Ryan Barden, age 30, current address unknown

NASHUA — Prosecutors on Tuesday filed two counts of second-degree murder against Ryan C. Barden, the Lakes Region area resident who is accused of killing Jared Daly in Daly’s Nashua apartment on Aug. 9 — which happened to be Barden’s 30th birthday.

Barden, whose last known address is 56 Grant St., Laconia, opted to waive Tuesday’s scheduled Superior Court arraignment on the two charges, one of which accuses him of “knowingly causing the death” of Daly “by striking him in the head,” and the other of “recklessly” causing Daly’s death by “striking him in the head under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life,” according to the complaints.

The two police affidavits in Barden’s file, which provide additional details on the arrest warrants police issued for Barden and further information regarding probable cause, were ordered sealed by the court.

The court’s order precludes the public, at least for the time being, from accessing information such as the circumstances behind the alleged murder, the nature of the relationship, if any, between Barden and Daly, and investigators’ theories regarding motive.

Barden’s case summary doesn’t yet include a date for his next court appearance.

Nashua police officers who responded on Wednesday, Aug. 11, to a welfare-check call to Daly’s apartment at 5 Hanover St. discovered his body in the living room, police and representatives of Attorney General John Formella said at the time.

Based on their investigation and the results of an autopsy conducted the following day by state Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jennie Duval, police believe Daly was killed in the early morning hours of Aug. 9.

They said Daly died of head injuries and had been bludgeoned to death, but they didn’t say whether he was attacked with an object or was beaten by a suspect.

Upon developing information that pointed to Barden as a possible suspect, police and Formella’s office issued a statement last Thursday announcing that a warrant had been issued for Barden’s arrest.

The next day, Friday, they announced that a U.S. Marshal’s Joint Fugitive Task Force consisting of members of several law enforcement agencies had taken Barden into custody in the Lakes Region town of Belmont.

They had tracked Barden to a home on Stark Road in Belmont, where they found him hiding in a bedroom closet, according to the statements.

The task force included members of Nashua, Belmont and Greenfield police departments, the Belknap County Sheriff’s office and a contingent of deputy U.S. Marshals.

Meanwhile, Daly, who grew up in Berlin before coming to Nashua, was a basketball player in junior high and high school, and later took up, and excelled in, boxing.

Described in his obituary as “outgoing and caring … always there to care, encourage and help anyone in need,” Daly leaves his wife, Samantha Daly, along with a son and a stepson.

Services have been held. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to New Hampshire mental health and substance abuse programs.

As for Barden, the murder charges are the most recent in a series of charges filed against him over the past year or so.

According to court documents, Barden was arrested and charged on Aug. 13 — four days after Daly was killed — with identity fraud and breach of bail conditions, alleged crimes that, according to the case summary, occurred on Aug. 9 — the day on which police believe Daly was killed.

Bail was initially set at $2,500 cash, but then promptly upped to $10,000 cash or surety, perhaps because investigators had, by then, developed Barden as a suspect in Daly’s death.

The summary shows Barden is due in court Oct. 19 for a dispositional conference in that case.

About six months earlier, in February, Barden was arrested by Hudson police and charged with one drug-related offense.

Hudson police arrested him again about a month later, charging him with two drug-related offenses, on which he was indicted in May.

Before that series of arrests, Barden, according to court documents, was arrested on drug-related charges on two occasions in Merrimack County.

One was a special felony on which was arrested in June by Bow police, and the other involved two drug-related charges stemming from a 2019 arrest in Franklin — both of which, according to the case summary, were later vacated.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.