The sad life and unexplained death of a sex offender
Mar. 1—WHY WAS JEAN LASCELLE shot and killed?
That question lingers at the old Manchester police station, this winter's temporary homeless shelter.
Lascelle lived there. The 67-year-old was standing on the Chestnut Street steps smoking a cigarette Feb. 13 when a fellow shelter resident walked behind Lascelle and allegedly shot him in the head.
"He didn't say nothing to neither of us," said Lisa Hitter, who lives in the shelter and called Lascelle her best friend. "He just shot him."
A manhunt ensued for Timothy Johnson, 38. Manchester police concentrated on homeless camps, but he was captured four days later in Framingham, Mass.
Everyone at the shelter avoided Johnson, according to Hitter and others who spoke to me outside the shelter.
"He'd have full blown conversations with himself," one man said.
"None of us spoke to the guy. He was a fruitcake, screaming (words) out that wouldn't make no sense," Hitter said.
Yet according to police, he had a gun. And for some reason, a yearning to kill Lascelle.
As shelter residents tried to make sense of the death, they did what we all do if we have questions. They Googled Lascelle and found he was on the sex offender registry.
The snide remarks started, Hitter said.
Lascelle was one of 478 sex offenders in Manchester, one of 2,945 people statewide who can't outrun their past once fingers start clicking away on the internet.
Lascelle's crime goes back 39 years, to 1982.
He was accused of attempting sex with a 7-year-old. He was sentenced to four years. The judge took the unusual step of recommending a minimum security classification, because he did not have a criminal record.
Of course, people on the registry struggle in relationships, employment and housing.
Until this winter, Lascelle wouldn't have been welcome in the city's homeless shelter.
But in guarded emails, shelter operator Families in Transition said it has made "adjustments and improvements" and is now following "evidence-based models" and best practices to lower barriers to people seeking shelter.
Translated, that means that sex offenders are now welcome into shelters. FiT added that weapons aren't allowed, and safety guidelines are under review in light of the shooting.
Hitter doesn't care about Lascelle's past.
"He paid his dues. He paid the price. He didn't deserve to be shot," she said.
They hung together at the shelter. They watched movies on her laptop — Lascelle was a big Star Trek fan. They walked around the city at times to alleviate the boredom of shelter life.
When either had money, they went out to eat. A couple of weeks before he was shot, they had dinner at the restaurant next to the old police station. They once took a bus to South Willow Street and enjoyed an all-you-can-eat feast at Golden Corral.
So why was Lascelle shot?
The homicide prosecutor overseeing the investigation said he's drawn no conclusion about motive.
"Everything is still on the table," said Benjamin Agati, a senior assistant attorney general.
He stressed that prosecutors don't have to prove a motive to get a murder conviction.
With Johnson fighting extradition, it could be months before he returns to New Hampshire and the truth starts to come out.
Meanwhile, Agati said he won't give a definitive yes or no as to whether the murder victim was a sex offender — though the name, age and address of both are the same.
Agati said his office doesn't talk about the criminal history of victims, witnesses, even defendants.
So the state of New Hampshire will identify and raise red flags about sex offenders until they're killed. Then the state tries to protect their identity.
Agati said his office does not track crimes against sex offenders. Neither does Manchester police, according to an email from police Capt. Peter Marr. Police do track the number of sex offenders who violate registration requirements. Last year, 30 did.
Lascelle was once convicted of not registering, 16 years ago.
Lascelle was living in a tent before the temporary shelter opened, Hitter said. She couldn't answer a lot of my questions. What he did for a living. Whether he was receiving a Social Security check. Where he grew up.
In the 2010s, he traveled back and forth to Florida, Hitter said. He had an intermittent relationship with a woman there. She died about three years ago.
He has at least one child, a son who lives out of state, Hitter said. Agati said his office is in contact with a relative but would not discuss any plans to turn over the body.
If no one collects the remains, eventually they become the city's responsibility, he said.
Hitter said Lascelle didn't have a problem with drugs or alcohol. They liked to walk around the city, share a cup of coffee and buy scratch tickets.
"He was like an old man, a grumpy old man," she said. "I loved him. He was a good guy. He was my best friend."
