By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

After nearly 21 years and a dropped first-degree murder charge, the murder of Danny Paquette still stings for members of his family.

Eric Windhurst, a 38-year-old Hopkinton builder, shot Paquette in 1985 while Paquette, 36, was in the front yard of his Hooksett home.

At an Aug. 21 hearing, Paquette’s family members, some of whom regularly urged prosecutors to pursue the case over the course of the two-decade investigation, described Windhurst as a callous killer before he was sent off to serve 15 to 36 years for second-degree murder.

“I’ll always remember you, Eric, as the cold-blooded cowardly killer that you are,” said Paquette’s nephew Lance Larrabee told Windhurst moments before the sentence was handed down.

Paquette’s nephew read a letter from Danny Paquette’s older brother, Victor, describing Windhurst as “judge, jury and executioner of Danny Paquette ­ a man he had never talked to, a man he had never met, a man he didn’t even know.”

According to testimony from prosecutors and court records filed by both parties over the course of the investigation, Windhurst was motivated to murder by two things: to protect a high school friend, Melanie (Paquette) Cooper, who was repeatedly sexually and physically abused by Paquette, her stepfather; and by the alleged sexual abuse of his half sisters by his own father, John Windhurst Sr.

The sentencing

Windhurst was charged with first-degree murder ­ which carries a mandatory life sentence ­ in December, but his lawyers and state prosecutors worked out the second-degree plea deal less than two weeks before the case was set to go to trial.

At the latest hearing, Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin justified the lesser charge and reduced sentence.

He pointed to Windhurst’s age at the time of the shooting, 17, said the proposed sentence was similar to other second-degree murder cases from the same time period, and said such cases typically get more difficult to prove over time.

“Obviously, this guilty plea ends almost 21 years of uncertainty,” he added.

Merrimack Superior Court Chief Justice Robert J. Lynn, who approved the plea deal, described the unique circumstances of the case.

“To shoot somebody you’ve never met from a distance, it’s hard to get more deliberate than that.”

But Lynn agreed the state would have faced some tactical challenges in prosecuting such an old case, and also took into account Windhurst’s behavior before and after Nov. 9, 1985.

Windhurst was 17 with no criminal history when he shot Paquette, and only had one other minor theft charge since the murder. Lynn said a defendant shouldn’t benefit from being free for 20 years, but said he couldn’t ignore what seemed to be such good behavior.

At the latest hearing, Windhurst asked for forgiveness and told the Paquette family there were no words to describe how sorry he is.

Windhurst’s ex-girlfriend, Heather Bouchard, told a grand jury that “the guilt (Windhurst) felt was overwhelming,” and that “the moment it happened he tried to live his life as the best citizen he could,” Strelzin said.

No closure for the family

For Victor Paquette, the plea deal marks what he’s described as a “coverup,” where “there have been some big bucks and a lot of people with a lot to hide.”

Prior to the hearing, Paquette said he was assured by prosecutors that they were prepared to take Windhurst to trial on the first-degree charge, but said he thinks the deal was reached to protect some people close to the case.

Victor Paquette named Cooper’s aunt, Kathleen McGuire, who was working for the Attorney General’s Office at the time of the murder. McGuire is now an associate justice with the Merrimack County Superior Court, the same court that handled the Windhurst case after his arrest.

According to Cooper’s testimony to investigators, she and her mother fled to Alaska to escape abuse from Paquette.

When Cooper returned to New Hampshire, just months before the murder, she lived with her uncle and McGuire, who tried to keep her return a secret from Paquette, according to court records.

Victor Paquette said he’s skeptical of Cooper and McGuire’s relationship after the murder.

“They’re sitting at the same dinner table, staring at each other, and not talking about this?” he questioned. “Not in my wildest imagination do I believe that.”

Strelzin said Cooper told McGuire’s nanny about the murder, but said there’s been nothing over the course of the 20-year investigation to suggest McGuire had any knowledge of the event.

“Every single piece of evidence shows they did not know anything about this other than what Melanie told them, which was her alibi,” said Strelzin.

Cooper and Windhurst told investigators they were at a field hockey game in Plymouth at the time of the shooting, records show.

Victor Paquette also suggested members of the Windhurst family also wanted to avoid a trial.

Strelzin said investigators first learned about John Windhurst Sr.’s alleged sexual abuse of his stepdaughters, Eric Windhurst’s half-sisters, from Bouchard’s testimony.

Strelzin said investigators went to Virginia to investigate the charges, but said none were filed against Windhurst Sr., only because time had expired under the statute of limitations.

While prosecutors expressed some sense of gratification after Windhurst was sentenced, that gratification didn’t seem to extend to friends and family of those involved in the case.

“You have to accept at some point that this is as good as it’s going to get,” said Victor Paquette.

Doug Paquette, Danny Pa-quette’s nephew, said, “There’s really no happy ending here at all.”