Three gunshots were fired one year ago today, killing a man within seconds inside his home on Pearl Street in Keene.
Who killed 48-year-old David E. Wheelock and why remains a mystery, but investigators say they aren?t giving up hope that one day they?ll have the answers to those looming questions.
The authorities probing Wheelock?s death continue to scour for clues about what happened the night of Dec. 21, 2013. The possible theories procured, in part, from more than 100 witness interviews are immense, Assistant N.H. Attorney General Benjamin J. Agati said last week.
And investigators say it?s too early to discount any one of them just yet.
What police have not determined is whether more than one person carried out the homicide, and whether Wheelock was the intended target or the victim of a random crime, Agati said.
That being said, there is also no evidence to support a wider threat to the people of Keene or Cheshire County, Agati noted. Should police have any suspicion of such a threat, they would notify the community immediately, he said.
Agati?s words are somewhat reassuring to those who live in close proximity to Wheelock?s former home at 170 Pearl St. Nevertheless, neighbors say, the empty house is a daily reminder of the unsolved homicide and the other crimes that probe unearthed.
?This was once a nice, quiet, beautiful neighborhood that people were proud to live in, and then all of the sudden...? said Arlene E. Guyette, who has lived in the same Pearl Street home for 62 years.
Wheelock?s former housemate, Nicholas A. Coll, 26, was convicted this past summer of two felony counts of cruelty to animals, for performing sexual acts on a German shepherd and a yellow Labrador retriever, according to court documents. That abuse occurred in March of 2012 and May of 2012 at 170 Pearl St., where he was living at the time.
According to an affidavit in the case, Coll and Wheelock created online accounts to talk with others about their bestiality, sexual contact with animals.
Agati said Thursday his team is looking into whether someone?s knowledge of bestiality in the home was a motivating factor in Wheelock?s death. The authorities are also probing theories about whether Wheelock?s sexual offender status made him a target, Agati said.
?We don?t have evidence that this was the case, but we?re not ruling anything out.?
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Wheelock was convicted of 28 counts of child pornography in October 2005, according to the N.H. Department of Safety?s sex offender registry.
Longtime residents of Pearl Street said last week they had limited interaction with Wheelock and, therefore, knew little about him.
Clarence ?Clancy? and Winifred M. ?Winnie? Faulkner, who have lived on Pearl Street for 50 years, said on their doorstep Thursday that they would see Wheelock taking his dogs for a walk daily.
Wheelock was confined to a wheelchair due to multiple sclerosis, but that didn?t keep him from getting outside, the couple said. They recalled one time Clancy heard Wheelock hollering for help because he had gotten his wheelchair stuck in the mud.
?Clancy pulled him out. He was OK,? Winnie said.
Guyette didn?t know Wheelock or his housemates, but like the Faulkners she frequently saw Wheelock out and about. Since his death, the home has had few visitors, she said.
?I don?t know who would want to live there now. I say tear it down and build a nice cottage.?
In the weeks following Wheelock?s death, his sister Diane C. Blinn of Plaistow because the administrator of the $128,800 estate, according to records filed in 8th Circuit Court Probate Division. Wheelock died without a will.
The front lawn of 170 Pearl St. now bears a ?for sale? sign. The asking price for the three-bedroom home is $45,000, according to a local Realtor?s website.
Neighbors say they haven?t seen much activity from any potential buyers or from police officers, who had become a regular presence in the neighborhood last December.
The yellow crime tape is gone and so too are the unmarked cruisers that once lined the driveway outside the red-painted home. But the memories of that foggy December night are not ones Pearl Street residents will soon ? if ever ? forget.