NJ Man Accused Of Killing 2 In New Hampshire Hotel Machete Attack

ASBURY PARK, NJ – An Asbury Park man has been arrested in New Hampshire in connection with two murders over the weekend.

42-year-old Theodore Luckey was arrested Saturday night at the County Inn & Suites in Bedford, N.H., after police responded to a reported stabbing. Upon arrival, authorities found two men, identified as David Hanford and Nathan Cashman, dead.

According to court documents, Hanford was suffocated, and Cashman was attacked with a “machete-style” knife.

Luckey, who was recently released from New Jersey state prison in May after serving nine years on a 15-year sentence on two charges of kidnapping and a single count of criminal restraint, waived arraignment at Hillsborough County Superior Court on Monday.

Luckey is currently being housed at Valley Street Jail in Manchester without bail and is also facing three counts of being a felon in possession of a deadly weapon, as he had a machete-type knife, a pistol, and metallic knuckles in his possession at the time of his arrest.

UPDATE: Additional information was released from the NH Attorney General's Office, including information from the autopsy.

As previously disclosed, upon arriving at the Country Inn and Suites in Bedford on Aug. 21, police officers found two deceased males—one in the hotel's lobby and another in one of the hotel guest rooms. Nathan Cashman, 28, of Manchester, was found deceased in the lobby area of the hotels, and David Hanford, 60, of Seaside Heights, New Jersey, was found deceased in one of the hotel guest rooms.

Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Mitchell Weinberg conducted autopsies on Mr. Cashman and Mr. Hanford. Dr. Weinberg determined that Mr. Cashman's cause of death was multiple chop wounds of the head, neck, and body and that Mr. Hanford's cause of death was ligature strangulation.

The investigation into this matter is active and ongoing, and no further information is expected to be released at this time.

With reporting by Jeffrey Hastings.