6 months later, no charges in South Main Street homicide

LACONIA — The Attorney General’s Office has renewed its plea for the public’s help, six months after 62-year-old John Anderson was killed in his apartment on South Main Street. No charges have been filed, despite several residences being searched.

“Investigators do continue to ask anyone with information about Mr. Anderson’s death to please contact the New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit,” Michael Garrity, spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, said Wednesday.

Garrity also said the community is not in danger.

“Based on the results of the investigation to date, we have no reason to believe there are any specific threats to the public at large,” Garrity said. “We always recommend people take the same ordinary precautions now as they would every day: to stay aware of their surroundings, and to report to the police if they see something they may believe is suspicious activity.”

On the morning of April 14, police responded to 217 S. Main St. for a wellness check, and found Anderson dead from stab wounds to the neck. An autopsy by the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death was a homicide.

Anderson’s body was discovered on April 14, and his obituary states he died April 13. Police have requested video from the public from the afternoon of April 13.

Just hours later, police found the body of 58-year-old Linda Dionne, strangled to death, at her home on Old Prescott Hill Road. Her son, Christopher Garon, 33, is charged with second-degree murder, and appeared in Belknap Superior Court for a dispositional conference Friday morning. Garon’s lawyers are pursuing an insanity defense. Garon could face life in prison if convicted.

Police say the two incidents are unrelated.

In the days following Anderson’s death, police tape wrapped the South Main Street property, and State Police investigators were at the apartment.

State Police served a search warrant for a Cottonwood Trail residence in Gilford on April 21. Assessing records show the home was owned by John and Carol Anderson.

The State Police Major Crimes Unit investigated the property throughout the day. Police tape surrounded the perimeter, including the driveway, and police cruisers were parked at the bottom of the driveway.

Two weeks after the body was found, on April 30, investigators asked the public for help with video footage of anyone in the 200 block of South Main Street between 1:40 and 3:40 p.m. on April 13.

Investigators specifically asked any “person, business, property owner, or delivery driver, who worked or traveled through Laconia” during that time to provide video of the intersection of South Main and Cottage Streets. Footage of anyone traveling south on the Route 3 Bypass, along Belmont Road/Route 106, Province Road/Route 107, South Main, Province Street, Hounsell Avenue, and Route 3 was also requested.

Garrity wrote, by email June 18, he could not answer specific questions about the case because it would interfere with the investigation.

He wrote “no arrest has been made,” and nobody was taken into custody after the search.

Laconia Police Chief Matt Canfield and state spokespersons have confirmed throughout the summer and fall that the case remains an open and active investigation.

Anyone with information about Anderson’s death should call the State Police Major Crime Unit at 603-223-3856, or leave an anonymous tip at 603-223-3850.