A Matter of Trust, Part 2
Introduction to Part 2 in a series about the deaths of Michael Carney in Stoddard and Brian Costa in Keene:
If New Hampshire State Police hid or ignored evidence tied to Michael Carney’s 2017 death, do the investigation and its conclusions make sense?
InDepthNH.org looks at the inconsistencies and curious facts from the night of Feb. 9, 2017, when Michael Carney was shot in the back and behind the ear in what has been ruled a case of self-defense.
When did he die? Why were there three 911 calls over 42 minutes? Was there anyone else in the Stoddard home at the time of the shooting?
Part 1 of the series can be read here.
By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Three 911 calls in 42 minutes. Two gunshots. One death.
Nothing that happened on Feb. 9, 2017, inside the home at 106 Moose Brook Drive in Stoddard adds up for Caryn Perkins. At least, nothing as it was reported by New Hampshire State Police and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.
“How can you trust anything they say,” Perkins said.
The first investigation, completed in 2017, ruled Michael Carney’s death a case of self-defense. Michael Carney was described in the New Hampshire Attorney General’s report as a heavy drinker with a history of domestic abuse. When he broke into the home that his estranged wife Nicole Carney bought in secret months before, she was afraid he would harm her or their five-year-old daughter. She fired two rounds, one hit him in the back of his head behind the ear, and one in his back.
In her years-long quest for the truth about what happened to her brother Michael Carney, Perkins uncovered the fact that State Police investigators covered up the connection between the shooter, Nicole Carney, and Keene Police Chief Brian Costa.
Costa took his own life on March 9, 2017, two days after he was told State Police retrieved the deleted texts he sent Nicole Carney on the day of Michael Carney’s shooting.
But that’s not the only aspect of the shooting that does not add up in Perkins’ mind. The curious timeline laid out by investigators, and the witnesses claiming there was another adult in the house besides Michael and Nicole Carney stand out when reviewing the available investigative reports.
Nicole Carney made three 911 calls on Feb. 9, 2017, from her home in Stoddard. The first at 7:07 p.m. disconnected after a panicked Nicole Carney told the operator her estranged husband, Michael Carney, was in the house.
The second 7:47 p.m., 40 minutes later, in which she asked for police and an ambulance to come to her home before that call disconnected. The last call was at 7:49 p.m., in which she again asked for police and an ambulance.
“Nicole said that her husband had showed up for the third time, that he got in and that she shot him,” the New Hampshire Attorney General’s initial report on the shooting states.
To start, because the original investigators were told not to pursue the relationship Nicole Carney had with Costa, the first Attorney General’s report makes no mention of the texts she and Costa sent around 7:25 p.m. on Feb. 9, 2017. This text conversation happened between the first and second 911 call.
“You need to protect yourself and you know what I mean by that Nic,” Costa texted to Nicole Carney in a text stamped at 7:25 p.m. on the day of the shooting.
The autopsy performed by then-New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Andrew estimates Michael Carney’s time of death at 7:25 p.m.
Kris Walker, Nicole Carney’s childhood friend, is one of the witnesses investigators originally interviewed about the couple’s relationship. He told detectives Nicole Carney had disclosed to him the physical abuse she suffered.
Walker was in communication with Nicole Carney on the day of the shooting. She was reportedly alarmed that Michael Carney had discovered the Stoddard house, and she texted Walker while he was in Vermont on a snowmobiling trip more than two hours away. Walker reportedly did not get back to the Monadnock area until the evening of Feb. 9, 2017.
But during the second, 2020 review of the shooting, multiple witnesses came forward to suggest Walker had in fact been in the Stoddard house at the time of the shooting. Those witnesses include Kris Walker’s son, Connor Walker.
“Connor Walker stated he believed Kristopher Walker went to Nicole Carney’s house and shot Michael Carney and left when Nicole Carney called police,” State Police Detective Christoper Elphick wrote in his 2020 report.
Connor and Kris Walker got back to Keene from their snowmobiling trip around 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 9, 2017. Connor Walker originally told Elphick his father was out for a short time putting the snowmobiles away but was otherwise home at the time of the shooting.
But a few days later, Connor Walker changed his story, telling Elphick his father left soon after they got to Keene and was gone during the time of Michael Carney’s death.
Connor Walker claimed his father tried to get another relative, Jeffrey Ayotte, to convince him to lie about that night, Elphick reports.
Ayotte told Elphick that Kris Walker was concerned about what Connor Walker might have told police. During their conversation, Ayotte claims Kris Walker had said “he did not kill Michael Carney, but he knew who did.”
Contacted by InDepthNH.org, Kris Walker denies he had anything to do with the shooting, and said the statements from his son and uncle were “hearsay.”
Kris Walker also claimed police disproved the allegation he was in Nicole Carney’s house on the night Michael Carney was killed.
“They were able to pinpoint my location the entire time,” Kris Walker said.
Elphick’s 2020 investigative report summation is less emphatic but still clears Kris Walker due to a lack of evidence he was in the Stoddard house, but not because police were able to pinpoint his exact location during the shooting.
“I investigated and attempted to ascertain the exact whereabouts of Kristopher Walker during the time of the homicide. Although there were conflicting statements from multiple witnesses regarding Kristopher Walker’s whereabouts, there is no evidence to suggest that he was at Nicole Carney’s residence at the time of the homicide,” Elphick wrote.
Kris Walker hasn’t had contact with Nicole Carney since the 2020 investigation, saying he felt hung out to dry by his friend as police put him under a microscope.
“They brought me in, and dragged me in, and listed me as a prime suspect,” Kris Walker said.
Even with the curious timeline and witnesses claiming Kris Walker was in the house, the theory of self-defense is strong if it is known Michael Carney was physically abusive and had a serious drinking problem. In the 2017 Attorney General’s report, Perkins told investigators she witnessed her brother once shove Nicole Carney.
But Perkins told InDepthNH.org she never said her brother was abusive, and maintains he was not a violent man. Michael Carney’s best friend, Kelly Connor, likewise, told InDepthNH.org he never witnessed any physical abuse.
The original 2017 Attorney General’s report does not quote any other person besides Perkins as witnessing Michael Carney being physically abusive. Kris Walker told investigators in 2017 Nicole told him about the abuse. Last week, Walker told InDepthNH.org he did witness Michael Carney once throw an object at Nicole Carney.
InDepthNH.org did not find any domestic violence charges or restraining orders filed in court against Michael Carney.
While those who knew him agreed Michael Carney was a heavy drinker, the autopsy indicates he had a blood alcohol percentage of .04 percent at the time of death. That’s well below the legal limit to drive, especially considering Michael Carney was 6’2” and weighed 220 pounds.
Part Three on Wednesday will look at the efforts Caryn Perkins undertook to get at the truth.
