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Post by LadyBlue on May 8, 2004 21:11:42 GMT -5
New Hampshire officials say a body found over the weekend is that of a missing Manchester woman.
NewsCenter 5's Jim Morelli reported that the remains of Amie Riley, 21, were found in a marshy area near downtown Manchester Saturday. Riley was reported missing last August.
Riley's boyfriend allegedly dropped her off at The Hog's Trough Saloon on Aug. 15 at 7 p.m. -- two hours later, she was gone.
"Her body was found in the swampy area just off of exit 7 off Route 293 here in Manchester," said Assistant Attorney General Will Delker.
Riley was last seen Aug. 15 leaving The Hog's Trough Saloon on Lincoln Street in Manchester. Authorities say they are looking for a man who may have left at the same time.
"Thirty-five to 40 years old, approximately 5-foot-9-inches tall with black, slicked-back hair last seen wearing a white button-down shirt and gray pants," said Manchester Police Chief John Jaskolka, describing the man.
At this point in the investigation, investigators consider Riley's death suspicious. Her body was decomposed, complicating the medical examiner's task of determining who or what killed her.
"At the time she was found, she was face down in the marshy area right off Stark Lane," said Jaskolka.
According to some witnesses, Riley left The Hog's Trough Saloon on Aug. 15 and went across the street to The Hideaway Bar.
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Post by LadyBlue on Jun 6, 2004 11:38:09 GMT -5
Dr. Maurice Godwin's profiling comments about the killer of Mary K. Stetson
July 27, 1999
Dr. Maurice Godwin, a criminal psychologist who serves as an adjunct professor at Norwich University in Vermont, said yesterday that based on news reports about her death, her killer is "somebody who has killed before.
"To actually mutilate the body and put it into a bag," said Godwin, "this guy is a repeat killer.
Because there has been nothing similar reported in New Hampshire in recent years, Godwin said he believes the killer has come here from elsewhere.
Godwin was adamant that Stetson was acquainted with her killer.
"This definitely was not a stranger-to-stranger murder," he said. They may not have known each other long, he said, but they knew each other.
Godwin has conducted a study of 107 serial killers who murdered 728 people and developed the study into a book, "Hunting Serial Predators," which will be published in September.
He said Stetson's killer was most likely Caucasian, 30 to 35 years old, probably with at least a high school education, who works at a blue-collar job.
Dr. Maurice Godwin, a criminal psychologist who serves as an adjunct professor at Norwich University in Vermont, said yesterday that based on news reports about her death, her killer is "somebody who has killed before.
"To actually mutilate the body and put it into a bag," said Godwin, "this guy is a repeat killer. "The city of Manchester," he said, "definitely has a sadistic murderer on the loose. No doubt about it. It appears that this is an individual who has killed before and who will kill in the future."
Because there has been nothing similar reported in New Hampshire in recent years, Godwin said he believes the killer has come here from elsewhere.
James Alan Fox, Litman professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University in Boston, said the killer may even have already left the area. He acknowledged the likelihood the killer had struck before. "First-time killers are so repulsed by what they do, they wouldn't be able to cut up the body," Fox said.
"Often the first murder is fairly simple . . . strangulation, stabbing," he said. "But once he has gotten a taste of murder and enjoys it, as he continues his spree, he will tend to get more and more vicious and brutal."
Professor Thomas Hammond, a criminal justice instructor at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, was not ready yesterday to suggest there is a serial killer at work.
"I wouldn't want to jump to the conclusion this is a serial killer," said Hammond, who once served as an FBI agent. "But certainly serial killers look for vulnerable victims . . . prostitutes, young hitchhikers."
Stetson was a 40-year-old single mother of five who had managed to get off welfare, but was living in assisted housing and, friends said, battled a drinking problem. Despite that, her children were her greatest joy and top priority, friends and family said.
Family members said they last saw her late Sunday afternoon with a man they only knew as "Chris." While investigators have declined to say if they are looking for or have found "Chris," Hammond said "Chris" would have been the main focus of the search for her killer.
A neighbor, who declined to give his name, said he saw Stetson with a man named Chris on Sunday about two hours after she had left her apartment with him. They were carrying a six-pack of beer and walking toward the Piscataquog River, where her torso would be discovered two days later.
Godwin was adamant that Stetson was acquainted with her killer. "This definitely was not a stranger-to-stranger murder," he said. They may not have known each other long, he said, but they knew each other.
Godwin has conducted a study of 107 serial killers who murdered 728 people and developed the study into a book, "Hunting Serial Predators," which will be published in September. He said Stetson's killer was most likely Caucasian, 30 to 35 years old, probably with at least a high school education, who works at a blue-collar job such as a mechanic, which is not considered a menial position.
Godwin and Fox both also said serial killers prey on those who are marginal: prostitutes, the homeless, young hitchhikers. Stetson may have fit into this group, they said, because of her drinking problem or her social contacts.
"Killers who mutilate use a con, a ploy, to lure their victims in," Godwin said. He suggested that the ploy in this case might have been to walk to the river with her after she bought beer "to get her away from where people would see them." Then, they got into his own vehicle, Godwin said. "He took this victim somewhere else and murdered her," he said. This is not the first time the killer has mutilated, either, Godwin said.
"It takes a lot of time and effort to cut through bones," he said. "You have to have tools, too, an ax, some kind of sharp machete. This individual did not do this at that bridge. They would have found spots of blood and pieces of flesh."
Godwin expressed surprise that the body would have been dropped in an area that lots of people frequent.
The river above the dam at the Kelley Falls hydroelectric plant is a popular swimming and party spot for many West Side residents. "It's unusual to bring the victim back to the area," Godwin said. "If it was someone from around the area, they would know that's a frequently visited place. If it was a visitor to the area, he would not be aware there are loads of people who visit the swimming hole all the time."
Fox said there are four reasons someone would mutilate a victim's body: ease of disposal, cover up identity, provide souvenirs for the killer or in an effort to express total domination. Stetson's identity, however, was revealed by a tattoo on her back, a tattoo the killer did not see or didn't recognize was there, if covering up the identity was the motive behind the mutilation.
Hammond said the horrible crime has rightly shaken everyone. "Who have we got loose in our community that is doing things like this? None of us can understand it," Hammond said. "Sane minds have a difficult time trying to understand what we see as very deviant and abnormal behavior. I think investigators are doing everything they can right now to try to locate the killer," he said.
Fox said one would not be able to walk down the street and pick the killer out of a crowd. "You won't know it," he said. "These people tend to be extraordinarily ordinary."
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Post by LadyBlue on Mar 4, 2005 11:22:23 GMT -5
A Lempster man was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing and burning the body of a 55-year-old Goshen woman. Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said Kenneth Carpenter was arrested Thursday evening in Claremont and was to be arraigned Friday in Newport District Court.
The statement did not say where the body of Edith Meyer was found, other than that it was burned.
Meyer was last seen on Feb. 22 and had plans to meet a friend on Feb. 23 but never showed up.
Police seized two cars belonging to Carpenter and searched his cabin in neighboring Lempster.
One car was found in Claremont, the other was taken from the cabin, police said. Meyer’s car was still in her garage.
Investigators spent much of Wednesday searching the cabin.
Newport District Court documents show Carpenter had been accused of stalking a friend of Meyer and in letters to his ex-girlfriend blamed her for interfering in their relationship.
Friends said Meyer was an avid snowshoer who rarely left the house without her dog. Investigators said the snowshoes and dog were at her house.
"The house looks like somebody just left," Senior Assistant Attorney General Will Delker said. "What it looks like is that she either walked out or somebody picked her up."
Delker said many investigative avenues had been dead ends. "We looked at her financial records and her credit cards, and there’s no activity after her disappearance," he said.
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