No breakthroughs in 2 area murders by Harry Vanderweide, Kennebec Journal, 12 Feb 1974

in 2 area By HARRY VANDERWEIDE KJ staff writer "No dramatic breakthroughs'' have taken place in' the investigations of the murders of a Gardiner woman and a Liberty couple says John Atwood of the Attorney General’s Criminal Division Atwood said the ihvestiga- tions of the separate slayings are proceeding “with vigor” as five or six State Police investigators ' are “working almost exclusively on them” The Gardiner woman was 18-year-old Debra Ann Dill whose partially-clad body was discovered on Sunday Sept 16 on a dirt road on the Mon-mouth-Litchfield town line -She was beaten to death with a blunt instrument The Liberty couple Joan-quin Bettencourt 55 and his wife Florence in her 50s were shot at their home at Rt 220 and 173 Dec i4 - Atwood said persons are still being interviewed in connection with the Dill case and he explained investigators in the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation are able to devote more time to the cases since slayings in the state have slowed down in recent months At present the Attorney General's Office has only 10 cases of murder uAder active investigation Tl)e Dill girl has been described as popular with a wide circle of friends She was known to haveleft her fulltime' -job at the Value House at 5 pm the day before her body was found lying' near her car by a Litchfield man The Bettencourts were killed by “multiple gunshot wounds” and had been dead for several days before their bodies were discovered Since their house had been ransacked and their telephone line cut the motive for the slaying is believed to have been robbery Bettencourt also known as Jack Bettencourt was known to carry large sums of money on his person