Taylor Danielle Lessard, 26, a White woman, was found dead on Saturday, October 25, 2014, inside a condominium at the Clearbrook complex on Easterly Road in Lincoln, New Hampshire. Authorities responding for a welfare check discovered Lessard alongside 48-year-old Douglas Marsden of Lincoln. Autopsies determined that Lessard died from multiple gunshot wounds, while Marsden died from a single gunshot wound. Investigators concluded the case was a murder-suicide.
Officials said the deaths occurred inside the residence and identified the pair soon after the discovery. News reports at the time noted that Lessard, who was from Manchester, had previously rented a room at the condo, had moved out about a month earlier, and was believed to have returned to pick up something she had left behind. Family members told reporters that Lessard and Marsden knew each other and that she considered him a friend.
With the medical examiner ruling Lessard's death a homicide and Marsden's a suicide, law enforcement treated Marsden as the sole suspect and said he shot Lessard several times before killing himself. Because the suspected perpetrator was deceased, there were no arrests in the case. Authorities announced that the investigative work continued in the immediate aftermath, but the autopsy findings framed the incident as a murder-suicide rather than a crime involving additional suspects.
