Julie Murray, sister of Maura Murray who disappeared in New Hampshire 19 years ago, is pictured speaking at Tuesday’s rally in front of the Attorney General’s Office holding papers. (Photo by PAULA TRACY)
CONCORD – Families of some of the roughly 130 unsolved murders and missing persons cases in New Hampshire gathered outside the Attorney General’s Office Tuesday to collectively ask for better communication and more help in solving the cases involving their loved ones.
Family and friends of Trish Haynes, Maura Murray, Lorne Boulet, and Jason Upton were among the more than 50 people who stood in the rain before the Department of Justice holding signs including one asking Attorney General John Formella to “do your job.”
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Formella did not attend the event, but officials from his office attended, saying that they were not there to make it about them but to let the victims have their say.
They offered up meetings on individual cases.
The group has recently banded together and said they have had similar experiences with a lack of regular contact with the state agency which prosecutes homicides and the State Police which in most cases is responsible for investigations within the Department of Safety.
“People say if you want to get away with murder, go to New Hampshire,” said Valerie Haynes Alverez as she confronted Michael Garrity, director of communications for the Department of Justice.
She is the great aunt of Trish Haynes, 26, whose body was found in Grafton following her disappearance in 2018.
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The group had several goals for the gathering. In a press release issued before the event the coalition had four major goals for the event: to raise awareness of cases, including some which have had little media attention; reform of the state’s victim advocacy program; improved communication and securing justice for the victims.
They said as they provide tips to police it is a one way street with silence on whether or not that information led somewhere.
Megan Charlesworth said she was there to bring awareness to the cold case involving her friend Heidi Martin, 16, who died in Hartland, Vt. in 1982. Her body was found two years later in a brook behind the Hartland Elementary School.
It remains an unsolved case though some believe it is possible it is linked to other murders in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire.
Jane Boroski, who is described as the lone survivor of the unsolved Connecticut River Valley Killer attended.
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Kelly Holden came from Tennessee for the event to press for justice for her “little brother, Jason Upton” of Allenstown who was found in the Merrimack River in 2009.
“I call Allenstown every single year trying to find what is going on,” she said. “We don’t have any new evidence,” she said.
“I think it is a lack of resources,” she said also and job turnover in law enforcement and at the Attorney General’s Office.
“We need to push it, we need to have more investigation,” she said.
Also she said a contributing factor to the lack of justice is a backlog of cases, and she alleged those who do not have “high society” family and friends get relegated to a different pile.
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She said her mother, Diane Vattes, could not attend the event and has never been the same since the loss of her “baby,” who died at age 34.
Maura Murray has been missing for 19 years after she disappeared February 9, 2004 at age 21 after her vehicle crashed along the Wild Ammonoosuc Road in Haverhill.
Her older sister, Julie Murray attended the gathering and spoke to investigators and said that no person attending should have to be at the event seeking justice.
A list of the victims and their cold cases in New Hampshire is available here https://www.doj.nh.gov/criminal/cold-case/victim-list/index.htm
To join the new coalition and get more information, go to NHunsolved@gmail.com
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In a news release, Mike Garrity said: “We at the New Hampshire Department of Justice never forget that at the heart of each of our homicide cases are real people with families who love and miss them. We support Tuesday’s gathering as something positive – victims and their families coming together, using their voices, and bringing awareness to their cases. Our hope is that highlighting these cases will result in more people coming forward with information that can help investigators. We are all aligned in pursuing justice for these victims and solving these cases.”
Garrity said his office is respectfully listening, continuing to actively engage privately, and offering our assurance that attention is truly being given to these cases. “The Attorney General remains ready and willing to have one-on-one or small group conversations with impacted loved ones,” Garrity said.
He said last year investigators and prosecutors were able to solve 92.3% of the state’s 2022 homicides. In contrast, the national 2022 homicide clearance rate was 54.3%. New Hampshire’s 10-year average homicide clearance rate is 88.9%, compared to 59.9% nationally, Garrity said.
He mentioned several cold cases since 2022 that have been solved, including the murder of Laura Kempton in September of 1981 in Portsmouth. Earlier this year, the Unit announced the identification after 40 years of the remains of Katherine Ann Alston, who went missing from Boston and was found murdered in Bedford, New Hampshire, on Oct. 6, 1971.
“In 2022 the Unit tried and convicted Richard Ellison for the second-degree murder of Robert McMillian in Concord on December 9, 2005. Also in 2022, the Unit solved and closed the 1972 Murder of Arlene Clevesy in Newton, NH; and it worked with Boston, MA Police to solve the 1984 murder of Brian Watson in Manchester, ultimately indicting 61-year-old Michael Lewis on a first-degree murder charge. And finally, on March 28, 2022, the Unit announced an investigation into the reported disappearance of Janis Taylor from Concord, New Hampshire, on January 8, 1968,” Garrity said.
Connelly Early allowed two hits in six scoreless innings Friday night and the Portland Sea Dogs remained in first place in the Eastern League’s Northeast Division with a 3-1 victory against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The teams play again Saturday and Sunday before the Sea Dogs return home for a six-game series against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies to end the regular season. Portland holds a half-game lead over second-place Somerset, which tied the game in the ninth, then added a six-run 10th to win at Binghamton, 9-3.
Early struck out nine for Portland before Christopher Troye and Gabriel Jackson combined to allow two hits over the final three innings.
The Sea Dogs won it with a three-run fifth. Blaze Jordan doubled in one run, then later scored on a wild pitch before Mikey Romero lifted a sacrifice fly to left.
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While bloom notices piled up ahead of Labor Day weekend, Gov. Chris Sununu claimed at an Executive Council meeting held in Wakefield last week that cyanobacteria are “not toxic.” But scientists have found that cyanobacteria, especially blooms, frequently produce toxins.
“This is not toxic. This does not kill people,” Sununu said to Robert Scott, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Services. “Right? That’s not what this issue is. I think some dogs, I think they’ve been warned that … dogs shouldn’t eat it or something like that if they’re in the water.”
“Please make sure that people understand this is not some deadly bacterial bloom that should shut down beaches or anything like that,” Sununu told the commissioner. He said cyanobacteria was “a yucky, slimy thing” but that the department’s messaging on the issue was “terrible.”
On Sununu’s claim that cyanobacteria aren’t toxic: “That’s wrong,” said Jessica Volan Trout-Haney, an aquatic ecologist at Dartmouth who studies cyanotoxins. “… There are, you know, occasionally species that don’t produce toxins, but almost every time we measure for cyanotoxins in bloom conditions, they are present. So if there are cyanobacteria there, they’re almost always producing toxins. It’s very consistent.”
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Cyanotoxins, of which there are different kinds, can cause rashes, fevers, headaches, mouth blisters, vomiting, acute liver damage, and more, according to DES, and “long-term exposure can harm the liver and central nervous system.” They can also kill pets.
Trout-Haney said that “almost every strain or species of cyanobacteria produces cyanotoxins.” The level of those toxins varies, she said, and cyanobacteria produce more toxins when blooming. These toxins cannot be detected by the eye; there must be testing to know if they’re present.
On its Healthy Swimming Mapper, where it tracks cyanobacteria blooms and fecal bacteria, DES “advises lake users to avoid contact with the water in the vicinity of areas experiencing blooms” and keep pets and livestock out of the water. Sununu’s frustration with DES was voiced in a conversation about a bloom on Lake Winnipesaukee, as first reported by InDepthNH.org.
“When the state is putting out these alerts, that is because there’s bloom conditions; it’s above a certain threshold that’s deemed safe,” Trout-Haney said. “And that’s based on the studies that we’ve conducted that look at cyanotoxin production with growth. So when there’s a bloom, that means there’s a lot of growth, and that means there’s more toxins, and they’re also generally producing more than one type of toxin.”
While cyanobacteria play an important role in ecosystems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “excessive growth of cyanobacteria can lead to ‘blooms’ that can cause ecological and human health concerns.”
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“Some cyanobacteria are able to produce highly potent toxins, known as cyanotoxins, that can lead to a variety of health problems for both human and aquatic species,” the agency said, pointing to examples such as “abdominal, neurological, and skin issues.”
There is still much to learn about the impact of cyanobacteria on human health, said Kathryn L. Cottingham, a Dartmouth professor and researcher.
What we do know, she said: “We know that some cyanobacteria produce toxins, that some of those toxins accumulate in our livers and cause cancers, that some of those toxins are neurotoxins that can impact our brains, and that it’s really hard to know just looking at something what’s happening with the toxins.”
How to stay safe
Some activities pose more risks than others. Direct contact with the bloom and ingesting that water, such as through swimming, are the main things to avoid, Trout-Haney said.
“I take the precautionary principle,” Cottingham said. “If I see a bloom, I want to stay out of it. I want to keep my dog out of it.”
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“Every year, there are pets that do die from ingesting cyanobacteria toxins,” Trout-Haney said. Pets can drink the water while swimming in a bloom or lick harmful toxins off of themselves when they come out of the water, she said.
People with compromised immune systems, children, and older people are more at risk, she said.
Shallow areas of the water tend to be less safe, Trout-Haney said, because it’s warmer and there’s less mixing. Cyanobacteria thrive in warm, sunny, nutrient-rich environments. Often, there are blooms on the shore of the lake, but the middle of the water body is clear, she said.
“If you’re driving your boat through a bloom, that’s probably fine,” Trout-Haney said, but “it’s probably wise to minimize your time right in that bloom area, and go to an area that is less bloom heavy.”
As for other activities, “if you are spending a lot of time right next to a bloom, there’s a possibility that you’re inhaling cells. We measure cells coming out of the water and into the air pretty regularly,” she said. “But how much of an impact that actually has on your long term health? You know, that’s where … there’s a lot still unknown.”
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And for anglers, “the safest thing to do is if you’re in a big bloom area … (is) move outside of that area to collect fish that you’re going to consume,” Trout-Haney said.
