Murder-Suicide Case Being Investigated In Derry

CONCORD, NH — The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office is investigating a murder-suicide incident in Derry involving a father and his son, according to a press statement. Police in Derry were sent to a manufactured home park on Kendall Pond Road for a welfare check call on Feb. 12, 2018, at around 12:20 p.m. When they arrived, they found that the manufactured home was locked.

Police entered the home, searched it, and found a sign hanging from a living room ceiling fan warning police that they would find a man and his son inside a bedroom but be aware of dangerous carbon monoxide levels.

Police made their way to the bedroom – which was locked – and entered in and discovered the bodies of Matthew Edmunds, 39, and his son, Preston Connor Edmunds, 6. The home, according to officials, was sealed with duct tape and blankets from the inside, to contain the carbon monoxide.

Autopsies were performed on the bodies and the cause of death has been determined to be carbon monoxide poisoning and the manner of death is homicide, in the case of the boy, and suicide, in the case of the father, according to Benjamin Agati, a senior assistant attorney general.

Toxicology reports will take several months, Agati stated, and no further information is expected until that time.

Image via Tony Schinella, Patch staff.

A free, 24/7 confidential service is available that can provide people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, or those around them, with support, information, and local resources. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255).