An Old Orchard Beach man will serve 40 years for murdering his roommate last year.
The Portland Press Herald reported that Dustin Bentley was stoic when Superior Court Justice Wayne Douglas sentenced him on Tuesday. The judge said the March 2019 murder of 65-year-old William Popplewell was “savage, sustained and cruel.”
Bentley beat, stabbed and strangled Popplewell, his roommate of almost three months, then wrapped the body in trash bags. He pleaded guilty to the murder charge earlier this year.
The two men met at the Oxford Street emergency shelter in Portland, police have said.
A police officer visited the Boisvert Street apartment two hours before the murder, on March 18, to give Bentley copies of traffic summonses. Bentley took a while getting to the door, and the officer heard what sounded like glass breaking while he waited, the Press Herald reported.
Bentley was soaked with sweat when he opened the door.
The 40-year sentence is a plea deal. Bentley’s attorney, Joseph Mekonis, has said that his client still does not know why he killed Popplewell.