Concord, NH – Attorney General John M. Formella releases the following statement:

"We at the New Hampshire Department of Justice never forget that at the heart of each of our homicide cases are real people with families who love and miss them. We support Tuesday's gathering as something positive – victims and their families coming together, using their voices, and bringing awareness to their cases. Our hope is that highlighting these cases will result in more people coming forward with information that can help investigators. We are all aligned in pursuing justice for these victims and solving these cases.

We are respectfully listening, continuing to actively engage privately, and are offering our assurance that attention is truly being given to these cases. The Attorney General remains ready and willing to have one-on-one or small group conversations with impacted loved ones.

We are optimistic that the hard work carried out daily by the dedicated public servants who make up our Homicide and Cold Case Units might provide victims some hope. Last year our investigators and prosecutors were able to solve 92.3% of the state's 2022 homicides. In contrast, the national 2022 homicide clearance rate was 54.3%. New Hampshire's 10-year average homicide clearance rate is 88.9%, compared to 59.9% nationally.

Over the same period our Cold Case Unit has been utilizing national best practices, the latest investigative techniques, as well as scientific advancements to make numerous public-facing strides, particularly by leveraging DNA.

In late July, the Cold Case Unit announced one of its investigations, the murder of Laura Kempton from September of 1981 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has been solved. Earlier this year, the Unit announced the successful identification after 40 years of the remains of Katherine Ann Alston, who went missing from Boston, Massachusetts, and was found murdered in Bedford, New Hampshire, on October 6, 1971.

In 2022 the Unit tried and convicted Richard Ellison for the second-degree murder of Robert McMillian in Concord on December 9, 2005. Also in 2022, the Unit solved and closed the 1972 Murder of Arlene Clevesy in Newton, NH; and it worked with Boston, MA Police to solve the 1984 murder of Brian Watson in Manchester, ultimately indicting 61-year-old Michael Lewis on a first-degree murder charge. And finally, on March 28, 2022, the Unit announced an investigation into the reported disappearance of Janis Taylor from Concord, New Hampshire, on January 8, 1968.

Moving forward, we are continuing to expand our efforts and increase the resources dedicated to solving cold cases. This month an experienced Cold Case Investigator from Maricopa County, Arizona joined the Cold Case Unit and State Police are using a $1.5 million grant to invest in DNA testing improvements now being implemented at the state's forensic lab.

With all of the efforts and advancement we acknowledge there are loved ones who still do not have answers and closure. We acknowledge their disappointment, frustration, and the tension that can develop when there is a lack of a resolution or new publicly-available information—sometimes for decades. Being unable to provide closure or detailed information to a family is one of the hardest aspects of our work. It is a reality of the Attorney General's obligation to maintain the integrity of investigations and preserve the ability to prosecute that sometimes material information must be withheld from the public or victims' families.

We remain resolved to fulfill our mission of seeking justice in all prosecutions including those who have been murdered or remain missing."