CONCORD – The suspect in the stabbing death of 23-year-old Jake Seaburg three months ago is no longer a suspect, according to a report just issued by the office of Deputy Attorney General Jane Young.

Reilly Lawn, also 23, will not face homicide charges, nor any other charges, in connection with the series of incidents that led to Seaburg suffering two stab wounds to the chest that ultimately caused his death, Young said in a statement that accompanied her office’s 15-page report.

Young said that the investigation, which began when state and local police arrived at the large, multi-unit apartment building on Peterborough Road in Jaffrey early the morning of Dec. 12.

How many calls police received following the stabbing isn’t known, but according to Young’s report, Lawn placed a 911 call moments after the altercation in which he “reported, in substance, that he had stabbed someone,” the report states.

“Reilly Lawn waited outside the apartment (building), where police encountered him” upon their arrival, according to the report.

Those actions by Lawn would turn out to be the first of several occasions on which Lawn recounted for investigators his recollections of what happened that morning.

Lawn’s accounts of the events would raise the possibility that Lawn was acting in self-defense, a theory that investigators began exploring as they worked through the details of the events.

Lawn’s accounts matched those of the five or six witnesses, described as friends or acquaintances of each other who had gathered at the apartment over the previous several hours, the report states.

At one point, Lawn and the witnesses told investigators, Lawn brought out some knives that he reportedly told the others he used for slaughtering livestock.

The conversation was “casual” at that point, witnesses told investigators, but a short time later, Lawn and Seaburg began arguing “over COVID-19 fatalities,” the report states.

The argument “escalated quickly … to everyone else’s surprise,” according to the report, prompting Seaburg to get up from his chair and approach Lawn, the witnesses said.

Lawn, who told investigators he was concerned for his safety at that point, “grabbed one of the knives he had shown others earlier, intending to use it to keep (Seaburg) away,” the report states.

Seaburg then punched Lawn and “threw him to the floor, maintaining his hold on him … Seaburg landed on top of Lawn, their bodies facing one another,” according to the report.

In statements he later made to police, Lawn said he believed that Seaburg “was stabbed ‘accidentally'” when Seaburg violently took down Lawn and landed on top of him.

Lawn also admitted, according to the report, to “trying to stab Seaburg in ‘self-defense’ when Seaburg was on top of him and punching him.

The three other people in the room who witnessed the “violent encounter” told investigators they did not actually see Lawn stab Seaburg, the report states.

Lawn told investigators that moments later Seaburg “rolled off of him” onto the floor, then stood up but “immediately fell to the ground.”

In summary, Young said in the report that the “accounts provided by Reilly Lawn were consistent in pertinent respects,” and also noted factors such as Lawn agreeing to speak with investigators each time and “answer all questions posed to him,” as chief reasons she decided not to bring charges against Lawn.

She also pointed out that from a legal standpoint, “when there is evidence of accident or self-defense the state must disprove it “beyond a reasonable doubt,” and in this case, she determined “that there is insufficient evidence to disprove the asserted claim of accident beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.