The body of an adult man found in a wooded area of Rindge last week was identified Friday as a missing Bay State man. Authorities also the manner of death has been determined to be homicide.
Brandon Chicklis, 20, of Westminster, Mass., was identified as the deceased in an announcement from New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Christopher Wagner Friday afternoon.
“The circumstances that led to Mr. Chicklis’s death are under investigation,” the announcement said.
A jogger found the body off Route 119 in Rindge July 10 and reported it to police.
The New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit was sent to investigate and secure the scene, which is a wooded area with a great deal of undergrowth, Senior Assistant Attorney General Benjamin J. Agati said.
“State police have had a good chance to go through that area pretty thoroughly,” Agati said Friday.
The wooded area is located 20 to 40 feet off Route 119 in Rindge about 2 and a half miles east of the Route 202 intersection, he said.
An autopsy was conducted on the body Wednesday morning, but did not lead to an identification. Agati said the condition of the body made identification difficult. However, the body was identified Thursday using dental records.
“We were finally able to identify him through confirmation of dental records that was done just yesterday,” Agati said Friday.
The cause of death is being withheld pending further investigation, Agati said.
“It’s not undetermined, just being withheld,” Agati said.
The determination on manner of death as homicide rules out the three other possible manners, he said, which are suicide, accidental and natural causes.
The manner of death was released in hopes it would bring witnesses forward, Agati said.
“We are hoping that that particular fact will help other people come forward,” Agati said. “There may be people that he talked to that he interacted with that didn’t even know it.”
Agati said investigators are focusing on three difference observations people might have been made between June 23 and June 25 of Chicklis or his car.
“The time of death is not something we have been able to determined,” Agati said.
First, Agati said, investigators would like to hear from people who saw Chicklis or knew of his activities on Saturday, June 23.
Secondly investigators want to speak to anyone who saw any motor vehicle stopped on the eastbound side of Route 119, east of its intersection with Route 202, specifically between the intersections of Route 119 with North Street and East Main Street in Rindge, anytime between Saturday, June 23 and Monday June 25.
“We are hoping that someone may have seen a car stopped there,” Agati said. “And are hoping people can come forward with information.”
Third, investigators want to speak to anyone who saw Chicklis’s car – a gray, 4 door Honda Civic with Massachusetts license plate “7NA 723” – from June 23 through 25.
Investigators believe the Honda traveled to Rindge from the area of Westminster, Mass., sometime between those dates. The Honda was found abandoned June 29 in the Hannaford parking lot off Route 202 in Rindge.
Agati said anyone who lives or commutes in the area of Rindge as well as the Mass. communities of Gardener, Winchendon and Ashburnham should take a look at the photos of Chicklis and his Honda.
“The best way the public can help is to jog their memory. If somebody knows anything about this case, knows Brandon, or knows about his whereabouts (between June 23 and June 25) should call,” Agati said. “Sometimes those minor details can really add up, and to an investigator they can be of incredibly significant.”
Anyone with this information or any other information about the crime is asked to contact Sergeant Shawn Skahan of the New Hampshire State Police at 603-223-8729.
Chicklis went missing June 23. He was last accounted for on June 23 around 1 p.m.
He had told family members he was going to visit a relative in Windham, but he has not been seen or heard from since, according to Rindge Police Chief Daniel Anair.
Anair released photos of Chicklis and his car on June 29 asking people for information on his whereabouts.
Chicklis’ Honda is believed to have been in Rindge since at least Sunday, June 24. Rindge police found the vehicle in the Hannaford parking lot off Route 202 in Rindge shortly after midnight on June 29.
According to Anair it has not been out of the ordinary for cars to be parked in the Hannaford parking lot overnight as well as the adjacent Walmart parking since both are conducting nighttime renovations this summer. However, a nightshift police officer eventually ran the license plate of Chicklis’ vehicle, a 2010 gray Honda Civic registered in Massachusetts, and learned he was missing.