Paul Dwyer & Francis Carroll

Oxford County, ME

Dwyer & Carroll

Oct 13, 1937 (South Paris)

Francis M. Carroll, a deputy sheriff in Oxford County, was convicted in 1938 of the murder of Dr. James G. Littlefield. Littlefield and his wife, Lydia, disappeared from their home in South Paris on Oct. 13, 1937. On Oct. 16, Paul Nathaniel (Buddy) Dwyer, 18, also from South Paris, was found sleeping in the couple's car by police in North Arlington, NJ. The bodies of the dead couple were found in the trunk. Dwyer confessed to killing the couple and was extradited to Maine the next day. He was placed in the custody of Francis Carroll, the father of Dwyer's former girlfriend, Barbara (Babs) Carroll. On Dec 2, Dwyer pleaded guilty to the murder of Dr. Littlefield and was sentenced to life in prison.

Within months, Dwyer accused Deputy Carroll of having killed Dr. Littlefield to prevent him from disclosing that the deputy had engaged in incest with his daughter, Babs. Babs allegedly acknowledged that she engaged in sexual activity with her father on several occasions beginning when she was eleven years old. Carroll was soon convicted of the murder of Dr. Littlefield, primarily because of Dwyer's testimony. Carroll and Dwyer could not both be guilty of murder under the conflicting prosecution theories on which their convictions rested, but both were imprisoned until 1950, when Carroll's conviction was vacated. In vacating the conviction, a Superior Court judge declared that the prosecutor in the case “deliberately, purposely, and intentionally . . . practiced fraud and deception on the court and jury.”

While there is reasonable doubt about Carroll's conviction, Dwyer's story implicating him is quite believable and it would appear that Carroll is most likely the killer. In Oct. 1959 Maine Governor Clausen commuted Dwyer's life sentence to 28 years, making him immediately eligible for parole, a parole Dwyer was soon granted. (CWC) (NY Daily News) (AP) (Life) (Murdered in Jersey) (Dwyer v. State) (NY Times) [10/09]