(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) Theodore Luckey, who is charged with the stabbing deaths of two men at a Bedford motel last year, enters Hillsborough County Superior Court North for last week's arraignment.

MANCHESTER — Theodore Luckey, the 43-year-old former New Jersey resident accused of killing one man with a machete and another by strangulation in a Bedford motel last year, had been released from a Jersey prison about three months before the alleged murders — as part of corrections officials’ efforts to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the state’s prison system.

Luckey, sent to prison in 2012 after pleading guilty to kidnapping and criminal restraint charges in Jersey, also served part of his sentence in New Hampshire under the Interstate Corrections Compact, according to authorities from both states.

Last week’s arraignment, presided over by Hillsborough County Superior Court North Judge Will Delker, was Luckey’s first court appearance since his August 2021 arrest.

He was arraigned on two counts of first-degree murder, which investigators added to his list of charges during the investigation.

A February grand jury indicted Luckey, who has been held without bail since his arrest, on two counts each of first-degree murder and second-degree murder, along with three counts of possession of a dangerous weapon as a convicted felon.

(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) Theodore Luckey, the former New Jersey man accused of killing two men at a Bedford motel last year, speaks with one of his lawyers, Attorney Robin Melone, during his arraignment in Hillsborough County Superior Court North.

One of the second-degree murder charges has since been nol prossed, or dropped.

Wearing an orange, Department of Corrections jumpsuit, Luckey, who stands 6 feet, 7 inches tall, was escorted into Delker’s courtroom by several court officers.

Directed to the defense table, Luckey took a seat between his attorneys, Tony Sculimbrene and Robin Melone, conferring with them until Delker appeared and called the hearing to order.

As it stands now, Luckey is scheduled for a competency hearing on May 13, and if the case goes to trial, jury selection will take place on Oct. 3, with trial itself to follow.

Luckey, from Asbury Park, New Jersey, was arrested the evening of Aug. 21, shortly after Bedford police, fire and EMS personnel were called to the Country Inn & Suites, 250 South River Road, for what was initially believed to be a medical call.

(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) Standing with his attorneys, Tony Sculimbrine and Robin Melone, Theodore Luckey, the former New Jersey man accused of killing two men in a Bedford motel last year, listens to the judge at last week's arraignment on the several charges he faces, including first-degree murder.

But upon arrival, first responders found one man dead from what were later described as “chopping wounds” allegedly inflicted by a machete, and a second man dead from strangulation.

A be-on-the-lookout bulletin, or BOLO, was radioed to all departments in the region, telling officers to be on the lookout for a “tall, skinny Black male with red hair,” according to the broadcast.

The bulletin indicated the suspect left the scene in a white Hyundai, according to the reports. A little more than an hour later, at about 8:40 p.m., word came down that the suspect had been located and was in custody.

Killed were Nathan Cashman, 28, who had been living in Manchester at the time, and David Hanaford, 60, of Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

–JEFFREY HASTINGS