1 homicide victim IDed, autopsy shows another strangled

LACONIA — The state Attorney General’s Office identified one homicide victim on Wednesday, and continue to investigate another, unrelated homicide. Both victims were found deceased Tuesday.

John Anderson, 62, was identified in a joint media release, and an autopsy was scheduled for Thursday. Originally reported as a suspicious death on South Main Street on Tuesday morning, Anderson's death turned into a homicide investigation Tuesday night, according to Police Chief Matt Canfield.

An autopsy performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found that a second homicide victim, in an unrelated case, died of strangulation, according to a state Department of Justice media release. Linda Dionne, 58, was found deceased on Tuesday, in a home on Old Prescott Hill Road. One person was taken into custody in that case Tuesday night.  

Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the state Attorney General's Office said members of its office and the New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit were responding to the reported suspicious death in the 200 block of South Main.

Laconia police were performing a welfare check at the South Main home at 8:40 a.m. on April 14, and found the body of a man, now identified as Anderson.

The circumstances surrounding the death are under investigation, but on Tuesday night, Canfield wrote in an email that it became a homicide investigation, and Laconia police requested state assistance. In a media release, a DOJ spokesperson wrote there was no known threat to the public.

Anyone with information about the incident should call the State Police tip line at 603-MCU-TIPS (603-628-8477). Detectives are also interested in hearing from anyone with information about Anderson’s whereabouts and activities, and any activity at the residence, between April 12 and 14.

While police were still at the South Main scene, at 1:38 p.m. on April 14, officers were dispatched to Old Prescott Hill. When they arrived, officers found Dionne deceased. Officers also found her son, Christopher Garon, 32, according to a DOJ release.

Officers charged Garon with second-degree murder, for recklessly causing the death of Dionne, showing “extreme indifference to the value of human life.”

Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

Garon is held without bail, and a formal reading of charges will be held in Laconia District Court. 

An Attorney General’s Office spokesperson said on Tuesday, the office was investigating the Old Prescott Hill incident as a suspicious death, and there was no known connection to the South Main death.