This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Sandra Marisol Fuentes at her workplace in Berlin, his friend called the police to tell them he was worried.
Gleason told his friend Walter Marchiso that he was “having a hard time with the woman he married” and that he should “just kill himself and maybe take her too.”
Marchiso contacted the Carroll County Sheriff’s office at 6:17 a.m. on July 4, after he gave Gleason a ride to rent a car in Somersworth the day before.
When Berlin police contacted Gleason about an hour later, he denied knowing anyone named Marchiso and insisted he didn’t need any help. No further action was taken.
In a report released Tuesday, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office stated that the Berlin Police Department’s response was “wholly insufficient” given the circumstances.
On July 6, just three minutes after 25-year-old Fuentes arrived at La Casita Mexican restaurant for work, Gleason confronted her behind the bar. He shot her three times, killing her instantly.
Then he turned the gun on himself. He shot himself in the face, stumbled around the restaurant, and then shot himself a second time.
Gleason had arrived at the restaurant two hours earlier, before any staff showed up to prepare for the day’s service, to put his deadly plan into motion. He hid behind two high-backed booths in the corner with a sawed-off shotgun.
The report reviews the case’s history, analyzes how various agencies responded, and identifies what went wrong to learn from this domestic violence homicide — a tragedy that many advocates against domestic violence say could have been prevented.
See more coverage of this case:
- Judiciary launches review of domestic violence case that led to murder of Berlin woman
- Review of Berlin killing finds gaps in DV protections; magistrate who presided over case leaves
- Widely criticized Berlin case will be examined by NH's new domestic violence committee
Dropped call
The dispatch call log shows that Marchiso had raised serious concerns about Gleason, noting that he was “not in the right frame of mind” and that he was looking for a rental car despite already having his own vehicles.
Gleason parked the rented car within walking distance of the restaurant on the day of the murder.
Despite the information relayed to them, Berlin Police did not inform Fuentes of the threat nor did they offer her assistance or support or follow up with Marchiso.
An internal investigation is currently underway within the Berlin Police Department.
“This lack of action highlights the need for further training for law enforcement in communicating with and supporting victims in domestic violence cases,” the report states.
After Fuentes reported that Gleason had sexually assaulted her and stolen from her on April 25, the police prosecutor had argued that he be denied bail, but both the magistrate and the Circuit Court declined to hold him on preventive detention. Instead, she was granted an emergency protection order, and Gleason was required to relinquish all firearms.
During a sweep of Gleason’s home, the Berlin Police Department seized 24 firearms, along with a crossbow, a sword, and other weapons. However, they missed a gun hidden on a windowsill behind a curtain—a Glock 19. While this was not the weapon used to kill Fuentes, it represented an oversight by the police. A neighbor had discovered the weapon and kept it away from Gleason.
The report states that there is “no evidence to suggest that the officers’ failure to discover and seize the Glock 19 was due to gross negligence.”
System improvements
Before the murder of Fuentes, both an internal judicial review and the Attorney General’s report identified multiple points where various agencies and stakeholders could have intervened to prevent the tragedy.
Executive Councilor Janet Stevens said that the report shows deficiencies in the systems that need to be strengthened.
“Marisol Fuentes’ experience demonstrates a systemic failure: victims at high-risk were left to rely on coworkers and the kindness of strangers for their own safety, despite protective orders and credible threats. This cannot continue,” she said in a statement.
To strengthen the response when someone faces domestic violence or abuse, the report has outlined key action steps. These include specialized training for prosecutors and clear guidelines on when preventive detention or bail should be granted or revoked in the case of domestic violence.
Law enforcement officers will receive enhanced training to process protective orders and seize firearms and to communicate support and resources to victims. The Department of Justice is collaborating with the Police Standards and Training Council to implement these improvements.
Both the Attorney General’s report and the internal judicial review highlighted the need for better information sharing. Currently, critical details about cases often become compartmentalized as they move through different stages of the criminal justice system, limiting timely interventions.
Another important step is the implementation of electronic monitoring for individuals released on bail. At present, only eight counties in the state have electronic monitoring systems. Coos County, where Gleason and Fuentes lived, lacks this capability.
The Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee will also examine this case, using the reports and additional information to develop actionable recommendations and legislative proposals aimed at better protecting survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
Final moments
On July 5, a day before his plan to carry out the attack, Gleason met with his relative, Douglas Cameron, in Colebrook. Cameron, who hadn’t spoken to Gleason in some time, was unaware of his bail conditions prohibiting him from possessing a firearm. During their meeting, Cameron loaned Gleason a shotgun that was supposed to be for skeet shooting.
The next day, Gleason used a set of copied keys to enter La Casita, the restaurant in Berlin where Fuentes worked, at approximately 7:12 a.m. and locked the door behind him. He carried the shotgun and a bottle of tequila, then concealed himself between high-backed booths in the dining area, waiting for Fuentes to arrive.
While hiding, he left notes on his phone through the talk-to-text feature that blamed her for his rage and revealed his intent to kill both Fuentes and himself.
“Marisol knows why this is happening,” he said. “Using me to get a green card was not right and then destroying my life to get it because I was gonna divorce her,” were some of the notes he left.
At around 9:38 a.m., Gleason emerged from his hiding spot and shot Fuentes in the head behind the bar. As she fell unconscious, he fired two additional shots that struck her midsection. It took him just five seconds to fire all three rounds.
Immediately afterward, he went to the customer bathroom and shot himself in the face. Footage recovered by investigators showed that the left side of his face sustained massive injuries. Despite this, Gleason stumbled through the dining room for about a minute before returning to the bathroom.
He then placed the gun under his chin and fired once more.
“Marisol Fuentes’ life was taken from her in a senseless and tragic act of violence,” John Formella said in a statement.
“The discussion of these issues is not intended to assign blame for a tragic event where Michael Gleason Jr. is solely responsible for his own actions.”
