Brandon Mitchell, age 22, of Jackson, NH

By NANCY WEST

InDepthNH.org

JACKSON – Police have arrested Brandon Mitchell, 22, of Jackson, for the murder of Esmae Doucette, 23, at the Dana Place Apartments, according to Attorney General John Formella.

Police were dispatched at 7:24 p.m. on Nov. 30 to a reported gunshot injury at the apartment complex, which is on Route 16, and upon arrival found Doucette suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.

Doucette was transported to Memorial Hospital in North Conway where lifesaving measures were attempted, Formella said in a statement. However, she eventually succumbed to the gunshot wound and was pronounced dead on Friday.

“As a result of the investigation into the circumstances of the shooting of Ms. Doucette, an arrest warrant was obtained charging Mr. Mitchell with one count of second-degree murder,” Formella wrote.

“Mr. Mitchell is alleged to have recklessly caused the death of Ms. Doucette under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life, by shooting Ms. Doucette with a firearm,” he added.

Mitchell is expected to be arraigned today in Carroll County Superior Court, at a time to be determined.

The fatal shooting isn’t the first time that a deadly spate of violence occurred at the complex, formerly known as The Dana Place Inn.

On Jan. 16, 1985, then-owners Malcolm and Betty Jennings were murdered at the inn, and their home, located behind the inn, was set on fire.

Roughly two weeks after their deaths, the bodies of the couple’s daughter, Page Jennings, and her ex-convict boyfriend, Glyde Earl Meek, at age 49 nearly 30 years Page’s senior, were found in a burned-out shack near Gainesville, Florida, in an apparent murder-suicide.

The murders went unsolved for a time, but authorities eventually said they believed the murders were the work of Meek.But the mystery went on for a long time as their bodies were so badly burned it took experts to piece together what happened and have Page Jennings and Glyde Earl Meek declared dead.

More recently, the Conway Daily Sun reported in 2018 that the Dana Place Inn was being renovated for long-term rental apartments about five miles north of Jackson Village by owner Richard D. Levine.

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