Missing New Hampshire Roommates Found Dead, 1 Hidden Behind Closet
MANCHESTER, N.H (CBS/AP) -- Authorities believe a New Hampshire man killed his roommate and concealed her body in a crawl space behind a closet, then eventually shot himself to death at a Motel 6 in Massachusetts.
Fifty-seven-year-old Sue Hutchinson of Manchester had been missing since Sept. 20 and Stephen Andrade hadn't been seen since Sept. 21.
Police said the 36-year-old Andrade killed himself in the Tewksbury motel on Oct. 6.
Police responded to the apartment on Sunday night after members of Hutchinson's family said they detected a strange odor. Police found a crawl space hidden behind a false wall inside a closet. After removing the panel, they found a body and believe it to be Hutchinson's.
"It was obviously very surprising for everyone," said Jeffery Strelzin, the chief of the homicide unit in the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office. "It's terrible news for Sue's family to confirm that she's dead."
Strelzin said the home had been searched before, but nobody had noticed the false wall in the closet area.
"It's nuts. It's crazy," said neighbor Mike Elliott. "To have something like that happen to a nice woman like Sue. It kind of makes you wonder what makes somebody tick like that where they feel they need to take someone's life."
Elliott said he had not seen Andrade living at the property for very long. He had heard Hutchinson was "helping him get on his feet" and providing a place to live.
Strelzin said authorities have a "working theory" about a motive for the murder, but declined to provide additional details.
More information will be released after an autopsy scheduled for Tuesday.
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