Concord Detectives Use Bullet Evidence, Alias, Burner Email To Find Suspected Killer

CONCORD, NH — The tireless search for the killer of a retired couple may not have been successful had detectives not randomly run into the suspect, accused of giving a false name to police, a day before the couple’s bodies were found on an East Concord trail.

After Stephen and Djeswende Reid were reported missing by family, two detectives searching the Alton Woods apartment complex and a nearby wooded area on April 20, first encountered the Reids' suspected killer, Logan Levar Clegg, 26. The man, who called himself “Arthur Kelly,” possessed several cans of Mountain Dew Code Red soda, according to court records obtained by Patch. Dispatch had no record of the man, so detectives moved along and continued to search for clues.

The next day, April 21, the bodies of the Reids, who were both shot multiple times, were found in a wooded area off the Marsh Loop Trail about a half mile from the complex, with their deaths determined to be homicides.

Detectives returned to the campsite of “Arthur Kelly” and found it to be abandoned with nothing left behind.

They then went to Walmart to check surveillance footage for recent Mountain Dew Code Red soda purchases and found a man with a consistent appearance like “Arthur Kelly,” but they could not confirm it was the same man, a report said.

After the media reported the killings, a witness came forward and stated she had been hiking with her dogs on the Marsh Loop Trail underneath the Eversource power lines the day of the killings and saw the Reids. They were “hiking at a faster pace than her,” so she moved her dogs off the trail and let them pass. After entering the wooded entrance of the trail about five or 10 minutes later, she heard five gunshots.

“The witness believed the shots came from nearby and were from a handgun as opposed to a rifle,” the report said. “She and her dogs were startled, and she was initially reluctant to continue the hike but ultimately continued down the trail.”

Minutes later, the witness encountered a man standing on the trail looking into the woods to her right — which was consistent with the side of the trail where the Reids were later discovered. The woman said the man stood on the trail for a bit and looked back and forth between her and the woods. As she continued to walk north, he walked south past her, exiting the trail. The man did not say anything, she said, and she did not see any firearms. As she continued to walk, at one point, she turned and saw him staring at her. She continued walking, checked back again, and he was gone.

The witness described the man as white, in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, thin, with short brown and clean shaven but also looking like he was homeless or a street person. He wore a blue hoodie or jacket, khakis, and a black backpack. The man was carrying a brown plastic grocery-type bag with heavy items, and she noticed a circular object protruding through the plastic that might have been a can or jar.

The witness did not report anything out of the ordinary while walking the rest of the trail and did not report seeing any bodies.

Based on data from her cellphone, detectives estimated the Reids were killed at just before 3 p.m. on April 18.

In the report, police stated blood and bullet fragments were recovered from the scene but estimated the killer only had about five minutes from the time of the shootings and the movement of the bodies to occur before she entered the area.

For nearly a month, police had no suspect leads.

Sketch Leads To Tips

On May 17, a photo of the suspect, put together by an FBI sketch artist with the assistance of the witness, was released.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office received dozens of tips, but none resulted in a positive identification of the suspect.

A few days later, police revisited the scene, and two spent Sig Luger 9 mm shell casings were found about five feet from where the shooting was suspected to have taken place. They were “within the estimated size range of the bullets which killed the Reids,” the report said.

The forensic lab for the New Hampshire State Police later confirmed the bullets were fired from the same gun.

During the next several weeks, police learned from residents the man in the sketch was believed to be homeless and living somewhere on the Broken Ground Trail system starting in November 2021. The man was “often carrying plastic grocery bags or Amazon packages into the woods” and was “unfriendly to others.”

The man also disappeared after the homicides were discovered, the report said.

A Burnt Tent Site

Police, at one point, were called to Profile Avenue to speak to residents about a homeless tent that had been burned during the same time period as the Reids being reported missing and later killed.

An officer had previously been to the site in January after one resident reported the single tent to police. The officer inspected the site and found the tent had a lock on it. But there was no one around. The officer later told others that, unlike other homeless campsites, this one was “well-kept, with a pair of boots neatly placed in front of the door.” The first resident said he recalled the tent being there at least until April 15.

A second resident reported finding the tent burned with small propane tanks in the shape of a tent at the same site and took a photo of it on April 20. Damage to area trees looked like it had been burned a day or two before. The officer confirmed to detectives it was the same site they visited in January.

At the site, police found 155 small propane tanks, 47 Mountain Dew and Coca-Cola cans, debris, cooking equipment, various plastic bags, clothes, a melted bottle, Euro coins, silverware, and knife blades. Food packaging, cans, jars, mugs, and glass droppers, “initially thought to be smoking devices,” were also found, too.

Investigators believe the site was occupied for weeks or months before being vacated at the same time of the killings.

“The timeframe is consistent with the reports of the unidentified white male frequently encountered on the Broken Ground Trails,” an affidavit said.

Tracking Down ‘Mountain Dew Man’

Months passed with no solid leads.

However, in July, while reviewing security footage from the Shaw’s Supermarket on the day of the killings, a man wearing dark pants and boots, a blue jacket, and a black leather hat, and carrying a black backpack was seen leaving the store at around 2:30 p.m.

A detective nicknamed him “Mountain Dew Man” and said it was the same man they encountered near Alton Woods when the Reids were reported missing and the man in the Walmart footage. Another detective was asked to eye the footage and agreed it was the same man. The man was carrying a brown plastic grocery bag with objects inside, just as the witness had described.

The only difference between the two was the color of his pants, the detective noted, which were dark in the footage but tan, according to the witness. The man was seen in the footage walking toward the apartment complex to the Marsh Loop Trail.

The detective walked from the store, through the complex, and to the trail and “found there was adequate time for a person walking that route to arrive at the crime scene before the murders occurred,” the report said.

Police also reached out to Walmart to search its data for small propane tank sales, and an employee stated they recalled a man who always came in and bought tanks during the winter. The man “always wore a black baseball hat and black backpack” as well as a bandana mask. The man would get the propane tanks, head to the grocery section, and use the self-service aisle to check out. He never interacted with anyone else at the store, the employee said.

The store pulled together footage from January and February and found the man’s backpack had a white mark on the back, his face was covered in cloth masks, and he paid cash.

There were about 47 separate transactions involving “Mountain Dew Man” between November 2021 and April at Walmart, the report said. The first appeared to be on Nov. 28, 2021, when he purchased a four-person tent and a watch. He was wearing the same outfit then as he was wearing on April 18 but had a paper mask instead of a bandana, according to security footage. On the morning of April 19, police said, less than 24 hours after the killings, he purchased a new three-person tent, sleeping bag, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

There were no other transactions after April 20.

A Return To The Burnt Tent Site

A team of detectives returned to the Profile Avenue Trail Connector on Aug. 25 to search the area again.

Two detectives, using metal detectors, recovered a single Sig Luger 9 mm spent shell inside the debris of the original tent footprint. It had the same markings as the previous two shells found in late May.

Eight more shell casings were found about 15 feet from the tent site in separate spots a few feet from each other. Detectives also noted the casings were “consistent with ejection patterns” while target shooting. They also found multiple trees with bullet scars or marks.

On Aug. 30 and Aug. 31, detectives were back at the burnt tent site and the Marsh Loop Trail with another metal detector.

They found another 10 Sig Luger 9 mm shell casings at the tent site as well as a bullet in the ground in another area downrange from the casings. After returning to the area where the bodies were found, police found three spent bullets about 8 to 10 inches into the ground on the trail. The rounds were all 9 mm and like the bullets found at the burnt tent site. They were also found near where blood and fragments were previously found, the report said.

The find made “it highly probable that they were fired during the shooting and may have passed through the Reids on that date,” an affidavit said.

The state police forensics lab, in mid-September, confirmed the casings were from the same gun as the casings found at the crime scene, a detective wrote.

Vitamins, Burner Email, And Crimes In Utah

After poring through Walmart records, police discovered 12 transactions where “Mountain Dew Man” had used five different credit or debit cards belonging to MetaBank Payment Services in South Dakota and Sutton Bank in Ohio.

In early September, police requested a search warrant for usage and information about the cards.

A detective noted two purchases were made on the cards in early December 2021 to a supplement website, and the customer was named Logan Clegg, the report said. The order, vitamins, was delivered to Walgreens on Loudon Road on Dec. 13, and signed for by Clegg, police said. The email address connected to the order was a “burner email” similar to the name “Arthur Kelly,” the name the man gave to the detectives who searched for the Reids the day after they were killed and reported missing, investigators claimed.

Online searches of Clegg led to a burglary arrest in Cache County, Utah, in August 2020. Police “noted immediately” that Clegg looked “remarkably similar” to “Mountain Dew Man” and the suspect sketch, a report said. He also had an active arrest warrant for burglary at Al’s Sporting Goods Store Logan, UT, involving two stolen firearms.

Later, in Salt Lake City, UT, Clegg was arrested on a shoplifting charge at Walmart, a report said.

“A loaded .45 caliber handgun was recovered from his waistband,” the report said.

The Salt Lake City police report accused Clegg of complaining three officers taking on just him was not fair, and he wished he had “a chance to pull (the gun) out and fight one on one.” Police accused him of saying he would “rather die than f------ go to prison.”

The handgun was one of two reported stolen from the store in Logan, UT, two weeks before.

The booking photo at Walmart showed Clegg wearing a black baseball cap, bandana, dark blue shirt, and dark sweatshirt — clothes that were similar to “Mountain Dew Man” in Concord.

In late August 2020, Clegg was arrested again in Logan during a burglary in progress call after he fled from officers, according to a report. He was accused of possessing the second stolen handgun from the sporting goods store. The firearm was also seized, police said, so neither gun was suspected of being used to kill the Reids.

Clegg served four days in jail until he was released on bail. In November 2020, he was sentenced to 36 months probation on fail to stop at command of law enforcement as well as felony counts of theft by receiving stolen property, burglary, and theft. Part of the sentence required him not to possess firearms or weapons and obey state laws, the report said.

In July 2021, a warrant was issued against him for failing to report to probation services.

Homeland Security Tracks Trips

Police also contacted Homeland Security Investigations for information and found Clegg flew from Denver, Colorado, to Paris in October 2019.

About 10 days later, he flew from Paris to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Clegg also flew to Portugal in June 2021, but did not return to the United States until November 2021. The feds claimed he flew from Munich, Germany, to Reykjavik, Iceland, and then to Boston, Massachusetts. Detectives surmised the Euro coins as well as a pair of headphones used on a jetliner found at the burnt tent site were probably connected to the trip.

Clegg also booked a trip to Iceland out of Boston, MA, on Feb. 26 but was listed as “not on board” when the flight left Logan Airport. Walmart security footage confirmed he was in Concord before and after the booked flight’s date, the report said.

Working In Concord, Found In Vermont

Detectives in mid-September also visited several restaurants in the city and learned Clegg worked at McDonald’s on Loudon Road in November 2021, court records said.

The manager reviewed surveillance footage that confirmed for detectives Clegg was “Mountain Dew Man,” police said. The manager also confirmed the black leather hat and booking photos from Utah, the report said. Clegg was described as “quiet, with no friends,” and they thought he was homeless “as he appeared to be living out of his backpack,” court documents stated.

His McDonald’s application, submitted on Nov. 10, 2021, confirmed his birthdate from arrest reports in Utah, the report indicated. The email on the application was the same one used for the vitamin order, police said. Clegg worked from Nov. 19, 2021, to Feb. 6, when he told the manager he had another job, the report said.

About three weeks ago, police subpoenaed information from Greyhound Bus Lines for Clegg and “Arthur Kelly” and got a hit — a May 15 trip from Boston, MA, to the Burlington, VT, airport.

The bus company reported he was taken to Albany, New York, and then switched to a Vermont Translines bus, which took him from there to the Burlington airport, the report said.

Around two weeks ago, a detective requested information from Google on the burner email address connected to “Arthur Kelly,” which was created in November 2021 and appeared to be used not for regular use but to satisfy an email address requirement, court docs said. There was very little content connected to the account — no photos, no location history, no outgoing emails, and no logins after December 2021, police reported.

The request did provide “further corroboration that ‘Arthur Kelly’ and Logan Clegg are the same individual,” the report said.

Utah police contacted Concord police on Oct. 11, warning detectives they had heard from the feds and Clegg had booked himself a flight from JFK airport in New York City to Berlin, Germany, scheduled for Oct. 14.

The booking listed a Vermont phone number later confirmed to be a Verizon Wireless TracFone, and a Burlington address — the federal courthouse on Elmwood Avenue.

An investigator contacted Verizon for cellphone location pings for the phone number every 15 minutes. The company reported to police on Oct. 11 that the phone was in the area of the Centennial Woods Phenology Place — a nearly four-mile loop used for hiking and walking.

The cellphone was also used to call a woman in Burlington who possibly worked at a store on Hinesburg Road.

On the morning of Oct. 12, detectives spotted Clegg at the store wearing a black baseball hat and dark pants while carrying a black backpack — nearly the exact same clothes he was wearing at Walmart and Shaw’s on April 18, the day the Reids were killed.

Police arrested him around 1:15 p.m. on the Utah warrant. The report said he had a laptop in his backpack at the time of the arrest.

Clegg waived his Miranda rights and agreed to speak to the police. When questioned by the same Concord detective who ran into him near the Alton Woods complex two days after the killings, “(he) acknowledged living in Concord and working at McDonald’s,” but denied camping on the Broken Ground Trail system. Police accused him of admitting to shopping at Walmart “a couple of times,” as well as denying using the alias “Arthur Kelly,” interacting with police, possessing firearms, and killing the Reids.

A week ago, South Burlington police requested a search warrant for Clegg’s backpack and a tent located off Patchen Road. The report said a black Glock 17 handgun was found inside a black holster in the backpack.

“The handgun was fully loaded with Sig Luger 9 mm ammunition,” the report said, “the same type and caliber recovered at the burnt tent site and crime scene, with one round in the chamber.”

Also in the bag was a passport, a letter addressed to “Arthur Kelly” containing an apparent Romanian passport card with the name “Claude Zemo” and Clegg’s photo, the report said. Cops also found $7,150 and two Vanilla gift cards, the report said.

A search of the tent site recovered two boxes of Sig Luger 9 mm ammunition, gun cleaning equipment, ear plugs, and an ammo magazine for the Glock 17 in a trash bag, the report said. A sleeping bag, similar to the one purchased at Walmart, was also found, the detective wrote. On a package, a name was crossed off, but the detective said it was “Arthur Kelly.”

The handgun was brought to New Hampshire to be tested at the state police lab. It was test-fired “numerous times” and compared with a bullet and fragment recovered from the crime scene and the casings found at the burnt tent site.

Based on the lab’s analysis, the markings on the casings matched the Clegg’s Glock 17 found in Vermont, the report said. The report said the lab found the bullets “were 9 mm in size and showed similar (but not unique) characteristics to include the same caliber and the same number and direction of spiraled grooves.” The lab also reported that the spent bullets and the ammunition from the Glock 17 “were consistent in design features.”

Concord police also received card purchase information from Brownells in Iowa, a gun shop, which confirmed two 17-round magazines for a Glock 17 were purchased by Clegg on March 26 and shipped to Concord, the report said. “Arthur Kelly” also paid cash for a Glock 17 as well as three boxes of Sig Luger 9 mm ammunition at a Barre, Vermont, gun shop on Feb. 12, police reported. A Vermont license was used during the transaction but found to be likely a fraudulent ID card, the report said.

Concord police issued an arrest warrant against Clegg on Oct. 18.

Prior Patch Coverage

• AG: Clegg, Accused Of Murders, Acted Alone In Concord Double Homicide: Watch
• Vermont Fugitive Logan Clegg Arrested On Concord Murder Charges
• Person Of Interest In Concord Double Homicide Case Arrested In VT
• Investigators Eyeing 400+ Tips In Retired Concord Couple Homicide Case
• SUV Has 'No Connection' To Concord Double Homicide Case: Investigators
• Investigators: Toyota SUV Owner Not A Suspect In Concord Homicide Case
• Every Motive Being Eyed In Concord Double Homicide Case: Investigators
• Concord Police Overtime Inches Up In Wake Of Heights Homicide Case
• FBI, Detectives Expand Concord Homicide Case Canvass
• Sketch From Concord Couple Killings Investigation Leads To 100+ Tips
• Concord Retired Couple Killings Reward Increased To $50K: Alert
• Person Of Interest Sought In Concord Retired Couple Killings Case
• Concord Crimeline Posts $5K Reward In Retired Couple Shootings Case
• Concord Police Beef Up Patrols, Visibility In Recreation Areas, Trails
• A Week Later, Police Chip Away At Concord Double Homicide Leads: Video
• Investigators Back At Concord Retired Couple Shootings Crime Scene
• Concord Residents Face A Mix Of Fear, Faith After Couple Shot, Killed
• Search Grid At Concord Homicide Scene Shows Sprawling Clues
• Concord Couple Shooting Update: FBI Working With Investigators
• Police, Fish & Game Search For Suspicious Death Clues In East Concord
• Missing Concord Couple's Deaths Ruled Homicides; Police Seek Tips
• Suspicious Deaths Investigation Underway At Concord's Marsh Loop Trail
• Dozens Of Police Search Concord Heights For Missing Couple: Video
• Missing Concord Couple's 'Disappearance Is Of Significant Concern'

The Concord Police Department continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the murders of Stephen and Djeswende Reid. The Concord Police Department can be reached at 603-225-8600, or tips can be submitted anonymously by contacting the Concord Regional Crimeline at 603-226-3100. Tips can also be submitted online through the Crimeline website at concordregionalcrimeline.com, or text message TIP234 and your message to CRIMES (274637).

Got a news tip? Send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel.