FRANKLIN, N.H. (WHDH) - Authorities have announced autopsy results in connection with an incident in Franklin, New Hampshire on Saturday during which a man fatally shot his 1-and-a-half-year-old daughter and her mother, and also wounded the woman’s 5-year-old daughter before he was found dead on a river bank.
Officers responding to a reported shooting at a home at 124 Elkins St. around 12 p.m. found Nicole Hughes, 35, and her daughter, Ariella Bell, dead from gunshot wounds, according to the New Hampshire Attorney Generals’ Office. Her 5-year-old daughter was also suffering from a gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital.
The 5-year-old has since been released from the hospital, according to the school district.
The toddler’s father, Jamie Bell, 42, was found dead near the Merrimack River around 5:30 p.m.
Hughes’ death was determined to have been caused by multiple gunshot wounds, and that the manner of her death was homicide. The cause of Ariella’s death was multiple gunshot wounds, and that the manner of her death was homicide.
Bell’s cause of death was a single, self-inflicted incised wound of the neck, and that the manner of his death was suicide.
The investigation into the homicides of Ms. Hughes and her daughter, Ariella, continues. It is believed Bell shot and killed them both before fleeing and eventually taking his own life.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)