New Hampshire
Mom’s chilling final words to husband revealed before teen brother-in-law killed her, kids: docs
A New Hampshire mom sent her husband a message minutes before her teen brother-in-law allegedly shot her and her two young sons to death.
Prosecutors revealed 25-year-old Kassandra Sweeney’s final words to Sean Sweeney in court papers filed last week in the Aug. 3, 2022, triple murder in Northfield.
The couple exchanged Snapchat videos and messages, including of their young sons, Benjamin, 4, and 23-month-old Mason.
“I hope they make you laugh,” she wrote at 10:49 a.m., which investigators believe was her final message to Sean. Less than 10 minutes later, she and the boys were each dead from a single gunshot wound to the head.
The details were in a motion filed by the New Hampshire State Attorney’s Office asking that the 17-year-old accused killer, Eric Sweeney, continue to be held without bail, which a judge granted.
The 10-page document revealed more information about the horrific slayings than prosecutors or police have disclosed since Eric, then 16, was arrested the day of the crime.
Eric had been living with his older brother Sean, 26, and his family in their rural home in picturesque Merrimack County, but tensions began to mount.
Sean called the police in June and reported that his brother had stolen his Honda Civic.
He called again on July 22 and said that his brother was “making strange comments and had hidden multiple weapons around the home.”
He told officers he was “concerned for the safety of his small children,” according to the document.
The brothers were barely speaking, and Sean grew so worried he installed a lock on the door to his master bedroom.
He and his wife wanted Eric out of their home and had begun taking steps to have him removed, according to the filing.
On Aug. 3, Eric allegedly snapped. He removed one of Sean’s two guns, a .40 Taurus handgun, from a locked safe, then allegedly gunned down his nephews and sister-in-law in the kitchen of the three-bedroom home.
Prosecutors didn’t say in what order the victims were killed, but a witness heard the screams of children shortly before Eric fled the home, suggesting their mother was shot first.
Kassandra was struck once in her right eyebrow, and both boys were shot in the crown of their heads.
Sean, who drove an oil delivery truck at the time, was on his route when Eric called from Kassandra’s iPhone and claimed “someone broke in and killed them all.”
Shortly after police arrived, Sean pulled up, followed by Eric behind the wheel of Kassandra’s silver Ford F-150.
In an interview with investigators, Eric said he was in the basement when he heard something break, then a “deep, male voice yelling followed by multiple ‘pops.’”
He told police he crept upstairs and “stepped over Kassandra and Mason’s bodies” to exit the house, the motion says.
Although tree workers were at the end of the driveway, he didn’t ask them to call for help.
He allegedly tossed the weapon from the driver’s side window on I-93 before returning to the house, according to the Merrimack Superior Court filing.
A tree worker told police he heard “what he believed was screaming or yelling of young children” at the home shortly before he reported seeing Eric leave the property in Kassandra’s F-150.
He had to remove traffic cones placed at the end of the driveway to allow him to exit and saw him return in the same truck after police arrived, the document says.
Eric, who is being tried as an adult, has been indicted on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of falsifying physical evidence, according to court records.
3 people are deceased as New Hampshire State Police investigate a crash on the Interstate 93 ramp in Salem, N.H.
State Troopers, alongside members of the Salem Fire Department and New Hampshire Department of Transportation, were dispatched at 2:02pm for a report of a single-vehicle crash at the Exit 2 offramp from 1-93 Southbound.
Initial investigations believed that the vehicle, a 2012 KIA Sportage, had veered off onto the right side of the offramp, traveling through the grass, and then striking a culvert. The vehicle immediately stopped.
Both the driver and two passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver has been identified as Rodney J. Dore, 71, of Pelham. The passengers were identified as Anne J. Dore, 70, also of Pelham, and Lisana M. Alexander, 45, of Salem.
The offramp was closed for a short period of time while troopers conducted initial investigations before reopening around 6pm.
As the investigation continues, N.H. State Police are urging the public with any information to contact Trooper Mark Lingerman at 603-223-4381 or mark.n.lingerman@dos.nh.gov.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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One person is dead after a single-vehicle crash in Nashua, New Hampshire early Sunday morning.
Nashua Fire Rescue says they responded to a report of a crash at around 1:08 a.m.
When they arrived, authorities say they found a car had hit the center barrier and ended up against the overpass on Tinker Road.
Hydraulic rescue tools were used to access the person inside the car, according to authorities.
The person in the car was declared dead at the scene.
New Hampshire State Police is investigating the incident.
New Hampshire
90-year-old great-grandmother graduates from New Hampshire college 50 years after finishing degree
MANCHESTER N.H. – Some people may have thought there was a celebrity in the building at Southern New Hampshire University’s graduation on Saturday. Annette Roberge certainly felt like one as she crossed the stage to get her diploma at 90 years old.
“I’m still on cloud nine,” Roberge said. “I can’t even put it into words. It was exhilarating, it was awesome, it was beyond anything I could’ve possibly imagined.”
Degree 50 years in the making
This degree has been decades in the making for the mother of five, grandmother of 12, and great-grandmother of 15. She began taking classes at New Hampshire College, now SNHU, in 1972 one year after her husband of 20 years was killed in Vietnam.
She completed several night and weekend courses before it took a backseat to her five kids and two jobs. Roberge worked as an insurance agent while she finished up as a lunch lady at a nearby school. Roberge retired at age 75, but she was a woman who loved learning, and she knew something was missing from her life.
“If I started something I just have to finish it,” Roberge said.
But it wasn’t until recently that Roberge’s daughter began poking around and learned her mom had earned enough credits for an associate’s degree in business administration. Barring some health challenges, Roberge finally walked across the stage on Saturday to the roaring cheers from her fellow graduates and a standing ovation.
“Never give up on learning because what you learn can never be taken away from you,” Roberge said.
“It matters so much for the example it sets about what we do for ourselves, to keep learning and stretching and growing,” SNHU President Lisa Marsh Ryerson said.
“Don’t ever give up on a dream”
Roberge even had a parting message for all of her new fellow graduates.
“If you’ve got a dream don’t let it just sit there. Do something, make it work, don’t ever give up on a dream.”
If you thought Roberge would be satisfied with her associate’s degree you’d be wrong. She plans to start working towards her bachelor’s degree in January.
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