A Superior Court judge is hearing two days of scheduled testimony over disputed evidence in the killing of Steven and Djeswende Reid, the Concord couple found shot to death last April on a local walking trail. Logan Clegg, who allegedly lived in a tent behind the Reids’ apartment complex, has been charged in the couple’s murder, though no motive has yet emerged.
Clegg was interviewed by police while the couple was still reported as missing, initially giving police a false name. The next day, he then allegedly left the area before re-emerging in Burlington, Vt. six months later. Authorities used surveillance footage from a nearby Walmart, debit card information and a cell phone number to track Clegg.
Clegg’s attorneys are contending that authorities violated his constitutional rights when they obtained cell phone tracking data from a wireless provider without a search warrant. They are seeking to exclude that evidence, as well as some of Clegg’s statements, from his trial, which is scheduled to begin in July.
On Wednesday morning, Concord Police Lieutenant Marc McGonagle, who helped oversee the investigation that resulted in Clegg’s arrest, told the court that authorities had learned in early October that Clegg purchased a plane ticket to Germany, and, therefore, they didn’t have time to request and serve a search warrant to obtain his cell phone tracking data.
“We knew that we had a deadline of him leaving the country,” said McGonagle. “I knew that if he left the country, the odds of capturing him were very unlikely.”
Days before his scheduled flight, Clegg was taken into custody in Burlington on charges he had violated his probation stemming from a burglary case in Utah. He was then charged with second-degree murder in the killing of the Reids, along with multiple counts of destroying evidence.
The couple, both in their 60s, were found with multiple bullet wounds about 100 feet off of a walking trail, their bodies hidden under brush and leaves. The seemingly random nature of the crime, along with its location along a popular wooded trail, led to heightened patrols in Concord while authorities searched for suspects and asked for the public’s assistance.
McGonagle spent Wednesday morning detailing the investigation into Clegg, which included a review of Walmart surveillance footage for customers purchasing a specific type of Mountain Dew soda. A large number of cans of Mountain Dew were allegedly found near a campsite Clegg had used, leading police to initially refer to him as “Mountain Dew Man” until they traced his identity.
Police claim that a gun found in Clegg’s backpack shortly after his arrest was likely used in the murders. Attorney Maya Dominguez, who is representing Clegg, noted during cross examination on Wednesday that ballistics tests couldn’t conclusively confirm that the gun in Clegg’s possession fired the bullets that struck the Reids.
Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger is expected to rule on what evidence can be presented to jurors before the two-week trial begins on July 11.
