Support group for parents of murdered children hears from cold case unit

LACONIA — It was five years ago last night that someone shot and killed Pike resident Tom Conrad as he stood in his mother's driveway.

Conrad's brother Phil and his nephew Tyson joined members of the N.H. Cold Case Unit and the newly formed Lakes Region Chapter of Parents of Murdered Children, Inc. last night in the community room of the Laconia Police Department.

The support group brings together families of murdered victims. While some who attended last night's session know the person responsible for their loved one's murder, others, like the Conrads, do not.

"My brother died five years ago at 9:14," said Phil Conrad who said his family remembers the crime by firing three fireworks rockets at the exact time of the murder.

"Part of the reason is I believe the murderer can hear them. And it gets the town talking," he said.

Tom Conrad is one of what Senior Assistant Attorney General Will Delker said was 122 unsolved murders in New Hampshire since 1969.

Delker and Cold Case investigator Bob Freitas fielded questions from others who had lost relatives to murder about how the newly formed unit operates.

"We're not going to forget your family member," said Freitas a retired Manchester homicide detective. "We're here to make things better for you."

Until the Cold Case Unit was formed, Delker said the investigation into unsolved murders "not unified" and was largely dependent on homicide investigators with the N.H. State Police and local police detectives looking into the cases when they had the time.

"Some got solved, but very few," Delker said.

Reopening a cold case is tricky business said Freitas. He said notifying the relatives that their case may be reopened involves timing and appreciating the sensitivity of the crime.

"We don't want to give false hope," he said.

Delker said the advantage time brings to a cold case is largely in the people who may know something about it.

He said people get divorced, friendships dissolve and many of the circumstances that made someone less than forthcoming during the initial investigation no longer apply.

He also said sometimes people will contradict themselves in subsequent interviews or will often remember something never mentioned before.

Media coverage of cold cases also generates leads. The Conrads said that every time a newspaper does a story on their murdered relative, area and state police see a flurry of activity.

Delker said the unit spent its initial six months categorizing and reviewing every case and evaluating them for resolvability. He also said gathering all the information in one place was time consuming because, as an example, an individual police department could get a tip, a detective could make a few inquiries, but the information wouldn't all get to the same file.

Delker also said many of the cold cases have "persons of interest" who are still alive.

"There are a few cases where its pretty clear the police have an idea but there's not enough to bring it forward," Delker said.

He said jumping the gun on a murder case can spoil it forever if it goes to trial and the state looses.

As the cold case unit gains momentum, Delker said he expects some of the state's mysteries can be solved. Recently, an arrest was made in the Keene cold case where a family of four died in a fire.

The most notable Lakes Region cold case is the 1971 rape and murder of teenager Kathy Lynn Gloddy of Franklin. It was her family that supported the cold case unit and worked tirelessly until gov. John Lynch signed the law creating it.

Other Lakes Region cold cases include Lisa Begin Wright of Laconia who was strangled in her Union Avenue apartment in 1991; Angel Hazelton of Meredith who died in 1989 at the age of 21 months from trauma; Gregory LeFevre of Alton of who was murdered by blows to the head and neck in 1989; and Francis "Frank" Sidoti who died of gunshot wounds in Sanbornton in 1971.

Police also continue to investigate the suspicious death of Gilmanton resident Jerome O'Sullivan who died of a gunshot wound to the head in 1979. The medial examiner was never able to determine if it was self-inflicted or homicide.

For more information go to www.nhdoj.gov/coldcaseunit.

The Parents of Murdered Children meets every fourth Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the community room of the Laconia Police Department. For more information call, chapter leader Carmen Doucette at 524-7624.