BRENTWOOD, N.H. – Charges against a Salem, New Hampshire man, accused of fatally stabbing another man over a woman, have been upgraded to murder.
Forty-nine-year-old Scott Hanks is facing two counts of second-degree murder in the April 6 confrontation with a samurai sword outside his home that ended the life of 46-year-old William Solberg Jr. of Pelham.
Since his arrest, Hanks was being held on charges of first-degree assault and negligent homicide.
Hanks also is facing a single count of falsifying physical evidence for allegedly tossing the 26-inch sword into Canobie Lake after slicing Solberg's hand during the fight, then stabbing him in the abdomen. State Fish and Game Department divers found the sword in the lake a day after the stabbing, just feet from Hanks' home.
The indictments were made public Monday in Rockingham County Superior Court.
Prosecutors said Solberg went to Hanks' home because he learned his live-in girlfriend, Patricia Walsh, was with Hanks.
Hanks is being held at Rockingham County jail on $100,000 bail. He will be arraigned on the new charges at the end of the month.
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