A Cold Night in November

The body of 42-year-old Thomas Enquist, Sr., of Londonderry was located inside his black Ford F-150 pickup truck in 2010. Investigators said Enquist had been shot and died. Ryan Merrill looks at this unusual case.

Transcript

Kevin: “Primarily, yes. A lot of the people incarcerated long term actually learn that really fast” 
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While Enquist spent a decade in prison his trouble with the law did not stop after his 
sentence. After he was released from the New Hampshire State Prison (NEED YEAR) Enquist 
was arrested two more times but…..he was never charged in either case. One of these cases 
involved Thomas Enquist punching a teenage boy…The other arrest from around this time 
period was in connection with a 2.5 million dollar jewlery store heist in Attleboro 
Massachusetts believed to have been carried out by the Lynn Breakers gang. 
The only other details we have about Enquist’s activity at this time is that he was a painter in 
the painter’s union of Boston. He was also an avid weightlifter, and he enjoyed making wood 
furniture in his spare time……
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After these arrests took place this brings us to around the time Enquist was found murdered…
So just to set the scene again..
(Bring back music that follows the hook at the beginning)
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his black ford f150 was found pulled over between exit 1 and 2 heading west in Auburn New 

Hampshire…..Another driver noticed Enquist’s truck pulled over thinking it was abandoned 

but….they found the shot, murdered body of Thomas Enquist Sr……This is when police were 

called to the scene and an investigation began……NH Cold Case Attorney General Ben Agati 

Remembers that cold night in November well because it was a case he worked and was called

out to……..

25:45- 29:05

Ryan: Just to start, can you tell me what happened the night of November 23, 2010? 

Agati: I remember the case for a lot of the different details. Only because that was actually one case I 

went out on. So I was the on call prosecutor at that time….I recall that one. It was the week before 

thanksgiving. I believe it was on the 23rd of November 2010. What had happened was Mr. Enquist’s truck

had been found essentially on the side of route 101. It was right near exit 1 as your traveling westbound 

on 101. So, directionality wise, were going toward Manchester, not coming away. So, he was found right

near exit one the side of the road in what appeared to be an abandoned truck at the time. A passing 

motorist came by, and it was initially spotted around 10:20 at night. Eventually an officer came up 

behind the truck thinking that it had been abandoned in the breakdown lane and inside they did discover

Mr. Enquist at that time who was deceased. An ambulance came, tried to help him out, but it was too 

late, he was already gone. And then the area was immediately secured, and the search was started. 

Those are the big details I remember from the beginning, it’s been pretty extensive, the investigation into

his death, a lot of different interviews, a lot of people contacted to try to find out what else occurred. You

would think that this is a pretty busy highway in NH, and the truck having been seen there at 10:20 at 

night, it’s not the most quiet time of night either. So obviously the event occurred sometime before 

roughly 10:20 or at least no later than when the trooper showed up at approximately 10:55. So it had to 

happen when other cars were going by. Whether or not he was murdered in the truck, or murdered 

nearby and then placed in the truck, that is something investigators are still working on to this day. From

my own standpoint what I can remember was that it was a very cold night in November, and we had a 

lot of people working the scene. 

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A very cold night in November. 

On a highway… where someone had to have seen something.

29:58- 31:50

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Agati: from our perspective it is really confined to what happened that night in his life that would have 

led him and his truck to be there. Obviously, the truck wasn’t stolen, it was fairly nice at the time, only 

two years old, F150 patriot’s edition, I remember that. It was a really nice truck. Obviously motor vehicle 

theft was not a motive, otherwise the truck wouldn’t have been left there. Other than that, I can’t say 

there’s anything about the scene or the investigation. 

Ryan: Awesome, and then my last question, what hurdles were faced that caused this case to go on the 

cold case list. 

Agait: I don’t know if there was a particular hurdle for this case. At a certain point there were just no 

more leads, no new information coming in. And the information we had, the NH state police working 

with the Auburn police, it was at the stage, where we could not identify the individuals who did the crime

beyond a reasonable doubt. There just wasn’t enough physical evidence or not enough eyewitnesses. 

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Not a lot turned up from the initial investigation….to this day all we know is that he was 

murdered in that black special edition Ford F150….

we don’t know who did it or why they did it but there have been theories..

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Enquist’s family believes he got murdered as a part of a drug deal gone wrong….This is a 

theory that could make sense because Enquist did have some history of drug use….

The idea of Thomas Enquist being murdered as a part of a drug deal gone wrong is something 

that I brought up to retired New Hampshire department of corrections captain Kevin Valenti 

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Kevin: “Obviously there were rumors that were spread throughout the prison. They basically stated he 

was with the Lynn Breakers, and they were robbing rite aids and pharmacies for their OxyContin and 

other narcotic medications. Somebody said that he was obviously meeting up with somebody, I believe it 

was in Auburn where they found his vehicle…” 

Ryan: “Yes it was 101 heading toward Manchester between exits 1 and 2, so yeah that is Auburn right 

there” 

Kevin: “So they were stating that he had an issue with someone, and they shot him, but they didn’t know

if it was the Lynn Breakers, or a motorcycle club or what. But obviously as someone who had been 

incarcerated for a long time, he wasn’t very trusting. So, if he had been pulled over to meet with 

someone, it had to be someone he was familiar with. But I was. I was very surprised that he had passed. 

Especially the way that he did. You know what I mean. It was surprising to find out he had been found 

shot and deceased with no suspects.” 

Ryan: “Yeah so, his family has been quoted in the past saying it could have been a drug deal gone bad. Is

that what you think happened to Thomas Enquist?” 

Kevin: “Possibly. I know he was an addict, and he was breaking into stuff, primarily to afford his habit. 

So, it probably was a drug deal gone bad. But it could have been anything, a bad business deal, a drug 

deal gone bad, it could have been miscommunication with others, there’s so many theories out there on 

what it actually could have been. But I agree with the family. It was probably a drug deal gone bad” 

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All of this is still speculation……. and the Murder of Thomas Enquist Sr is still an open case.. 

It’s on the list of cold cases that are still being investigated to this day.. and could one day be 

solved.

(Agati cold cases don’t go away – relationships change) :37 – 5:54 – “Things rotate in and out 

depending on the information that they have. But they try to apply the best techniques and the best 

review of what’s there to see if maybe not if something was missed, but is there something that has 

changed, something that’s new, something that hasn’t been thought of before that could be done now.”

Track 18: take 1

If you have any information on the murder of Thomas Enquist Sr….. contact the New 

Hampshire Department Of Justice Cold Case Unit by email at coldcaseunit@doj.nh.gov or by 

phone at 603-271-2663. 

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