On a quiet Christmas morning in 2015, the bodies of Eric Williams, a 35-year-old White male, and his 26-year-old girlfriend, Bonnie Royer, were discovered inside a Chevrolet Trailblazer on Sanford Road in Manchester, Maine. Both residents of Augusta had been fatally shot in the head. The grim discovery was made after one of the victims managed to make a harrowing 911 call at approximately 3:30 a.m., drawing law enforcement to the remote, wooded area.
Williams was found in the driver's seat, and Royer was in the passenger seat; both were deceased when authorities arrived at the scene.
The investigation into the double homicide, initially deemed suspicious, was a collaborative effort involving the Maine State Police, the Kennebec County Sheriff's Office, and the Augusta Police Department. As detectives delved into the lives of Williams and Royer, they began to piece together the events that led to their untimely deaths. The motive, as it would later be revealed, was rooted in an act of retaliation. Authorities determined that just hours before the killings, Williams, along with three other individuals, had burglarized the Augusta apartment of a man named David W. Marble Jr. The stolen items included televisions, drugs, and a firearm.
The suspect, 29-year-old David W. Marble Jr. of Rochester, New York, who went by the alias "Dee Money," was identified as the perpetrator. Marble, who was involved in local drug trafficking, believed Williams was responsible for the burglary. Seeking revenge, Marble arranged to meet with Williams in the early hours of Christmas Day. Williams, accompanied by Royer, drove to the secluded location on Sanford Road where Marble was waiting. It was there that Marble, from the backseat of Williams' own vehicle, carried out the execution-style killings.
Four days after the discovery of the bodies, David W. Marble Jr. was arrested. In February 2016, a grand jury indicted him on two counts of intentional or knowing murder. Following a trial, a jury convicted Marble on both counts on July 19, 2018. On November 9, 2018, citing the execution-style nature of the murders and Marble's extensive criminal history, a judge sentenced him to life in prison for the deaths of Eric Williams and Bonnie Royer.
