AUBURN – Prosecutors put the final pieces of their DNA puzzle in place Wednesday, seeking to link the genetic material of murder suspects Gary Gauthier Jr. and Thomas Dyer to clothes stained with the blood of John Graffam and James Vining.

Assistant Attorney General Fernand LaRochelle spent most of the third day of the trial seeking to put the Auburn defendants into clothes found buried in Pownal that were splattered with the blood of Graffam, 30, and Vining, 43, also of Auburn. Their beaten bodies were discovered by hunters buried in shallow graves near abandoned railroad tracks in Lewiston nearly a year ago.

Swabs of DNA from beer bottles found at Graffam’s apartment put all four men in the same room in late September 2005, when police believe Graffam and Vining were killed.

Gauthier, 24, and Dyer, 21, had denied knowing Vining.

In a slow and plodding inventory of evidence, analysts testified that dozens of items were brought to the Maine State Police Crime Lab, where they were processed for traces of blood, saliva and skin cells.

A DNA analyst explained which stains and swabs matched which defendants with which victim. They concluded that, among the items buried in a hole in Pownal:

• both victims’ blood was on the aluminum baseball bat that is believed to be the murder weapon;

• Graffam’s blood and Dyer’s DNA were found on a pair of white socks;

• Vining’s blood and Gauthier’s DNA were found on a pair of black socks;

• Vining’s blood and Gauthier and Dyer’s DNA were found on a sweatshirt;

• Graffam’s blood and Gauthier and Dyer’s DNA were found on a shirt; and

• Vining’s blood and Dyer’s DNA were found on a Red Sox cap.

With the testimony, the state rested its case.

Defense attorneys focused on clothing that offered the strongest evidence against the other defendant. Each appeared poised to try to pin the blame on the other one’s client, hoping to score points with jurors during cross examination.

The defendants will have a chance to present their respective cases to the jury starting today.

Peter Rodway, Dyer’s attorney, got the state’s DNA expert to agree that a pair of blue jeans soaked with Vining’s blood might have been worn by Gauthier.

Gauthier’s attorney, Robert Ruffner, got an expert to agree that blood patterns found on a Red Sox jersey that Gauthier might have worn likely weren’t put there by him. Instead, they probably got on the jersey when somebody near him swung an object, like a baseball bat, covered with blood, the expert said.

Neither of the two defendants’ DNA showed up on the handle of the bat, an analyst said. But a beer can, found in Graffam’s makeshift grave site, matched Gauthier’s DNA, possibly putting him at the scene.

Alice Keene, Vining’s girlfriend, praised the efforts of police and prosecutors.

“I think it’s going very well,” she said as she left Androscoggin County Superior Court on Wednesday. She clutched a crucifix, a laminated copy of Vining’s obituary and a photo album. A day earlier, she had testified that Vining called her the morning of Sept. 23 to say he loved her and looked forward to seeing her later that day. But he never showed up. Police say that’s the day he likely was killed.