New Hampshire town records first homicide in 250-year history

A murder-suicide in Fremont, N.H., has rattled its 4,400 residents

New Hampshire town records first homicide in 250-year history

A New Hampshire town is reeling after an autopsy confirmed the first homicide in its 250-year history.

The New Hampshire attorney general's office announced Monday the conclusion reached by a medical examiner that 52-year-old Mary Lucas died in her home after her boyfriend, 51-year-old Michael Porter, strangled her. Porter was found dead in a truck about a mile away with what police said was a single self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Local historian Matthew Thomas told Seacoastonline.com that it was the first murder in the history of the sleepy, 4,400-person town located about 50 miles north of Boston.

“This is a sad day in Fremont history. We were the last town in Rockingham County to not have a murder," Thomas said. "It showed what a tight-knit community we were. It was a good town to grow up in, and it still is.”

According to Fremont's online police logs, there were just four reported assaults in 2013, two DUIs and no robberies. The most recent press release on the Police Department's website, posted in August, warned residents of a possible phone scam.

Which makes Friday's scene — with police tape surrounding two crime scenes, a state police helicopter flying overhead and a school placed on "soft" lockdown — all the more shocking.

“I am at loss for words that someone has done the unimaginable," Michael Lucas, Mary's brother, wrote on Facebook. "Taken from us too soon, she did not deserve to leave us this way. Mary, you touched so many people with your warm heart, infectious smile and caring ways. So many wonderful memories, our family will forever love and miss you.”

Lucas, a mother of three, worked at a local market, opening the store at 5:30 a.m. every day.

“She was always here," Liberty Square Market owner Barry Arnofsky told Seacoastonline.com. "She was like clockwork. She would do anything for you. She’s irreplaceable,” he said.

Her next-door neighbor, 74-year-old Marcia Emery, said Lucas “was very sweet, she really was.”

Jessica Calvani, another neighbor, described her as "super nice, very friendly."

Thomas, who knew Porter and served as justice of the peace at his wedding, said he was shocked by the killing.

“He was always nice and polite,” Thomas recalled, "and kind of soft spoken."