Face Down in the Merrimack: The Unanswered Killing of Robert "Flippy" Heckbert

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A Body in the Merrimack

On the morning of March 9, 1988, Manchester police were called to the Merrimack River, the wide waterway that cuts through the heart of New Hampshire's largest city. A man's body had been found floating face down in the cold early-spring water. He was identified as Robert Arthur Heckbert, a 30-year-old man known to the people around him as "Flippy." At first glance, a body in the river might have suggested an accident. It was not. An autopsy determined that Heckbert had suffered a severe beating to the head and had drowned. His death was ruled a homicide, and more than 38 years later, no one has ever been charged with killing him.

Who Robert Heckbert Was

Robert Arthur Heckbert was born on November 16, 1957, in Medford, Massachusetts, a city just north of Boston. His parents were Robert Heckbert and Mary Helen (Saunders) Heckbert. At some point his life brought him north to Manchester, New Hampshire. Public records preserve few details about his daily life, his work, or the friendships he formed. What they do preserve is his nickname, "Flippy," a name that suggests a personality and a place among people who knew him well enough to give him one. He was 30 years old when his life ended in the river.

What the Autopsy Revealed

The medical examination of Robert Heckbert's body turned what could have been a tragic drowning into a murder investigation. The autopsy found that he had been severely beaten about the head and that he had also drowned. That combination of injuries suggests that Heckbert was attacked violently and was either unable to save himself after entering the water or was placed in the river while incapacitated. Investigators have never publicly said exactly where the beating took place, how he came to be in the Merrimack, or how long he had been in the water before he was found that March morning.

An Extensive Investigation

According to the case summary Manchester police have shared publicly, an extensive investigation was conducted into Heckbert's death. Detectives worked to reconstruct his final days and hours and to identify who he had been with before he died. Despite that effort, the investigation did not produce an arrest. No suspect has ever been publicly named, and the circumstances that brought Robert Heckbert to the river have never been explained to the public.

The Unanswered Questions of His Final Hours

The central mystery of the case lies in the time before his body was found. Where was Robert Heckbert in the hours before he was found? Who did he see, and where did he go? Was he attacked near the riverbank, or somewhere else entirely before being brought to the water? A severe beating is a close and personal form of violence, and it usually leaves an attacker with injuries, bloodied clothing, or a story that others might notice. Investigators have long hoped that someone who noticed something unusual during those days would come forward.

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