Danny Paquette was killed just as the courts were deciding whether he should be informed that his stepdaughter had returned to New Hampshire, according to a court file unsealed yesterday.

Paquette had sexually abused Melanie Cooper in the past, according to the documents, and her aunt and uncle didn't want Paquette to know that she was living in Hopkinton. The court was skeptical of the request, but before a final decision was made, Paquette was killed outside his Hooksett home.

Twenty years later, a high school friend of Cooper has been charged with the murder of Paquette, who died of a single gunshot wound to the heart in 1985. Eric Windhurst, 38, of Hopkinton, is charged with first-degree murder and faces life in prison if convicted.

This week, Windhurst's attorneys indicated they may argue that Windhurst killed Paquette to protect Cooper and her family, who feared Paquette might kill them. Documents in Cooper's guardianship file that were released yesterday show that Cooper's aunt, Kathleen McGuire, a Merrimack County Superior Court judge and former prosecutor, believed Paquette could pose a danger to Cooper or her relatives if he knew Cooper was living with them.

Paquette adopted Cooper when he married her mother, Denise Paquette, in 1974. It was Paquette's second marriage, but it ended much the same way as his first, according to divorce records. Both his wives accused him of physical violence against them. Denise Paquette considered him a danger to herself and their three children, records show. Paquette also spent several months at the state psychiatric hospital, court records show.

When her parents divorced in 1981, Cooper moved to Alaska with her mother and two sisters. There, Denise Paquette found out that Danny Paquette had sexually abused Cooper for "at least several months" before the divorce, according to a motion filed by McGuire and her husband, Philip Messier.

In 1985, when Cooper was 15, she suffered from "severe depression" related to sexual abuse, and her school grades took a "drastic drop," according to court records. Her mother was having financial trouble, and the family decided Cooper should return to New Hampshire. She would live in Hopkinton with Messier, Denise Paquette's brother, and McGuire until she completed high school.

McGuire and Messier first applied for guardianship of Cooper (then Melanie Paquette) Aug. 14, 1985. Paquette should have been notified 14 days before any hearing or motion in the probate court. But McGuire, then a new attorney at the state's attorney general's office, and Messier requested that the court not notify him, according to the file.

The court at first declined to consider their petition for guardianship because of the request, according to the file. But on Oct. 28, 1985, McGuire and Messier filed a motion to waive the notice requirement, outlining the reasons they didn't want Paquette to know Cooper was living in Hopkinton. Paquette had sexually abused Cooper, the motion states, and had also violated a domestic violence petition against Denise Paquette. The petition "was generally ineffective in protecting the mother and children from the father," the motion states.

"The Petitioners, for the safety of Melanie as well as that of their own family, do not want the adoptive father notified of the minor child's present residence with them in New Hampshire," the document states. If Paquette was informed of the proceedings, Cooper's "interests would be severely and irreparably harmed."

Two days after McGuire and Messier filed the motion, McGuire asked the court to hold a hearing on the issue so she could "be heard in order to prove the facts alleged"in the motion. The court scheduled a hearing for Nov. 19, but Paquette was killed Nov. 9. According to the file, Paquette was never formally notified that Cooper was living in Hopkinton.

Windhurst's attorneys, Mark Sisti and Jonathan Cohen, filed a court motion Tuesday that offered a more detailed account of the alleged sexual abuse. According to Sisti and Cohen, Paquette repeatedly raped Cooper, even holding a gun to her head and telling her to keep quiet about the abuse. The lawyers also contend that Paquette lunged at a judge when he appeared in court for violating a restraining order.

Paquette's brother, Victor Paquette, said Paquette's ex-wives made up stories of abuse. In an earlier interview, Victor Paquette said his brother's stay at the state psychiatric hospital was the result of depression over his divorce from Denise Paquette.

"I don't see anything that substantiates any form of abuse," he said. "This is offensive to my family. We have suffered long enough."

McGuire declined comment through a spokeswoman yesterday. Cohen also declined comment. Jeff Strelzin, who is prosecuting the state's case against Windhurst, said he was aware of the contents of the file but wouldn't comment further.

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