By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – State police detectives were in Pownal on Tuesday collecting evidence they believe is linked to a double slaying in Lewiston in October.

Just before nightfall, detectives went to Sweetser Road after learning that items had been found in the woods there earlier in the day.

By dark, police had left the area. They did not say what items were gathered or how they were led to them. However, investigators said the items are connected to the killings of 30-year-old John Graffam and 43-year-old James Vining.

The Lewiston men were reported missing by friends and family members in mid-September. Their bodies were found more than a month later in shallow graves in the woods near the end of Foss Road.

Few clues have surfaced since. Police said Tuesday the items that were found in Pownal will be analyzed at the state police crime lab. They did not say if the newly discovered evidence has pointed them toward a suspect.

Vining’s longtime girlfriend said Tuesday night that she had not heard about the development in the case. Alice Keene also said she did not believe Vining had any friends or acquaintances who live in Pownal.

When the bodies were discovered Oct. 29, three items Vining was seldom without were missing: his wallet, his watch and his bicycle, Keene said. Police would not comment on whether those items were found Tuesday.

Graffam’s mother, Liane Micks, said her son was also missing his wallet when the bodies were found. She also had not heard the news Tuesday about the items discovered in Pownal.

“I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “I’m always glad to hear about anything new in the case.”

It was unknown Tuesday night if the location where the items were found is significant or random. Sweetser Road is heavily wooded and not far from Bradbury Mountain State Park. Powerlines run over the road in one area, and a stream runs beneath a wooden bridge a short distance away.

Meanwhile, state and Lewiston police detectives continue investigating the killings. Several people have been interviewed about the case, but police have been consistently silent about what clues have turned up.

For Keene and Micks, it has been a long two months without answers.

“I’ve been really down lately,” Micks said Tuesday. “It’s getting close to Christmas. And that makes me think of John.”