Crime & Safety
Woman Who Jumped In The Merrimack River In Manchester Still Missing
Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies identified Elise Poirier as the person who fled as they stopped her on Rockingham County warrants.
MANCHESTER, NH - The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has released the name of the woman who fled from Deputies Thursday after being questioned about outstanding warrants for her.
Elise Poirier who was born in 1995 had warrants for fentanyl possession, falsifying physical evidence, and failure to appear in Rockingham County Superior Court according to the Hillsborough County Sherrif.
At this time no evidence has been found that indicates that she successfully got out of the river and onto the embankments.
Find out what's happening in Bedfordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The night of the original incident, several agencies searched the shoreline including Manchester and Bedford Police, New Hampshire State Police, and the Hillsborough County Sheriffs.
Manchester Fire Department deployed several resources including two boats and provided firefighters on each of the city’s bridges to look for the woman.
Find out what's happening in Bedfordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Friday several agencies continued working the Merrimack River in Manchester Friday, attempting to find Poirier who was last seen jumping into the river Thursday night.
New Hampshire Fish and Game, Marine Patrol, and Manchester Fire Department all had equipment and personnel in the river and worked from a command post set up at the boat ramp behind the Delta Dental Stadium.
The high water levels in the river from consecutive days of heavy rain brought challenges to the crews searching. Fish & Game Lt. Adam Cheney said Friday morning they would not put divers in due to the current — unless something was found using the other search tools. Several methods were used for searching, including drones, boats, jet skis, drones, side scan sonar radar, and underwater cameras.
Thursday night, Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies were at a well-known homeless camp along the river and in the area of the Foundry Restaurant. They located Poirier,
after speaking to her, she fled from the deputies. She jumped into the river and was last seen on her back, possibly wearing a yellow top and floating south of the Granite Street Bridge.
Several witnesses said she then went underwater and wasn’t seen again.
Fish and Game Lt Adam Cheney said late Friday afternoon, they had not located Poirier and due to the high and dangerous water levels, the search would most likely not continue until new evidence was found, or the water levels dropped.
©Jeffrey Hastings www.frameofmindphoto.com/news
