By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Three days into the trial of accused killer Logan Clegg, Concord Police Detective Nicole Murray testified about finding the gun the state claims was used to kill Concord couple Stephen and Wendy Reid.
It’s undisputed that Logan Clegg owned a 9 mm Glock pistol, but it remains to be seen if the state can prove that gun was used to kill the Reids.
Clegg fled the state soon after the Reids were found murdered and their bodies covered in leaves and debris off a hiking trail in Concord’s Marsh Loop woods in April of last year.
Clegg, who is homeless and was wanted on a probation violation out of Utah, had been living in a tent in the same woods.
Police started to look for Clegg in late summer of last year after learning his name. They tracked him to Vermont in October of last year, more than six months after the murders.
Murray told jurors on Thursday police tracked Clegg to a wooded area in a nature preserve in South Burlington, Vermont, near the University of Vermont. Clegg had set up a new tent and camping site in those woods while he worked at a nearby Price Chopper grocery store.
Police found a bag containing Clegg’s Glock at that campsite, Murray said. His Glock matches the shell casings found at the site of the Reids murders, she said. The bullet fragments found in Wendy Reid and tree near the murder scene both match the gun’s caliber, Murray testified, meaning the Reids were also likely killed by someone firing a 9 mm pistol.
According to Clegg’s legal team, that’s not enough to prove Clegg’s gun was used in the killing. If the state can only prove the Reids were killed by someone with a 9 mm Glock, they could potentially be looking at a lot of suspects.
Glock ended 2020 controlling 65 percent of the handgun market share in the United States, and regularly sells about 1 million pistols per year. The Glock 17, the model Clegg owned, is one of the company’s flagship products.
Carolyn Smith, Clegg’s attorney, said the ballistics test results actually show that a 9 mm pistol made by Glock, Walther, Kahr Arms, HK, or several other manufacturers could have fired the bullets that left the fragments police found.
The 9 mm caliber is the most popular caliber in the United States for handguns. It’s used by law enforcement and civilians across the country. It has sufficient stopping power, low recoil, and it is relatively inexpensive compared to other, larger calibers.
Police have yet to present jurors with a motive for the killings. Clegg has maintained his innocence, and he has said he never met the Reids or had any interaction with them.
The Reids were enjoying retirement in Concord before they were murdered. The couple enjoyed walking and hiking along the Marsh Loop Trail, and were known to head out several times a week.
Stephen Reid grew up in Concord, but had recently moved back after a career in foreign service with the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID. The agency administers civilian foreign aid and provides assistance with economic development in impoverished countries.
Clegg, 27, was running from a probation violation in Utah after he was arrested in 2020 for shoplifting from a Walmart and carrying a stolen gun. At the time, Clegg claimed he bought it through a private sale and did not know it was stolen.
When he was arrested in Vermont, Clegg had $7,000 in cash he says he saved from his Price Chopper job, a one-way plane ticket to Germany, and a falsified, Romanian passport.