Wisconsin Man Accused Of 14 Aggravated Felonious Sexual Assault Charges, Strangulation In Nashua

NASHUA, NH — A man from Wisconsin faces 19 charges after being arrested following incidents in the area of Ledge Road in Nashua this week.

On Monday, police were sent to a report of a domestic incident involving a victim reporting being struck multiple times in the head by Joseph Murphy, 36, of Wausau, Wisconsin. The victim accused Murphy of also choking them to the point where they could not breathe and felt as if they were going to pass out, Sgt. John Cinelli, the public information officer and communications division supervisor, for the Nashua Police Department, said.

Murphy was arrested on a single felony count of second-degree assault-strangulation.

Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Nashua Police Department and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the process for requesting the removal of a name from New Hampshire Patch police reports.

Cinelli detectives continued working on the case and later, Murphy was charged with domestic violence-false imprisonment, three domestic violence-simple assault, and 14 felony aggravated felonious sexual assault charges. He was held on preventative detention and arraigned on Tuesday.

According to the Wausau Daily Herald, Murphy claimed he was attacked outside a store in June 2020, and said the incident was racially motivated because the other person was white and used racial slurs against him during the incident. The other man, Aaron Nielsen, also of Wausau, WI, was initially charged with battery and disorderly conduct, charges that were elevated to a hate crime. Later, he pleaded not guilty. The resolution of the 2020 case was unknown at the time of publication.

Anyone with information about the case was asked to call the Nashua Police Department Crime Line at 603-589-1665.

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