New Hampshire Issues First Domestic Violence Fatality Review Report With 11 Recommendations After Finding 64% of Recent Homicides DV-Related
New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella has announced the first biennial report of the state’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee (DVFRC), issuing 11 recommendations to strengthen the state’s response to domestic violence and prevent future killings. The report was released Monday, October 5. The 16-member committee was created by legislation signed into law by Governor Kelly A. Ayotte in 2025, after the 2025 murder of 25-year-old Marisol Fuentes-Huaracha in Berlin. Fuentes-Huaracha was fatally shot by her estranged husband, Michael Gleason Jr., in a case that exposed critical failures across law enforcement and the courts: an internal review determined the courts had sufficient evidence to deny Gleason bail before the shooting, but he walked free on $500 bail. Governor Ayotte asked the committee to first review Fuentes-Huaracha’s murder. Over the past year, the committee conducted in-depth reviews of two domestic violence homicides and built its 11 recommendations on those reviews and its broader discussions. The numbers in the report are stark. From 2022 through 2025, 44 of New Hampshire’s 68 homicides — 64 percent — were domestic violence-related. Of those 44 deaths, 22 victims were killed by a family member, 20 by an intimate partner, and two others died in domestic violence-related incidents. From 2009 through 2025, domestic violence was a factor in 57 percent of all homicides in the state. Firearms were the leading cause of death, most victims died in the home they shared with their killer, and one in four victims was under the age of 20. Executive Councilor Janet Stevens (R-Rye) called the findings “sobering.” The 11 recommendations call for creating an enhanced offense level for repeat domestic violence offenders; exploring evidence-based risk assessment tools to help judges recognize patterns of abuse and lethal risk in civil and criminal cases; examining differences between counties in how offenders are held accountable; improving understanding of protective order violations and the appropriate charges for them; training 911 dispatchers and call takers on domestic violence; addressing compassion fatigue and secondary trauma among police and prosecutors; exploring domestic violence high-risk response teams that bring together police, prosecutors, advocates, and probation and parole officers; promoting victim advocacy in Circuit Court criminal cases; reviving domestic violence coordinating councils; and expanding childhood trauma response teams to more communities. “This Committee gives New Hampshire a stronger, multidisciplinary process for examining these cases and identifying opportunities to save lives,” Formella said. “No single agency can solve this problem alone. The work does not end with this report; it begins here.” Amanda Grady Sexton, the committee’s public-affairs member from the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said: “Judges make decisions every day that affect whether a victim is safe. They need reliable tools to help them recognize patterns of abuse and the risk of serious or lethal violence, whether they are hearing a criminal case or a request for a protective order.” Alyssa Dandrea of the Coalition said “domestic violence homicides are preventable” and that the report offers specific steps to hold offenders accountable, recognize danger sooner, and better protect victims and their children. The committee will continue to meet, track and monitor implementation of its recommendations, review cases, and issue further recommendations in the years to come.
Related: 134 Killed in Domestic Violence Incidents in Ohio in a Year: Nearly Half Were Trying to Leave
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Farragutful 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0（Wikimedia Commons）
