Case comes in from the cold

Thursday, January 28, 2010

By KATHY CLEVELAND

Staff Writer

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.