CONTACT:
Conservation Officer Matthew Holmes
603-788-4850
October 6, 2024

Lancaster, NH – On the morning of Saturday, October 5, 2024, Conservation Officers from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department located a missing man submerged inside of his vehicle in the Connecticut River near the Mt. Orne covered bridge.

On the afternoon of October 4, officers from the Lancaster Police Department patrolled in this area to follow up on information received about Stephen Paquette, 41, of Littleton, NH, who had not been heard from in a week. While checking the area, officers located a set of vehicle tracks that crossed a hay field and ended at the bank of the river adjacent to Route 135. Upon finding these tracks, Lancaster PD reached out to New Hampshire Fish and Game to request a specialized search of the river.

At approximately 8:19 a.m. on Sunday, October 6, a Conservation Officer using a drone located a vehicle in the river near where vehicle tracks ended at the riverbank. Additional officers were able to view and search the vehicle using a specialized tool knows as an ROV (remotely operated vehicle). This confirmed that the vehicle was registered to Paquette and that there was an individual inside.

A heavy wrecker was subsequently brought to the scene, and divers from NH Fish and Game dove on the vehicle and hooked up cables. The vehicle was subsequently winched out of the water and up the bank. At approximately 1:00 p.m., investigators confirmed that there was a single individual within the vehicle and identified him as Stephen Paquette.

Although this investigation culminated in a sad outcome, the work of many agencies contributed to this mission as a whole. These included the Lancaster Police Department, Littleton Police Department, New Hampshire State Police, Marine Patrol, Lancaster Fire Department, New Hampshire Medical Examiner’s Office, Coos County Attorney’s Office, and NH Fish and Game.