DACULA, Ga. (AP) — A sign in the window reads, "Now accepting new patients." But Dr. Barton Corbin's dental office sits dark, and next to the office door, someone has scrawled in red letters "MURDERER."

The dentist sits in jail, awaiting trial on charges of murdering his wife last month and killing his college girlfriend 14 years ago under almost identical circumstances.

Both women were found shot once in the head, the gun lying nearby, in what were initially thought to be suicides. It was while investigating the wife's death that authorities took another look at the girlfriend's, and concluded that what they were dealing with was not a remarkable coincidence at all, but a twin case of murder.

Investigators have refused to say exactly what made them believe he killed his wife, Jennifer, or what new evidence led to his indictment in the death of his old girlfriend, Dorothy "Dolly" Hearn, after all these years.

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This much is known: Five days before his wife's death, Barton filed for divorce and was suing for custody of their sons, ages 5 and 7, and ownership of their $217,900 home in the well-to-do Atlanta suburb of Buford. What may have set him off, family members say, is an online relationship his 33-year-old wife was having with a woman from St. Joseph, Mo.

According to court papers, Corbin discovered the relationship on Thanksgiving Day and punched his wife in the face in front of the children. Three days before she was found shot to death, she called 911 to report another fight with her husband.

The charges against the 41-year-old Corbin have set the stage for a lurid soap opera of a trial.

"It includes the aspects of jealousy, obsessiveness, a close relationship between the parties involved, and perhaps most importantly, very attractive people who were killed," University of Georgia law professor Ron Carlson said. "The pictures of a very pleasant-looking Jennifer Corbin and also the beautiful pictures of Dolly Hearn have helped to elevate this particular domestic violence case over others."

Authorities are also investigating whether the dentist was involved in the death of a third woman, 56-year-old Harriet Gray, who worked for a former dental partner of Corbin's before she disappeared in 1996. Her body was found a year later in her car at the bottom of an Alabama lake.

"Dr. Corbin maintains his innocence and will continue to fight these charges," said his attorney, Bruce Harvey.

Hearn, a 27-year-old dental student, was found dead, a .38-caliber handgun that her father had given her for protection in her lap, in July 1990, the same month Corbin became a dentist. Corbin and Hearn were classmates at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta and had dated for more than a year, but were in the midst of a breakup at the time.

Authorities initially thought Hearn shot herself, but later said the cause of death was undetermined, and the case languished for years. Hearn's friends did not believe she committed suicide, and her family had suspected Corbin. He was one of several people questioned at the time about her death.

"She was beautiful, intelligent, vivacious, compassionate, artistic, honest and cheerful," Hearn's family said in a statement last week on a Web site set up in her memory. "Like Dolly's favorite flower, the long-stemmed red rose, she was an American beauty, and she is greatly missed."

The Corbins' 7-year-old son found his mother's body on Dec. 4, a revolver next to her on the bed. Her family refused to believe the preschool teacher had committed suicide.

The media attention prompted a judge to issue a gag order barring anyone connected with the investigation from discussing the case. Several family members and friends declined to comment or did not return calls for this story.

Before the gag order, Jennifer Corbin's family was especially vocal about what they referred to on her memorial Web site as "an unspeakable criminal act robbed us of our sweet Jenn." But they have stopped just short of publicly blaming her husband.