HARRISON – An investigation into a deadly collision between two boats on Long Lake in August may not be completed for weeks.

“We’re in the process of reconstructing what happened,” said Mark Latti, spokesman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

On the night of Aug. 11, a 14-foot fiberglass motorboat in the middle of the lake was struck and cut in half by a 32-foot twin-engine watercraft. The crash killed Terry Raye Trott, 55, of Naples and Suzanne Groetzinger, 44, of Berwick, who were in the smaller craft.

Robert Lapointe, 38, of Medway, Mass., who owned the 435-horsepower boat, was thrown into the water along with Nicole Randall, 19, of Bridgton. Neither suffered serious injury. The boat hit the east shore near Bear Point and continued 134 feet into the woods off Bear Point Road near the Naples town line.

Latti said investigations do not have deadlines so a comprehensive study can be conducted.

“This one’s a little larger in scope because of the number of people involved,” Latti said.

“We’ve reached out to other agencies on various aspects of the crash,” said Latti.

Latti said the Maine State Police were involved at certain points of the investigation, including storage of one of the boats. The results of autopsies on Trott and Groetzinger will also be part of the investigation.

Latti said findings could not be released due to the nature of the ongoing criminal investigation.

“We’ve recovered a lot of wreckage that was on the bottom of Long Lake, including some large pieces of the boat,” he said, “but I can’t really get into the details of what we have and what we don’t have.”

David Smith, a retired Coast Guard commander who serves as an expert witness on aquatic accidents through his Michigan-based firm Smith Aquatic Safety Services, agreed that the process is a forensic one in which as much evidence as possible is gathered.

When the circumstances of the collision were described to Smith, he said investigators would look into the routes and speeds of the boats, which boat had the right of way, how the collision occurred, whether alcohol was involved, and whether lights were on.

Latti said part of the investigation was to determine whether either boat was operating without navigational lights, which would be in violation of state law. According to emergency dispatch logs, LaPointe and Randall said they had been hit by a boat with no lights on.

Smith said if Lapointe’s boat was operating with lights on, battery power would have kept them running after the collision. He said the filaments of the motorboat’s lights might also be examined to see if they were on.

“It’s a fairly standard thing to do,” Smith said.

State law requires any boater involved in a fatal accident to take a blood-alcohol test at the scene.

Smith said investigators may also determine the speed Lapointe’s boat was traveling at based on its weight, the distance it ran aground, and the revolutions per minute of its propellers.

Smith said an analysis of the debris would determine where the boat was struck, and inspection of the engines on Lapointe’s boat would show which direction it was traveling at the time of impact.

Officials at Maine’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Trott drowned and suffered severe injury to his buttocks, while Groetzinger died of blunt force trauma to the head. Friends said the couple had been out on the lake to watch a meteor shower.

Smith said the autopsy results may also aid the investigation if officials can place the location of the pair in the boat.

“There’s a chance that hair or even blood or skin from the person who suffered blunt force trauma may be transferred to the striking boat,” Smith said.

In addition, Smith said transferred paint or marks from rubber on the boats might also give insight into the collision.

Latti said Capt. Joel Wilkinson of the Maine Warden Service is in charge of the investigation, and will meet with the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office once the findings are complete. The District Attorney’s office will consult with the Warden Service to determine whether criminal charges may be brought against LaPointe and Randall.

LaPointe, an executive in a communications company, owns properties in Bridgton and reportedly had a slip at Harrison Marina for his cigarette-style boat. Randall is employed t the family-owned marina at the northern end of the 11-mile-long lake.