Concord Police to add “high visibility” trail patrols with ATVs [and bikes] following Reids’ murders
Photo: The Marsh Loop of the Broken Ground Trails in East Concord on Thursday, April 28, 2022. GEOFF FORESTER
By CASSIDY JENSEN, Concord Monitor, May 3, 2022
As Concord Police and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office investigate the deaths of Concord couple Wendy and Steve Reid, the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office will help Concord Police patrol the city’s trails and deal with other criminal cases.
The Reids, a fitness-loving pair who lived in the Heights, went missing during the week of April 18. Their bodies were discovered on April 21 near the Marsh Loop trail, part of the Broken Ground trail system.
In a statement calling the Reid investigation a “top priority case,” Concord Police Chief Brad Osgood said Tuesday that the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office will send officers on mountain bikes to patrol the city’s trails with Concord Police’s mountain bike unit.
Manchester-based Nault’s Powersports has provided two all-terrain vehicles that Concord Police will use to patrol the city’s recreation areas, joined by New Hampshire Fish and Game conservation officers.
“Concord Police hope that through high visibility patrols; whether by foot, bike, ATV or traditional police vehicles, that we might ease some community concern,” Osgood said in the statement. The Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office will also send an investigator to address Concord’s “backlog” of other police investigations.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations and New Hampshire State Police have been assisting Concord Police and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office with their investigation of the rare double homicide. No arrests have been made.
Police have received more than 70 tips from the Concord Regional Crimeline related to the Reids’ case. Tips can be made to Concord Police at 603-225-8600 or the Concord Regional Crimeline at 603-226-3100.
Department of Justice Director of Communications Michael Garrity wrote in an email to the Monitor on Tuesday that there is no evidence that the Reids’ case is related to the deaths of Holly Banks and Keith Labelle in Gorham or the death of an unidentified woman found in the Merrimack River last week.