Jose Ramirez-Vasquez, age 30, of 13 Kinsley St., Apt. C, Nashua

NASHUA — Both of the two men each charged with second-degree murder in connection with two unrelated Nashua murders that occurred about six hours apart Friday waived formal arraignment Monday and were ordered held without bail.

Alexander Wheeler, 19, of 525 Amherst St., who is accused of shooting and killing 53-year-old Lee Knoetig outside the Sunoco gas station at 543 Amherst St., and Jose Ramirez-Vasquez, 30, of 13 Kinsley St., Apt. C, the suspect in the stabbing death of 34-year-old Julie Graichen — whose body was found in one of the apartments at that address — were captured and arrested by the time the weekend was out.

(Ramirez-Vasquez, for reasons that aren’t clear, was initially identified in police reports and press releases as Miguel Ramirez).

On Monday, Wheeler and Ramirez-Vasquez, through their attorneys, agreed to be held without bail, and thus waived their right to formal arraignment before a judge.

Superior Court Judge Charles Temple, who conducted Monday’s proceedings remotely via video link, granted prosecutors’ motions to hold the men without bail pending their next court appearances, which had yet to be posted to their case summaries.

Alexander Wheeler, 19, of Nashua

Roughly 20 people, some who appeared to represent one or both of the alleged victims and others who seemed to be there on behalf of one or both suspects, attended the afternoon arraignment hearings.

Upon learning from Superior Court Clerk Amy Feliciano that Wheeler, then Ramirez-Vasquez, had waived arraignment and therefore no hearing would be held, the people filed out of the courtroom in small groups.

The series of events that made for an unusually hectic couple of days for Nashua police, who were joined at both scenes by members of the Attorney General’s office, began just before 11:30 Friday morning.

That’s when calls began coming in from people who told police that a person had been shot in front of the convenience store at the gas station.

Upon arrival, officers found a man, later identified as Knoetig, lying unresponsive on the ground with what was determined to be a gunshot wound to his chest. A short time later, Knoetig was pronounced deceased at the scene, state and local officials said.

The hunt for the suspect came to fruition Saturday, when the Attorney General’s office announced police had arrested Wheeler, the 19-year-old whose address, 525 Amherst St., is just a couple of blocks east of the gas station.

Then, at about 5:20 p.m., just six hours after their investigation into Knoetig’s death got underway, police were called to 13 Kinsley St., the large, four-unit apartment building that sits on the north side of Kinsley Street between Elm and Walnut streets.

Callers reported discovering a woman’s body in one of the apartments, and moments after their arrival first responders confirmed that the woman, later identified as Graichen, was deceased.

Police said Ramirez-Vasquez and Graichen knew each other, but they didn’t go into detail as to how, or for how long, they knew each other.

Police haven’t said how many times Graichen was stabbed, allegedly by Ramirez-Vasquez, but they did say that an autopsy determined that the cause of her death was a stab wound to the chest and the manner of death is a homicide.

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