Case comes in from the cold

Thursday, January 28, 2010

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Here is a look at other cold cases in Milford and the surrounding area listed by the state’s new cold case unit. Anyone with information on these cases can contact the unit at 271-2663, 271-1255 or coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov.

Milford – Michael Kierstead: On Sept. 5, 1986, the body of the 25-year-old Greenville man was discovered in a sand pit off North River Road in Milford. Police say he was stabbed to death. The day before, he was seen on Main Street in Wilton after he withdrew money from Indian Head Bank.

According to a story in The Cabinet, Kierstead was seen talking to two men who were in a two-door, blue, mid-1970s sedan on Main Street at about 4 p.m. Sept. 4, and the operator of the vehicle was described as a white male, 18-20 years old, clean-cut, with short, dark hair. Kierstead was last seen getting into the sedan.

At the time of the murder, he was living in Frost Trailer Park in Greenville, and was manager at Webber House in Milford, a home for the mentally disabled. He grew up in Seabrook, and family members said he had struggled with alcohol and cocaine addictions, and sometimes got belligerent when drunk. He had been sober before his death, however, as far as friends and family knew.

Kierstead habitually got around by hitchhiking, getting rides from friends and bicycling.

Merrimack – Megan Jimenez: On June 15, 1989, Merrimack Police received a call for service from Karen Jimenez, mother of Megan Jimenez. When the police arrived at 15 Sharon Ave. in Merrimack, the officer found Megan, age 2½, unresponsive and not breathing. Megan was not revived and was declared dead at the hospital that same day. An autopsy determined that her death was a homicide as a result of long-term pattern physical abuse.

Merrimack – Diane Compagna and Anne Psaradelis: On July 12, 1973, two 15-year-old girls from Merrimack, Diane Compagna and Anne Psaradelis, disappeared. They had been seen at Hampton Beach and were last seen hitchhiking in the direction of Merrimack late in the afternoon of July 12. It was first thought that they had run away, but two months went by without any word from either girl. Their badly decomposed bodies were discovered on Sept. 29, 1973, in the woods off New Boston Road in Candia. The area is within a short distance of Route 101, which is the road leading from Merrimack to Hampton Beach. The manner of death was undetermined because of the condition of the bodies, but it’s believed the girls were strangled.

Hollis – Eddy Segall: Segall, 28, of Nashua, was reported missing on June 15, 1977, when she failed to return a borrowed vehicle. She borrowed the vehicle daily to attend an exercise class at Women’s World in Merrimack. She never attended her class that day. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing blue jeans, a white tank top and rubber shower sandals, and had a brown, shoulder-type pocketbook. Segall was reported to have dark brown hair and hazel eyes and to be 5 feet, 1 inch tall and 118 pounds. The vehicle she borrowed was a two-door, light green, 1969 Oldsmobile. The car was found on July 3, 1977, in the woods off Wheeler Road in Hollis. The keys were found 150 feet behind the vehicle in the middle of the road. Prior to moving to New Hampshire, Segall had lived in Florida.

Bedford – Unidentified female: On Oct. 6, 1971, the body of a female was located in a wooded area at the end of Kilton Road near the Route 101 bypass in Bedford (now the on-ramp from Route 101 to Kilton Road in Bedford). Forensic analysis indicated the victim had died about one to three months before her body was discovered. The victim’s identity has never been determined. Based on a post-mortem examination, the victim was a Caucasian female, about 25-35 years old and between 61 and 65 inches tall. Her hair color was possibly brown. She was wearing a maroon pullover blouse with lace at the neck, short hip-hugger dungaree-type shorts and size 7 sandals. The manner of death hasn’t been determined, but the circumstances indicate that foul play was involved.

MILFORD – Paul Herlihy, the devoted father of a troubled teenage son, moved to Milford in the winter of 2003.

Six months later, his body was found in the Nashua Street home that he was turning into an antiques shop.

Almost seven years have passed, but Herlihy’s death is one of more than 100 unsolved homicides in New Hampshire into which the state’s first cold case unit has begun looking.

The unit consists of a state prosecutor and three crime investigators who will investigate the unsolved murders or suspicious deaths of 117 people, some that go back 40 years, Attorney General Michael Delaney told reporters recently.

The victims range from a 5-week-old child to a 76-year-old retired police chief.

“All of them share one thing in common: The killer has not been brought to justice,’’ Delaney said.

No suspect, weapon or motive was ever identified in the killing of Herlihy, a 52-year-old antiques dealer. Police say he had been dead for several days before his body was found on Aug. 27, 2003, in the house at 425 Nashua St. after a family member asked police to check his welfare.

Prosecutors wouldn’t say how long the body had been there or what kind of weapon was used.

Herlihy’s son, Douglas, was arrested the next day in Stoneham, Mass., on motor vehicle and drug charges, but he refused to speak with New Hampshire investigators about his father’s murder, his lawyer said at the time.

The teenager was driving his father’s 1995 Lincoln, and investigators said at the time he was a “person of interest,” but not a suspect.

Less than two weeks before his father’s body was found, the boy had taken the car without permission, and police found him sleeping in it in Saugus, Mass., with more than four pounds of marijuana and a quarter pound of psychedelic mushrooms, according to news reports from the time.

Later that month in Milford District Court, the elder Herlihy was “soft spoken and obviously distressed,” The Cabinet reported, while the son seemed eager to leave and “showed little respect” for the proceedings or for Judge Martha Crocker. He pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of the car and received a suspended sentence.

Less than 10 days later, Douglas Herlihy was being sought for questioning in his father’s homicide.

A longtime acquaintance of Paul Herlihy from Melrose said recently that the divorced antiques dealer moved to New Hampshire to get his son away from the city. The son reportedly traveled between his mother’s residence in Massachusetts and his father’s house in Milford.

The Melrose friend, who didn’t want to be named, said the elder Herlihy had a strong personality and “wasn’t well liked in the city,” but was a devoted father who wanted to get his son out of Melrose and away from his drug connections.

“Paul was an OK guy, but he was not warm and fuzzy,” she said. “He was all about business.”

“Everyone was sorry he was murdered,” she said. “He loved his son. He had nothing but the best of intentions. It’s good that they are trying to look into it again. There were people who loved him.”

Melrose Police Chief Michael Lyle said that while he worked in his department’s traffic division, he sometimes spoke with Paul Herlihy.

“He was pretty much a decent guy,” he said.

However, Lyle said, the son has drug problems and has been in and out of court. In a case from April 2008 that’s still pending, Lyle said Douglas Herlihy allegedly stole jewelry and a car from a local restaurant owner.

In 2003, Melrose Police said officers had responded to the Herlihy residence 39 times over three years for domestic disturbances, although no violence was ever reported between father and son.

One police sergeant said Paul Herlihy would “go out of his way to keep the kid out of trouble.”

Milford Police said they had responded twice to disputes in the six months Paul Herlihy lived here.

Gov. John Lynch signed into law the legislation creating the cold case units in July. The program has funding for the next three and a half years.

Senior Assistant Attorney General William Delker, a longtime homicide prosecutor, heads the cold case unit. He doesn’t comment specifically on any of the cases.

The cold case unit also includes State Police Sgt. Scott Gilbert, Trooper 1st Class John Encarnacao and investigator Robert Freitas.

The Web site for the unit (doj.nh.gov/coldcaseunit) includes a list of the cases, advice for victims’ families and suggestions on how to make tips.

Delaney told reporters the unit would start with a “handful’’ of cases that appear to be the most solvable.

“It’s going to be important for this unit to actively work and seek results,’’ Delaney said. “We are hoping the work of the unit will demonstrate the need for its existence into the long term.’’

Staff writer Kevin Landrigan contributed to this report.