DERRY, N.H. (WHDH) - A New Hampshire man is expected to face a murder charge after a woman was found shot to death in a burning Derry home, officials said Tuesday.
Emergency crews responding to reports of gunshots and a fire at a home on Mt. Pleasant St. on Sunday found the homeowner, Manoel Viana, 57, unconscious and injured on the kitchen floor, officials said. After the fire was extinguished, crews found a woman presumed to be Viana’s spouse, Lynn Marie Viana, 53, dead in the home.
Officials said ignitable liquids were found by the woman’s body as well as in the house, and the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined her cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of her death was homicide.
Shortly before the gunshots and house fire, officials said, Manoel Viana allegedly invited Lynn Marie Viana into the home during a custody exchange of their child. Manoel Viana is still receiving treatment for life-threatening injuries at a Boston hospital. If he recovers, the Attorney General’s office intends to charge him with first-degree murder.
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