WEARE, N.H. — New Hampshire authorities on Tuesday confirmed the identities of those killed two days earlier in a murder-suicide, saying a Weare teenager killed his father’s girlfriend, broke into a nearby apartment and then returned home to kill himself.
Jacob Geiser, 18, and Cheryl Maher, 41, died early Sunday in the home they shared with Geiser’s father. Autopsies showed that Geiser died of a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and Maher was strangled, stabbed in the neck and hit on the head, the attorney general’s office said.
Police went to the home around 6:30 a.m. after receiving a 911 call. That call followed another reporting an armed home invasion about a mile away. Authorities said Tuesday that Geiser killed Maher before forcing his way into an apartment, where he fired a shotgun but didn’t hit anyone. He then returned home and killed himself.
Neighbors described Geiser as well-mannered and helpful. David Wilson of Weare, a former high school classmate of Geiser’s, said Geiser was quiet, proud and quick to defend himself against criticism.
"It didn’t take much to make him angry, so kids kind of stayed away from him," Wilson told the Concord Monitor. "He just didn’t put up with it if someone was trying to make fun of him ... I kind of respected him for that, because most kids don’t stand up for themselves."
Maher had been living with Geiser’s father for about three months. New Hampshire state Rep. Gary Hopper was a friend of Maher’s and a guest on political talk show she recently began hosting on public access television. He said Maher told him a day before she died that she and Joseph Geiser were engaged.
Hopper said he didn’t know of any problems between Jacob Geiser and Maher.
"She liked him. She liked him and her sister and she was in love with Joe, and as of Saturday morning was planning on marrying him," he told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Maher had been in the news last year, when Utah’s House majority leader resigned after admitting he had paid her to keep quiet about being naked in a hot tub with him when she was 15. Republican Kevin Garn told colleagues he paid Maher $150,000 after she began contacting reporters about the incident during his unsuccessful bid for a congressional seat in 2002.
Hopper said Maher had a strong ability to rebound from setbacks.
"I just miss her grit," he said. "She was just one of those people with a lot of tenacity. You could see when things knocked her off her feet, she got back up swinging."
Hopper said he was organizing a memorial and tribute to Maher to air instead of Maher’s talk show Friday night.
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