Police charge suspect in Benton slaying

WATERVILLE – A man accused of killing a Benton man in a dispute over the sale of a truck was charged with murder on Friday.

Smoky Heath Jr., 25, did not enter a plea in the death of 37-year-old Mark Desrosier as he made his first appearance in District Court.

Heath was arrested by Lewiston police Thursday night after Desrosier was found dead at his workplace, Poor Bob’s Used Furniture on Route 139 in Benton.

Heath was ordered held without bail. No date has been set for his bail hearing.

Lt. Tim Doyle of the Maine State Police said it seemed that Heath had gone to see Desrosier about buying a 1985 Ford truck and that the killing apparently happened then.

Police believe Heath killed Desrosier and then drove away in the truck, which was found later less than a mile away in Fairfield.

Heath apparently was in a nearby apartment and ran away when he saw police searching the truck. By the time police identified his residence and circled it, he had escaped, apparently through a window.

Shortly afterward, another truck was reported stolen from the area and police began searching for it.

Lewiston police arrested Heath without incident at the Sportsman’s Club shortly after 9 p.m. He was unarmed at the time.

State police detectives headed to the Lewiston Police Department on Thursday night to charge Heath with murder.

Heath, who moved to Fairfield recently, was to be taken to the Kennebec County Jail in Augusta. It was unclear whether he would appear in court on Friday.

Investigators have interviewed several people and planned to interview more in an effort to piece together the events that led to Desrosier’s death.

Police believe they know how Desrosier was killed, but were not releasing a cause of death pending an autopsy by the State Medical Examiner’s Office, Public Safety Department spokesman Stephen McCausland said.