WILTON – Four weeks to the day after a Wilton contractor was found shot to death, police say solving the case remains a top priority.

Raymond E. “Butch” Weed, 40, the owner of New Horizon Builders, was found slain in the entryway to his 32 Main St. home by friends delivering Christmas gifts during the early evening of Dec. 23.

A team of state police investigators has been working daily ever since to nail down the shooter and make an arrest.

“As long as we have work to do, we are optimistic,” said Sgt. Walter Grzyb of the Maine State Police. “And we still have a mountain of things we need to do. So we prioritize, and work our way from the top of the list down. We’re still plugging away.”

Investigators have been tight-lipped from the start, initially revealing only that the divorced Weed had been found dead. Then, two weeks into the investigation, police admitted he had been shot.

Since then, they’ve added little other than they are working. Disclosing information would place the investigation in jeopardy, Grzyb contends.

When asked Tuesday if anything in Weed’s home indicated the killing was for money, he said, “It does not appear there was a robbery or a burglary.”

Five people are assigned to the case full-time and another is assisting. Grzyb said they have been “working tirelessly. The public doesn’t understand the dedication and sacrifice of these investigators.”

So far, the investigation has taken detectives from Franklin County, where Weed and most of his family, including mother and three siblings, live, to Androscoggin and Oxford counties. But most of the probe is centered in the Farmington, Wilton, Dixfield and Canton area, Grzyb said.

People who knew Weed or knew of him may have helpful information, said Grzyb, encouraging anyone with information to contact authorities.

“It might just be the little piece we are looking for. In a lot of cases, that’s what it comes down to,” he said of people coming forward. “Physical evidence only takes you so far.”

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