2 more indicted in ’83 Belfast killing

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BELFAST – The investigation of a deadly triangle of greed, betrayal and murder was brought to a close Wednesday when the widow of a man shot to death in his front yard and a former boyfriend of their daughter were arrested and charged with the 17-year-old murder.

A third person – the alleged hit man – involved in the Belfast murder-for-hire death of Mervin “Sonny” Grotton in December 1983 was charged earlier this year.

Norma Small, 61, of Gas, Kan., was arrested on a murder-for-hire charge Wednesday while driving through Iola, Kan. Small, who had relinquished her married name after her husband’s death, relocated to the Midwest from Maine in 1998.

A Waldo County grand jury had indicted Small on the charge Tuesday, but the indictment was kept secret until her arrest.

Also arrested under the same indictment was Boyd Smith, 41, of Brooks.

Police allege that Smith served as the go-between in the murder conspiracy by introducing Small to Joel Fuller, the man charged with shooting Grotton.

Fuller, 45, formerly of Searsmont, is serving multiple life sentences for two drug-related murders that occurred shortly after Grotton’s killing. He was not charged with the Grotton murder until two months ago.

Wednesday’s arrest brings to a close a murder conspiracy investigation that involved Maine State Police, Belfast police, the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

It is a case that baffled authorities for nearly two decades.

Authorities outlined their scenario during a news conference in Augusta after the arrests Wednesday of Small and Smith.

Maine State Police Lt. Tim Doyle said Small wanted her husband out of the way and pressured Smith, who was dating her daughter Rosalynn at the time, to kill her husband. Smith was reluctant, but introduced Small to Fuller, authorities said.

“It was Norma Small’s plan to have her husband killed. Smith acted as the middleman. Fuller was the trigger person,” Doyle said. “It certainly was her plan that it was to be done. … Smith was initially approached and was not willing or able to do it. He introduced Joel Fuller to Norma Small.”

Doyle declined to discuss a motive in the case. But Sean Smith of the Veterans Affairs Department’s Inspector General’s Office and Jeffrey P. Morrow, supervisory special agent with the Navy’s Criminal Investigative Service, indicated that greed may have been a factor.

Grotton was a Navy chief petty officer who was on active duty when he was slain. Smith noted that Small had received more than $158,000 in survivor’s benefits since the killing. She is still receiving a monthly check of $942, though the VA is working to stop that because the VA now believes the money was obtained by “fraudulent circumstances,” said investigator Smith.

Grotton was killed as he returned home to Belfast from his duty station in Newport, R.I. Police believe Fuller was hiding behind a nearby woodpile when Grotton drove into his Wight Street yard. He was slain by three shots from a .30-30 rifle as he got out of his pickup truck. One shot was fired from close range, leading police to theorize that the killer stood over him to make sure he was dead.

Though Doyle declined to say whether Fuller was paid to kill Grotton, he added, “I don’t think anyone is ever killed for altruistic reasons.”

At the time of the shooting, Grotton’s wife, Norma, was in the couple’s home, playing cards with a neighbor. It was Grotton’s wife who called police. By the time they arrived, Grotton’s killer had slipped away.

“We think we have a strong case and at trial we will present the evidence,” said Doyle.

Doyle and State Police Col. Michael Sperry said that while the case always was considered an active investigation, it picked up steam last April when the state and Navy authorities began to pool information.

“An 18-year-old homicide is never easy to solve,” Sperry said. “What has been accomplished here is no simple task.”

The Navy had formed a cold-case investigation team in 1995, and Doyle credited the team’s extensive resources with playing a crucial part in the investigation. He said Detective Dean Jackson worked with naval investigators for nearly a year to find Grotton’s killer. Belfast police and the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department assisted in the investigation, he said.

Naval investigator Morrow said some of the investigative techniques involved going over crime-scene evidence, taking advantage of the many changes in relationships that occurred over the years among the parties connected to the case, and making use of technology advances. DNA testing did not play a role, Morrow said.

The investigation eventually focused on Fuller and his relationships with people around Grotton and his widow.

Doyle said federal agents traveled to Kansas to investigate Small’s background.

Maine and Navy authorities also met with Fuller at a federal prison in Pennsylvania during the months before he was indicted for Grotton’s murder in November. That indictment was sealed while investigators continued to compile evidence needed to charge Smith and Small. Fuller’s indictment was made public in March.

Fuller is serving life in prison for the December 1984 murder of Norman Grenier, 27, at his home in Swanville and the July 1985 murder of Scott Lacombe at his home in Northport. Grenier and Lacombe both were involved in dealing cocaine.

Grenier was killed during a botched robbery by Fuller and three accomplices. Authorities believe Lacombe was killed because he had cooperated with federal and state authorities in their investigation of drug dealing in Waldo County. Both men were shot to death. Fuller was found guilty of the murders after jury trials in Penobscot and Waldo counties.

Fuller was returned to Maine in March and is being held at the Supermax prison in Warren. Smith is being held at the Waldo County Jail, and Small is being held at the Allen County Jail in Iola, Kan., pending her extradition to Maine.

Also assisting in the investigation were the Iola Police Department, Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Maine Attorney General’s Office.