurcussions whatsoever’ 

The move led Ritter to sue Brawn and his wife in Piscataquis County Superior Court in August 2021, demanding roughly $450,000 in punitive damages and a further $35,000 to clear debris and replace the garage.

The lawsuit was dismissed in January 2022 when both sides agreed to a mediation, however court records are unclear over what the terms of the agreement were. 

According to Brawn, he did not have to pay anything for his sawing-stunt, and faced ‘no legal repercussions whatsoever.’

The Daily Mail has contacted Brawn, his ex-wife and Ritter for comment. 

Brawn moved out of the home in 2023, and he said his ex-wife still lives in the home following their divorce while he moved to Sangerville, Maine.

According to reported court records, when the boundary agreement was signed it was determined that the property lines followed an existing wall a few feet north of the severed garage.

This reportedly meant that the line was drawn several feet inside of where Brawn believed the line to have been.

According to court records, when the boundary agreement was signed it was determined that the property lines followed an existing wall a few feet north of the severed garage

The two properties got along until Steve Ritter, who owned the other home, died in 2016. His wife, Theresa Laythe-Ritter, (pictured) took over ownership, and left it to her son Blake

Ritter moved out of his home following the dispute, and a friend of his moved into the property and plans to soon take ownership of the home.

The friend, who did not wish to be identified, told the Bangor Daily News that she was interested in the house before the garage dispute, and said her plans have not changed.

‘(Ritter) was willing to give me a good deal on it and we figured it all out,’ she said.

‘I didn’t need the garage, I just wanted the house. A garage can always be rebuilt.’

She said she initially ‘did not get along’ with the Brawns when she moved in, but they moved on when ‘Gabe realized I wasn’t playing around’ or ‘dealing with the drama.’

She added that she quickly erected a six-foot-tall fence between the homes, and hopes to soon replace the missing half of the garage.