Stevens ‘enraged’ by Berlin police denying her right-to-know in murder-suicide

BERLIN — Executive Councilor Janet Stevens (R-Rye) is asking the Attorney General’s office to intervene in her request to the Berlin Police Department for more information on its internal investigation into the murder-suicide last summer that rocked the state and led to changes in procedures and laws as they relate to domestic violence.

Berlin police rejected her request saying it was out of respect for privacy in the matter.

She said last Tuesday she was “enraged” at the response she got to her Right-to-Know request related to the “Internal Review of Calls for Services, Incident Reports, Including recordings related to Sandra Marisol Fuentes Huaracha and Michael Gleason Jr.” 

She said she was asking the Attorney General to intervene.

On July 6, 2025, the 25-year-old woman was shot to death by her husband, who was out on $5,000 cash bail on felony charges accusing him of raping her, stealing money from her and other offenses. He killed her at her place of work, in violation of a restraining order, before killing himself.

Stevens said her aim in getting specific information was to determine if there were records sufficient to demonstrate compliance with victims’ rights requirements and the New Hampshire Adult Sexual Assault Protocol.

In response, Stevens said Berlin Police wrote: “Out of respect for Ms. Fuentes and to protect her privacy, we will not be releasing materials related to the sexual assault investigation. I do not believe the public interest in the details of the assault outweigh the privacy interest of Ms. Fuentes and her family.”

However, the department said some redacted versions of the calls for service, the N.H. Domestic Violence LAP (Leathality Assessment Program) Screen for First Responders, the emergency protection order, a list of firearms seized and an arrest warrant, which was granted and served, were public documents that she could access.

She had sought information on whether a victim advocate was offered or contacted, whether a medical evaluation was recommended, whether a strangulation screening was conducted, whether she was informed about the victims’ compensation fund, whether supervisory review occurred and whether reports were completed.

The self-reflective report by the department said there were “glaring errors” in the matter. (See the story at tinyurl.com/mwrvjt2f).

In her letter to Deputy Attorney General James T. Boffetti at the Department of Justice, Stevens wrote: “My objective is accountability and confirmation of protocol compliance. Please advise if I should refine and submit a follow-up 91-A request. It concerns me that the Berlin Police Department withheld the entire incident report and investigative narrative without identifying a specific RSA 91-A exemption and without an opportunity to release redacted portions.”

Berlin police have said there were several mistakes by their department in the handling of the case, and a state review of the investigation also found fault in the handling of the matter.

Stevens said the response from Berlin is “just wrong” and she is waiting to discuss the matter with the attorney general.

Meanwhile, Gov. Kelly Ayotte commented on the report May 20, shortly after its release on May 15, saying every member of law enforcement and the courts should take it very seriously to make sure victims are protected.

“I hope, number one, that the Berlin Police Department takes the lessons learned but other departments look at what happened there too and learn from it. And we will incorporate that also through police standards and training any lessons learned. And then, if there are people that should be held accountable then they should be. Because, it is important that we never let this happen again.”

The governor said that changes to the state bail law to keep victims protected and a change in the legal standard would have been helpful.

“There’s a lot of lessons to be learned here. I hope the judiciary — with especially the changes we made to the law — they need to follow them and they need to make sure that they take them very seriously. I think we are seeing improvements but we can always learn and be better and that I do hope that for Marisol, and for her sake and her tragic death, that we all take a moment to learn from what happened here.”