Ryan Barden, age 31, last known address, 56 Grant St., Laconia

NASHUA — A Hillsborough County Superior Court South grand jury this week handed up four indictments — two for first-degree murder — against Ryan Barden, who is accused of killing Nashua resident Jared Daly in August 2021.

Barden, last known address of 56 Grant St. in Laconia, has been held in Valley Street jail since his arrest in mid-August 2021, several days after Daly’s body was found in his apartment at 5 Hanover St.

Barden, 31, was initially charged with two counts of second-degree murder, but the grand jury saw fit to indict on two counts of first-degree murder.

They also indicted Barden on one Class A felony count of theft, which accuses him of stealing a 2006 Honda CRV belonging to Daly; and one Class B felony charge of tampering with witnesses and informants, for allegedly “attempting to induce or otherwise cause” a woman named Monique Levesque “to withhold any testimony, information, document … by telling her to not say anything or speak about what happened involving Jared Daly, or words to that effect,” according to the indictment.

One of the first-degree murder counts on which Barden was indicted accuse him of purposely causing Daly’s death by allegedly striking him in the head, while the other count accuses him of “knowingly” causing Daly’s death by allegedly striking him in the head “while engaged in the commission of, or while attempting to commit, burglary while armed with a deadly weapon, the death being caused by the use of the deadly weapon,” the indictment states.

Daly, 35, was found dead by police conducting a welfare check on Aug. 11. An autopsy determined he died two days earlier.

Based on information they received, investigators assembled a task force of local and regional law enforcement personnel, who tracked Barden to a residence on Stark Road in the Belknap County town of Belmont.

They located Barden hiding in a bedroom closet, and took him into custody, officials said at the time.

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