MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — A Bedford police detective testified Thursday about the investigation leading up to the arrest of the man now on trial for a brutal 2014 home invasion.
Sgt. Michael Monahan described a tip Bedford police received from Methuen, Mass., police who said a man there claimed to have information about the home invasion the night of Nov. 24, 2012.
Charles Normil, the accused intruder, is on trial in Hillsborough County Superior Court-Northern District on felony charges including attempted murder, sexual assault and burglary.
Monahan said the man was able to provide details about the attack on Dr. Eduardo Quesada and his wife, Sonia, including information that had not been made public.
Sgt. Monahan’s testimony was frequently interrupted by objections from defense attorney Bill Schultz, most of which were sustained by Judge Gillian Abramson after numerous sidebar conferences.
Assistant County Attorney Oullette had to adjust course after the sustained objections while asking Monahan about how investigators obtained phone records and physical evidence, including a wallet that contained the New Hampshire driver’s license of Dr. Eduardo Quesada.
Monahan testified about calls between two numbers with Massachusetts area codes, one of which belonged to Nathan Lamontagne, who pleaded guilty after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors in 2014.
Prosecutors were unsuccessful in their attempt to link the other number directly to Normil. Abramson instructed jurors that it would be up to them to decide if evidence confirmed the number was Normil’s, striking some of Monahan’s testimony.
Cellular phone records were still the topic for the next witness, an FBI specialist whom prosecutors established as an expert in tracking the location of cell phones through network data. Special Agent Kevin Horan explained the complicated process before the trial broke for lunch.
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