Ten days after announcing that Concord couple Steve and Wendy Reid were murdered, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office has shared little new information about the status of the double homicide investigation, including how many police officers are working on the case.
The Reids were reported missing by family members on April 20. Police say the outdoorsy couple went for a walk around 2:20 p.m. on April 18.
Their bodies were discovered on the Broken Ground trails on April 21. At a press conference the next day at Concord City Council Chambers, Senior Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward said that the couple had been shot to death. Since then, authorities have not held any press conferences and remain limited in what they reveal about the case.
The investigation into the Reids’ deaths is being led by the Concord Police Department and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, according to Department of Justice Director of Communications Michael Garrity. The same is true for any homicide that occurs in Concord, but in this case, the New Hampshire State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigations have helped too.
“Other agencies sometimes do lend assistance in homicide cases, which is what is happening in this case,” Garrity wrote in an email to the Monitor.
Garrity declined to answer questions about how many personnel from each agency were working on the case or which individual officers had been assigned to focus on the Reids’ deaths. Concord Deputy Chief John Thomas referred questions about how many Concord police officers were assigned to the case to the Attorney General’s Office.
Associate Attorney General Jeff Strelzin explained last week that prosecutors are bound by ethical rules that restrict what information they can share, even when the public is clamoring for more information.
“That’s generally why, in criminal investigations, authorities are circumspect in the details because we are limited by rules of professional conduct and the requirements to protect the integrity of the investigation,” Strelzin said.
The Concord Police Department and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office have repeatedly asked members of the public to share any information that could be helpful to the investigation. Tips can be made anonymously to the Concord Crimeline at 603-226-3100 or by calling the Concord Police Department at 603-225-8600.
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visitcollaborativenh.org.
