By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Two Auburn men were arrested Wednesday and charged in the beating deaths of another pair whose bodies were found in the woods along Foss Road in October.

Thomas “Tommy” James Dyer, 20, of 2047 Hotel Road, and Gary Roger Gauthier Jr., 25, of 971 Washington St. North, were picked up for questioning by Lewiston and Maine State Police at about noon at their respective homes. Neither offered resistance, police said. By 5 p.m. each had been charged with two counts of murder.

Police said forensic and other evidence points to the pair as the killers of 30-year-old John Graffam and 43-year-old James Vining, both formerly of Auburn, in the fall.

Graffam and Vining, longtime friends, were found in shallow graves near the train tracks Oct. 29. Police close to the investigation, who did not wish to be identified, said each man had been beaten over the head with a blunt object.

On Wednesday, State Police Sgt. Walter Grzyb said at a news conference at Lewiston Police headquarters that they had witness accounts stating that Dyer and Gauthier had an encounter with Graffam while the three men were serving jail time last summer.

Dyer and Gauthier, who formerly lived in Lewiston, were also described as friends who were booked into the Androscoggin County Jail around the same time. Dyer was booked on charges of violating probation stemming from a conviction for theft. Gauthier was at the jail serving a sentence for violating probation from a burglary conviction, police said.

A Lewiston man, who did not wish to be identified, told a Sun Journal reporter last month that Dyer and Gauthier came into the jail Sept. 17 and began attacking Graffam and other inmates.

The same source, who was also an inmate at the time, said the pair continued targeting Graffam for days. Later, in early September, the source said he saw Graffam, Dyer and Gauthier in a white pickup truck after they had been released from jail.

Grzyb said police have impounded two vehicles as part of the investigation, but he did not elaborate.

In early autumn, Graffam and Vining were each reported missing. Police did not say how long the men had been dead when their bodies were found near Foss Road.

Police believe Vining may have been killed only because he was with Graffam the day of the killings. Vining and Graffam were described by family members as friends who often drank together, occasionally in groups. Police said they had heard similar reports that Graffam was targeted by Dyer and Gauthier.

“It appears that they knew John Graffam and that they met John Graffam in jail,” Grzyb said.

That news was little comfort for Lianne Micks, Graffam’s mother who reported her son missing Sept. 23. She said she was glad that arrests were made, but she still has questions about why her son was slain.

“It makes me feel better, but just a little,” Micks said. “I still just want to know why? Why did John have to be killed?”

Micks said she has never heard of Dyer or Gauthier.

Alice Keene, Vining’s longtime girlfriend, has been following the case since the bodies were found. She said she has heard several theories about what happened the night of the killings, but she has never heard of Dyer or Gauthier.

“I think about Jim every day,” Keene said. “I’ve been waking up with the horrible thought: I can’t believe someone killed Jim and John. It was brutal. It was cold-hearted. It was selfish. I’ve been waiting for someone to be arrested. Now that it’s happened, all I can say is, wow. Thank God.”

Police on Wednesday said their case against Gauthier and Dyer has been bolstered by evidence that has been tested at the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory. They did not specify the evidence they have recovered, but several items linked to the killings have been found in Lewiston, Auburn and Pownal, according to Grzyb.

The case was investigated by both Maine State Police and Lewiston Police detectives, who spent more than two months tracking down leads and interviewing potential witnesses. However, investigators say they expect their physical evidence to clinch the case in court.

“The State Police crime lab has been an enormous help in this case,” said Lewiston Deputy Chief Michael Bussiere. “This has gone on a lot longer than a lot of the other homicide investigations in recent years. There was a lot of legwork involved.”

At about 6 p.m. Wednesday, Gauthier and Dyer were led into police cruisers outside the Lewiston police station. Asked by the Sun Journal if they had committed the killings they are charged with, neither man answered.

The two men remained at the county jail without bail Wednesday night. They are expected to make initial court appearances today or Friday.

“This is such good news,” said Keene, Vining’s girlfriend, when she heard about the arrests. “I wish it was just a game. And now that this part is over, Jim and John could come back.”

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