Autopsies confirm mom and baby found dead in New Hampshire were shot
FRANKLIN, N.H. - Autopsies confirm a mother and her baby daughter found dead at a home in Franklin, New Hampshire Saturday were murdered and the suspect, the baby's father, killed himself.
The bodies of Nicole Hughes, 35, and her daughter Ariella Bell, one-and-a-half, were found in a home on Elkins Street. Both had been shot to death. The state's assistant attorney general said they were found after neighbors called 911, reporting gunshots. Hughes's 5-year-old daughter from a previous relationship was also shot and was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Hughes's partner, 42-year-old Jamie Bell, was named as a person of interest and police conducted an hours-long search for him Saturday. Bell's body was later found on the bank of the Merrimack River in Franklin near River Street. An autopsy confirmed he died from a single, self-inflicted wound to the neck and that his manner of death was suicide.
The investigation continues but Attorney General John Formella said it appears that Bell shot and killed his partner and daughter before fleeing from the scene and eventually taking his own life.