Gun evidence the focus at trial of man accused in NH double-murder
CONCORD, N.H. (WCAX) — A man charged with shooting a New Hampshire couple to death on a hiking trail last year -- and spent months hiding from police in South Burlington -- is now on trial.
The bodies of Stephen and Wendy Reid were found off a popular hiking trail in Concord, New Hampshire in April of last year. On Tuesday, prosecutors laid out the case against Logan Clegg, the man they say is responsible for the murders.
“The defendant hid out of state and he attempted to flee the country,” said New Hampshire Senior Asst. Attorney General Meghan Hagaman.
A fake Romanian passport is evidence of one of several aliases prosecutors say Clegg used, but they say all the names point back to the same person.
“The one and only person who shot and killed them on the Marsh Loop Trail. The one and only person who concealed their bodies and dragged them off the trail so no one would find them. The one and only person who burned his tent site, wiped information from his laptop, and bought a one-way ticket out of the country,” Hagaman told the jury.
The Reids were shot to death while out for an afternoon walk. Clegg was living in the woods at that time and was questioned by police shortly after the couple went missing. Then, he disappeared. Police were able to track Clegg using nearby surveillance video, credit card transactions, and a bus ticket to Vermont, where he was ultimately arrested in South Burlington. Clegg had been working and camping in Vermont for months and prosecutors say when he was apprehended, he had the murder weapon on him. “In the backpack, they found a 9 mm handgun,” Hagaman said.
“He did have a gun and he did lie and moved around. He tried to hide his identity,” said Caroline Smith, Clegg’s lawyer. But she raised questions about the integrity of the crime scene in New Hampshire, where shell casings matching Clegg’s gun were located. “What you didn’t hear about is they suddenly appeared one month later in an area that had been searched by dogs, canines -- people over and over and over again for that very thing.”
Smith says prosecutors also have yet to offer a motive for the killings. “Logan had no connection to the Reids, he had no contact with the Reids, and he did not murder the Reids,” she told the jury.
After opening statements Tuesday, the jury toured the crime scene where police say the murders took place. Dozens of witnesses are expected to be called during the trial which is scheduled to last several weeks.
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