Canadian Man Faces Murder Charges Again in Killing of Lesbian Couple in Nashua

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A Canadian man will appear in Nashua District Court Wednesday morning on murder charges in the 1988 killing of a lesbian couple in Nashua.

David Caplin, 53, of Nashua, is scheduled to be arraigned at 10 a.m.

This is the second time he has been charged with murder in the case.

Prosecutors said Caplin and fellow Canadian Anthony Barnaby, 47, murdered Charlene Ranstrom, 48, and Brenda Warner, 32, in the couple’s Nashua apartment. Caplin and Barnaby previously harassed the couple for being gay in the days leading up to their deaths, prosecutors said.

Barnaby was tried three times starting in 1989. All three trials resulted in a hung jury. Caplin was charged with murder but never tried.

Nashua police reopened the case in 2010 and used new DNA evidence to secure a warrant for the men on new murder charges.

Barnaby and Caplin were working construction jobs in the Nashua area and were in their 20s at the time of the murders.

Barnaby will be the first person in New Hampshire to be tried four times for the same crime, according to his lawyer, Mark Sisti.

“It’s absolutely outrageous,” he told the Canadian Press.

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Photo: David Caplin. (Credit: Nashua police)