The City Never Sleeps

Police conducting a welfare check found the body of a recently divorced woman living in a Manchester, N.H. apartment. 
What happened to Lynne Brennan? Thomas Doe looks into this unsolved murder.

Transcript

On a fall day 13 years ago, police in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire – following a tip for a wellness check. Found the body of a woman. Police say she was killed in her apartment... But to this day not a single arrest has been made.

You are listening to Gone Cold New Hampshire, I am Tommy Doe, and this is The City Never Sleeps. 

 On October 11th, 2010, Lynne Brennan, a 53-year-old recently divorced mother of three, was found dead in her apartment. (Music) To this day, 13 years later, police say she was killed but have been unable to give any more information regarding who was involved or how it happened. (Music) They would go on to say that there seemed to be no signs of forced entry, but then would later state she had not been seen since October 4th. (music).

Lynne lived in Manchester, New Hampshire At 267 North River Road, right in the middle of the city. She was recently divorced and had been living alone in an apartment, spending a lot of time working on herself and being with friends and family. But on October 11th when police were called to do a condition check on the resident of the home. (music) When the police arrived, they would find Lynne on the floor. After initial tests and investigation, her death was found to be a homicide. (music) Meaning she did not die of natural causes. Investigators say she was killed well before she was found. (music) Before this discovery by police, she was last seen at Bunnys superette on October 4th around 3:30 PM

(Who is she) Lynne was said to be an extremely kind woman, who was always smiling and always saying hi. Her own sister would say “My sister was so pretty, so friendly, it makes it easier for people to remember her. From any source you take your information from, Lynne was beloved by all she encountered and made sure to leave her mark on everyone who crossed her path. This ability later in life came to no surprise to those closest to her as in the 70s she had been a teen model, who had been able to star on the cover of American Girl and many other magazines during the mid-70s. She would end up getting married to her husband John Brenna, and over the years gave birth to her sons Jason, Drew, and Clay. They originally lived in Hudson, New Hampshire at the beginning of their family's time together but would later move to Manchester during their almost 30-year marriage. Sadly, this would come to an end when the couple decided to divorce and go their separate ways. (music)

Lynne would end up deciding to move into a large apartment house in Manchester by herself. She was said to have really enjoyed the environment and was beginning to feel happy there. This was great news to her sister, Lisa Post, who said her sister Lynne was trying to make a new life for herself. She had feared that Lynne had suffered from an abusive relationship and hoped to see her come to terms with her past and move on in a positive light without any blame on herself. (music) In The time she did live there she became well liked, being seen many times at Bunny’s Superette, and was described to be a nice person who always greeted whoever she met with a smile.

Things had been seeming to be getting off to as good of a start as ever expected. That was until October 11th, 2010, (music) the day police were asked by a friend of hers to do a condition check on Lynne, due to her not being seen since the afternoon of October 4th. To the officers' surprise they would find the 53-year-old Lynne Brennan laying across the floor, deceased. They would go onto say that her body was in somewhat of a state of decomposition(music) Although no information since that fateful day she was discovered has been released on the way she died. It would later be concluded that her death was a homicide. (music) This came as a surprise to all those close to her, and in her community. The biggest question from her loved ones was why. (music) Being described as a loving and caring person with nothing but good in her heart that she shared with everyone. Since, they have been living a nightmare with no signs of waking up with still to this day having none of their questions answered on what truly happened and what she ever did to deserve such a horrific end. (music)

Over the next decade years little information would be released by police or investigators regarding the situation. Her sister, Lisa Post, and other family members for years have been looking for any possible answers, going on WMUR and other news outlets and asking all those viewing with any information to help them find out what happened to Lynne. (music) Despite the many advances that have been made in technology regarding solving these crimes, little to nothing has helped them come to any conclusion about what happened to Lynne. Her Sister would later say: “It’s unbearable sometimes, and you know, as the years go by, you try to find ways to cope and live with it, but it's always there, ever-present" Showing the pain and panic that all those with connections to Lynne feel on a constant basis. (music)

After finding out all of this I was able to get some answers to questions I had from Ben Agati, the Senior Assistant Attorney General of the New Hampshire Department of Justice, regarding these cases important to the cold cases unit who has been working on this case for years now. He would first say that even though they wish they could learn something new about every case every day that: “Not every case is getting worked on every single day” (5:19) This is understandable though, despite not being the largest state it does have many cases being looked at by the cold cases unit, some for more than 50 years. However, he did have a lot to say about the process of these cases and how quickly things can change. He would later state that you should always ask yourself “is there something that’s changed, something that’s new, something that hasn’t been thought of before but could be done now” (5:50) As in their field things are constantly shifting it can sometimes be easy to look over information that could be critical to a case. 

He would then go on to say that a lot of these changes in cases can be due to changes in those lives who were involved in what happened, ‘New information comes in, when a relationship has changed.” (6:06) He would go deeper into the work of investigators involved in such cases stating, “They see it’s a family relationship, and they know that that family has since broken apart, we’ve seen in others where a boyfriend or girlfriend has gone away and now, they're ready to talk about what she or he did, those things frequently cause large advances in the investigation of a homicide case” (11:36). After hearing this I felt there could be a connection with the Lynne case, maybe she had a relationship with the person who did this to her, and this could help the cold case unit find something.

Although police would of course work this case until they found the culprit, and after almost 13 years, the chance of finding the person who should be held accountable gets slimmer every day. (music) And despite being so long ago the investigators need to be able to pinpoint the culprit with 100% concrete evidence. Agati would later bring up in our conversation say, “The prosecutor's worst nightmare is that they’ve convicted somebody that innocent, we do not want that in any shape or form” (34:33). Making it extremely clear that despite their hopes of catching the person who did it, without information that would lead to the exact person, there's not much they can do. Eventually this long taxing search for their loved ones can become extremely difficult to withstand for years. Agati, nearing the end of our discussion, added something that truly stuck with me, “We are a constant reminder of their pain, so we have to be respectful of that” (12:25). This I found to be the true difficulty in this field, trying to find the answers for people in the most saddening part of their lives. The pursuit to go on every day searching for answers since October 11th, 2010.

The truly difficult situation in a case like this is what comes next, despite all obstacles in the way, investigators have never stopped looking for Lynne Brennan, (music) they are open to receiving any information that could lead them to who did this. No information had been released about the case regarding what happened. However, Lynne’s loved ones and the cold case unit are still working every day to find answers.