Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Globe Xmas Gift: New Hampshire Heartbreak

"NH court upholds conviction in bathtub drowning

A New Hampshire mother has been taken into custody — hours after the state Supreme Court affirmed her convictions for leaving her two young sons unattended in a bathtub while she scanned a website about free breast implants. Hillsborough County sheriffs say they took 26-year-old Jessica Botelho into custody at her Nashua apartment Tuesday and brought her to the state women's prison in Goffstown to begin serving a 5-10-year sentence for manslaughter, negligent homicide and reckless conduct. Botelho's 1-year-old son drowned in the bathtub of her Manchester apartment and her 2-year-old son suffered irreversible brain damage on July 13, 2010."

"Driver in fatal hit-and-run was texting

A Mont Vernon, N.H., man was texting while driving when he struck and killed the former Amherst fire chief, authorities said Tuesday. Hillsborough County Attorney Patricia LaFrance said Travis Hobbs, 20, was charged with negligent homicide in connection with the crash that killed John Bachman, 71, on Monday. Hobbs told police he was texting and thought he hit only a snowbank. He came forward after seeing news reports about the crash. Bachman, who was also a local businessman, was getting his mail when he was struck. He was found injured in a snowbank and later died at the hospital. Hobbs was arrested Tuesday and released after posting $50,000 bail plus $1,000 cash. As part of his release, he is not allowed to drive."

"Firefighter arrives at fatal crash to find daughter is victim

A Brookline, N.H., firefighter found out that his 30-year-old daughter died in an automobile crash after he arrived at the scene during his shift Christmas Eve morning, according to Brookline authorities. Katie Hamilton, a Brookline resident, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police officials in the southern New Hampshire town declined to identify her father. Hamilton’s Ford Explorer was struck from behind as she waited to make a left turn from Route 13 south to Route 130 around 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to a police statement. The collision with the pickup truck behind her, driven by a man police identified as Greg Cullen, 31, of Milford, N.H., caused Hamilton’s Explorer to lurch into the northbound lane of Route 13, where she was struck by another pickup truck driven by James Ciprotti, 37, of Weare, N.H. Neither Ciprotti nor Cullen were injured, police said. Authorities did not say if either face charges, noting that the accident remains under investigation."

How could one ever celebrate Christmas again?