On Christmas morning in 2015, the lives of a young couple from Augusta, Maine, were tragically cut short. Bonnie Royer, a 26-year-old Caucasian female, and her 35-year-old boyfriend, Eric Williams, were discovered deceased in their sport utility vehicle on a remote dirt road in Manchester. The initial discovery was made by police who were responding to a distressing 911 call placed by one of the victims around 3:30 a.m., shortly after reports of shots being fired in the area.
When authorities arrived at the scene near a gravel pit off Sanford Road, they found Williams in the driver's seat and Royer in the passenger seat, both having succumbed to gunshot wounds.
The investigation into the double homicide quickly pointed to a drug-related motive. Investigators learned that Williams had been involved in drug dealings with a man from New York, David W. Marble Jr., who also went by the alias "D-Money." The events leading up to the fatal encounter began on Christmas Eve when Marble was away on a drug run. During his absence, Williams and several others burglarized the Augusta apartment where Marble was staying, stealing televisions, drugs, a gun, and backpacks. In an act of retribution, Marble arranged to be picked up by Williams and Royer in the early hours of Christmas Day. With Marble in the backseat of Williams' Chevrolet Trailblazer, he shot both of them. Williams was shot once in the head, while Royer, who was pregnant at the time, was shot twice, once in the head and once in the neck. Despite her injuries, Royer was able to make a final, desperate call for help to 911.
Within days of the murders, police arrested David Marble Jr. and charged him with two counts of murder. The investigation was aided by the crucial 911 call, which allowed police to locate the victims quickly and begin their search for a suspect. Marble's trial revealed the grim details of the crime, painting a picture of a drug deal gone wrong and a violent act of revenge. A key witness, who drove Marble from the scene and received immunity for his testimony, provided an account of the events. In July 2018, a jury found David Marble Jr. guilty of the murders of Eric Williams and Bonnie Royer. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Royer and a concurrent 75-year sentence for the murder of Williams. The judge, in delivering the sentence, noted the particular cruelty of Royer's death, highlighting the "conscious pain and terror" she must have experienced in her final moments, aware of her own impending death and that of her unborn child.
