Owner of car sought in investigation of New Hampshire couple’s murder

(CONCORD, N.H.) — New Hampshire police investigating the unsolved shooting deaths of a retired couple said Thursday that they are looking to speak to the owner or operator of a car that was parked near a hiking trail where the bodies of the victims were discovered in April.

New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella and Concord Police Chief Bradley Osgood released photos of a dark green 2006 to 2012 Toyota RAV4 that was parked near the March Loop trailhead in Concord on April 18, the day Stephen Reid, 67, and his wife, Djeswende “Wendy” Reid, 66, were last seen alive.

Authorities emphasized that the person who owns or was driving the car is not a suspect in the case, but investigators are eager to speak to them about what they might have seen on the trail that day.

The Marsh Loop trail is part of the Broken Ground Trails system where the bodies of the couple were discovered on April 21, a day after relatives reported them missing, police said.

The FBI has joined the investigation and a $33,500 reward is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and indictment of the person or persons responsible for the killings.

Autopsies revealed the Reids were both shot multiple times.

The development comes about three weeks after authorities released a sketch of a man authorities described as a person of interest. The man was seen in the vicinity of where the bodies were found the day the Reids went missing, officials said.

A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Department of Justice, which released the sketch, told ABC News Thursday that the person of interest has not been located.

During a news conference on Thursday afternoon, Formella said there is no connection between the person of interest and the vehicle being sought in the case. The person of interest is not currently a suspect in the case, he said.

The Reids left their home in the Alton Woods apartment complex in Concord around 2:22 p.m. on April 18 and went for a walk in the Broken Ground Trails area, Formella and Osgood said in their joint statement on Thursday.

The couple was reported missing on April 20 when Stephen Reid failed to show up at a planned event, authorities said. Their bodies were discovered a day later, officials said.

Homicide investigators and the couple’s children, Lindsay and Brian Reid, have asked the public to report any information that could possibly help crack the case.

The couple’s family released a statement after the murders, describing Stephen and Wendy Reid as soulmates who traveled the world and shared a “mutual love of adventure and fitness.”

The Reids moved to Concord about three years ago when Stephen Reid, who grew up there, retired from a more than 30-year career as an international development specialist working on humanitarian projects around the world through USAID, their family said. The couple met while Wendy Reid, who was from West Africa, was studying in Washington, D.C., on an athletic scholarship, the family said.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.