The murder-suicide Wednesday night in the parking lot of the Steeplegate Mall in Concord is the third domestic violence-related death investigation in the city since mid-July.
Alexander Thorne, 22, fatally shot Zoe Desmarais, 21, outside the mall shortly before 8 p.m., New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon MacDonald and Concord Police Chief Bradley Osgood said Thursday night. Desmarais was taken by ambulance to Concord Hospital where she later died. Thorne was pronounced dead at the scene. Both suffered a single gunshot wound to the head, a state medical examiner said.
Desmarais and Thorne had been dating for several years and frequented the Zoo Health Club, which recently opened at the Steeplegate, according to people familiar with the couple.
Concord police say the uptick in homicides this year is like nothing they’ve seen in recent memory. On July 19, a husband and wife were found dead in their home at Concord Gardens of a murder-suicide. During a three-day span later that the month, police investigated two homicides, one of them domestic violence-related, and a suicide.
Statewide, the story is the same, with more than 20 homicides reported since Jan. 1. New Hampshire has seen more homicides in 2019 than in any year since at least 2005, according to the attorney general’s office. In nearly half of those cases, the victim was a family member or loved one.
“There is no question when looking at the headlines that we are seeing an increase in violence in New Hampshire, as well as in Concord,” said Amanda Grady Sexton, director of public affairs at the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. “We’re also seeing an increase in the severity and brutality of the violence used by abusers within the context of domestic violence cases.”
Thorne had no record of domestic violence, police said. Desmarais recently posted on social media that she and Thorne had experienced some “ups and downs” and she was looking forward to spending the rest of her life with her “best friend.”
Concord police Officer Laura Spaulding, the city’s first-ever domestic violence officer, said that while the number of domestic violence calls has remained fairly steady in recent months, far more serious crimes, to include attempted strangulation, are being reported.
Police in New Hampshire performed a total of 3,147 Lethality Assessment Protocol interviews in 2016-2017 with victims who reported domestic violence. More than half of victims were considered “high risk.” Of that group, 45% elected to speak with a crisis center advocate.
Experts say early intervention is key and that includes identifying predominant risk factors with the goal of preventing future injury or death. Those risk factors include threats to kill or threats of suicide, access to a firearm, extreme jealousy and attempts to maintain power or control.
Between 2009 and 2017, New Hampshire authorities responded to 123 homicides, 53% of which were domestic violence-related, according to the fatality review committee. Murder-suicides accounted for 25% of all homicides during that same period. Of all murder-suicides, domestic violence was a factor in 79% of cases.
“People will often point to the fact that, overall, New Hampshire is a safe state. But, I often say that if all the violence happening behind closed doors spilled out into the main street, people would recognize it as an epidemic,” Grady Sexton said.
As Concord’s domestic violence officer, Spaulding is continuing to lead efforts to help educate the public about the crime, provide one-on-one outreach to victims and ensure that her fellow officers are trained on the issue and equipped to respond in a trauma-informed way. In the last six weeks, Spaulding and Lt. John Thomas led every officer through a new training program that aims to educate professionals about victims’ common responses to trauma and how to best address their needs in crisis situations.
Additionally, she said, the department is forming an Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team that Spaulding is a part of with other community providers to ensure children who’ve been exposed to violence receive support services.
“Our goal continues to be to build relationships with families in our community and develop trust so that they can come to us when they need help and know what resources are available,” Spaulding said.
She said the recent uptick in homicides in the city is a reminder of the importance of that work.
“It’s heartbreaking to see,” she said. “If I could prevent it all I would but I can’t. It is about one person or family at a time.”