By Lisa Williams Ackley
Staff Writer

DEFENDANTS — (Left to right) Michael Petelis, Anthony Papile and Kyle Ferguson.

OSSIPEE, N.H. — The three men arrested last week in connection with the death of Krista Deann Dittmeyer may have lured her to an apartment so they could steal money and drugs from her, according to investigators.

One of the men, 28-year-old Anthony Papile, of Ossipee, who allegedly struck her in the head three times with a rubber club, has been charged with seconddegree murder. Judge Robert Varney ordered Papile, who faces up to life in prison if convicted, held without bail.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Ossipee District Court, Papile killed Dittmeyer by “suffocating and/or drowning” her.

Two other men, 28-year-old Michael Petelis, of Ossipee, and 23-year-old Trevor Ferguson, of Tamworth, N.H. were arrested and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit robbery. Petelis and Ferguson could each face up to a maximum of 15 years in prison, if convicted. Bail for both men has been set at $250,000 cash.

Dittmeyer’s mother, LaNell Shackley, who was inside the courtroom when the three men made their initial court appearance, was visibly shaken as she sat through the court proceedings and heard the alleged details of her daughter’s death.

Documents, such as the autopsy results and information obtained via search warrants, have been sealed for 90 days, as of May 12, and no further information will be made available, according to prosecutors who have 90 days to bring the case before a grand jury for indictments.

The 20-year-old single mother was found dead in a small snowmaking pond at the base of Mount Cranmore in North Conway, N.H., on April 27, four days after her Nissan Sentra sedan was found running and abandoned and in a nearby parking lot with her 14-month-old baby girl inside and unharmed.

Her death

According to documents filed by investigators and prosecutors in the case, Petelis sent Dittmeyer a text message at 9:43 p.m. on April 22 telling her to call him when she was about to arrive at his apartment on Route 16 in Ossipee.

Prosecutors allege that Papile hit Dittmeyer in the head with a rubber club and then he and Petelis bound her with duct tape. It was Papile, prosecutors said, who placed Dittmeyer in the trunk of her own car and then drove it 18 miles to the ski area in North Conway where he had worked in 2007. Papile then allegedly lifted Dittmeyer’s bound body from the trunk of her vehicle and submerged it in the snowmaking pond located several hundred yards away.

“She was ambushed — she was struck in the head,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young told the court. “Her body was then submerged in what is known as Snow Pond.”

Papile had arranged a ride home from Ferguson, in exchange for $20 in gas money and a small amount of drugs, according to court documents.

Authorities did not identify the type of drugs involved that led to Dittmeyer’s murder, but last year her boyfriend and the father of her baby girl, 26-yearold Kyle Acker, was arrested by Maine Drug Enforcement Agency officers at the couple’s South Portland apartment. He is serving 18 months of a fouryear prison sentence at the Maine State Prison in Warren. Acker grew up in the Conway area and attended Kennett High School.

Assistant Attorney General Young told the court that Petelis had told some of his friends that Kyle Acker had asked him to look out for Krista while he was incarcerated.

“He (Petelis) even told some people he would protect her while her boyfriend was in jail” when he was actually “setting up her final demise.” The prosecutor said Petelis was not only a danger to the community, but to himself, as well, saying he suffered a drug overdose on May 6.

Both Papile and Petelis have criminal records, according to probation records from the New Hampshire Department of Corrections. Papile is currently serving a two-year probation for a conviction for receiving stolen property and was previously on probation for criminal threatening. Petelis previously served probation for theft by unauthorized taking or transfer and for burglary and receiving stolen property.