N.H. Man Accused of Killing Grandmother, 76, with a Hammer

A New Hampshire man was arrested and charged in connection together with his grandmother’s demise, in accordance with the state’s legal professional common workplace.

The New Hampshire Division of Justice shared in a press launch that 23-year-old Joshua Lanchester was arrested and charged with one rely of second-degree homicide, after his 76-year-old grandmother Cynthia Lanchester was discovered useless inside a house in Easton.

Officers mentioned 911 dispatchers acquired a “cellphone name for a medical emergency” within the space at 11:41 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28. After arriving on the dwelling, police discovered the lady “[lying] on the bottom, deceased” and “seemed to be affected by a blunt drive trauma wound.”

On the dwelling, police additionally “encountered” her grandson, Joshua, who was arrested that night, after alleging that he “recklessly [caused] the demise of Cynthia Lanchester with a lethal weapon, a hammer,” the N.H. DOJ mentioned.

The DOJ didn’t share another particulars into how authorities decided Joshua’s connection to the incident and his arrest, noting that he was being held with out bail forward of his arraignment.

In courtroom on Monday, Sept. 30, Joshua waived his arraignment, and it was unclear when his subsequent courtroom date can be scheduled, WMUR-TV reported.

On Sunday, Sept. 29, the legal professional common’s workplace shared Cynthia’s post-mortem outcomes performed by Affiliate Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Abigail Alexander in an up to date launch.

Alexander decided that the her reason behind demise was “blunt drive trauma to the top,” and her method of demise was “murder.”

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In response to the workplace, detectives had been nonetheless investigating the “precise circumstances surrounding the incident.” 

“Investigators are persevering with to look into the sequence of occasions involving Mrs. Lanchester’s grandson, Joshua Lanchester, who was arrested Saturday,” the DOJ mentioned, including that he “is presumed harmless until and till confirmed responsible.”

One among Cynthia’s neighbors, Robert Andersen, described her to WMUR-TV as “a pleasant woman” who was “very quiet” and personal.

“It’s unhappy,” he added. “Once we had been going out for a stroll earlier at present, we noticed the yellow tape. Then, once we got here again from the stroll an hour later, and we noticed the cop automobile sitting there, we knew one thing was actually unsuitable.”

One other neighbor, Bobbe McIntyre, informed the outlet that the incident was “one thing that very hardly ever occurs,” within the small city: “Now we have a peaceable neighborhood, and for one thing like that to occur, it freaks individuals out, however I do know that it is a rarity.”