DIXON – Steven A. Watts, who was charged in the 1983 death of a man whose badly beaten body was found in Franklin Grove, had “quite the lucrative drug business” at the time, Lee County Sheriff John Varga said Monday.

“He had clientele up this way. We’re still investigating this case,” Varga said. “We’re seeing how Lee County fits into the puzzle.”

Watts, 56, of Berryville, Ark., was arrested last week on one count of first-degree murder in the death of Gary D. Dawson, 30, whose body was found in a hog pen on Aug. 29, 1983.