Trooper jailed after flare-up over wife

By Nate Giarnese

A state trooper who has investigated some of the Conway area's biggest crimes was facing a possible psychiatric evaluation Friday after a run of explosive behavior, including allegedly threatening to shoot police and spurring a manhunt for his estranged wife.Trooper 1st Class James Conrad, 49, a former Laconia policeman and U.S. Marine, has been under internal investigation since September at his job in the Concord-based Major Crime Unit, N.H. State Police officials said in the wake of criminal charges Thursday. He wept during his video link-up arraignment from Merrimack County Jail on charges of criminal threatening, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after allegedly threatening to grab a Concord police officer's gun and shoot him and everyone in the room Wednesday at state police headquarters, the Union Leader reported Friday. On Sept. 23, records show, Conrad was given assistance by several police units, including Tamworth Troop E Commander Lt. Harry Nedeau, in a manhunt for Conrad's wife, as the couple were embroiled in a bitter divorce, the Manchester paper reported. Conrad believed, Laura Conrad, 45, who filed for divorce on Oct. 9, and whom Conrad has said has violently attacked him and abandoned their children, was out with another man. She was given temporary primary custody of the couple's children, alimony and the house, the paper said, citing court filings related to the divorce.Several officers, including a state police K-9 unit, and patrols from Meredith and Laconia, were called on to locate her car at Interlakes Elementary School just after midnight, the paper said. Nedeau, who also arrived at the scene, could not be reached for comment Friday. A dispatcher at Troop E headquarters said he would be away for an extended period.Conrad had called police for a welfare check on his wife after she left the house in the car with plates reading DRAMA-Q, according to court records, including a domestic violence petition Conrad filed against his wife on Oct. 19 in a Laconia court.Police chased a speeding silver SUV that passed cars and did not stop for police sirens and lights until parking at an angle near his wife's car. After the chase, police approached a man at the car who yelled at a Meredith police officer, I am a f------ state trooper, this is my wife's car, a police report says.Conrad later apologized, the report said. He explained to us that he thinks that his wife is seeing another man, and that his head is not in the right place, Meredith Officer Daniel D. Wood wrote, adding that Conrad repeatedly commented about my head not being in the game.In addition to the criminal charges, Conrad is also being investigated internally as a personnel matter, State Police Commander Col. Frederick Booth said.During Wednesday's incident at state police headquarters, Conrad allegedly scuffled with an internal affairs officer and called his wife, saying, I hate you, you ruined my life, according to the Union Leader.In recent years, Conrad has investigated numerous high-profile local crimes, including in Madison in 2005 when an illegal immigrant shot a man who was dating the immigrant's estranged wife. He was also a key witness in a Tamworth case against a driver who was allegedly on painkillers when he nearly killed a couple on Route 16 by ramming their car head-on.