Claremont
Matthew Carignan has remained confined to the Secure Psychiatric Unit at the New Hampshire State Prison since 2006, when he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Lynn and Laurie Estep, as well as to seven counts of attempted murder for each of the tenants who escaped the fire in October 2004.
Emily Estep, who was 13 when her parents were killed, says she fears for the public’s safety if a judge grants Carignan, 33, permission to be moved to the state-run New Hampshire Hospital in Concord.
“He needs to stay where he is for everyone’s safety,” said Estep, now 25. “I am fearing it will happen again; it might not be us this time, but it might be another family.”
A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 17 in Merrimack Superior Court to determine whether Carignan will be transferred to the less-restrictive unit.
Carignan is entitled to a hearing every five years to determine whether he is still a danger to the public. State law mandates officials place individuals such as Carignan in the least restrictive setting.
In February, at the second such hearing, Carignan’s public defender, Caroline Smith, agreed with the Attorney General’s Office that her client should remain confined to the Secure Psychiatric Unit for another five years, according to court documents filed in Concord.
At the same time, however, Carignan requested a hearing to determine whether he could be moved to the New Hampshire Hospital, rather than remain in the Secure Psychiatric Unit.
The state in that motion objected to moving Carignan to the step-down unit. Recently, however, Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward said that he couldn’t comment on whether the state still holds that position.
Since February, there have been a variety of defense-filed motions to delay Carignan’s evaluation hearing. One of those motions provides some insight into why Carignan and his attorney contend he is fit for the move.
In an April motion, Smith said she met with Carignan and his psychiatrist and said “it became abundantly clear that an updated risk assessment was necessary. Since a prior risk assessment in 2014, Mr. Carignan has undergone new treatment modalities and has made significant improvement.”
She requested the delay to allow a treatment provider time to assess Carignan and submit a report, according to the motion.
Repeated messages left for Smith weren’t returned. Attempts to reach Carignan’s parents, James and Judy Carignan, also were unsuccessful.
The Carignans lived in a home near the Wall Street apartment building their son set on fire; they owned a number of properties in the city.
According to police, Carignan used a cigarette lighter to ignite a canvas chair on the porch of the five-unit apartment building.
According to a court order from 2011, Carignan’s actions on the day he set the fire were the “product of a mental disease or defect.”
Separate court documents indicate he suffered brain damage as a toddler and has been diagnosed with several disorders, including “impulse control disorder with pyromania features.”
If Carignan is allowed to move to the New Hampshire Hospital, he would still be supervised and won’t be able to move about freely, Ward explained.
That, however, provided Estep little comfort, she said.
The need for open beds in inpatient psychiatric services remains a pressing issue in New Hampshire, she said, and if Carignan is considered “low risk” at the Secure Psychiatric Unit, he may also soon be deemed “low risk” at the New Hampshire Hospital.
“And if they consider him low risk at the state hospital, they will likely release him because they need the room,” she said.
Speaking generally, Ward said a person who is deemed ready for release from the state hospital is commonly put into transitional housing services before being transferred back into the community. That isn’t always the case, though.
“Transition to the community could occur directly from New Hampshire Hospital, or Secure Psychiatric Unit for that matter, if ordered by the court,” he said. “When someone is transferred to the community, it is also important to note that the court can still impose conditions and require supervision of that individual.”
Emily Estep said she distinctly remembers the morning that changed her life.
Her older sister, Erica, then 15, woke her up in the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 7, 2004, and told her they needed to get out of the apartment because it was on fire.
She listened to her big sister’s instructions and followed her back to her room, which had a door that led outside, and together they exited the building.
“Our dad came out after, and my sister and I just kept yelling, ‘where’s mom?’,” Estep recalled. “I remember my dad looking around for her and he tried to run back in after her, but the flames pushed him right back out.”
She remembers the second-story neighbors yelling down to the Esteps; a man had a baby and he needed someone down below to catch the child so he could jump to safety.
“With no hesitation, my dad ran over and caught the baby,” Estep said.
That would be one of her father’s last acts.
The girls’ mother, Laurie, 45, died in the blaze, and their father, Lynn, 41, was taken to the hospital with severe burns and smoke inhalation. He was subsequently transported to a burn center, where he died three weeks later.
Laurie Estep worked in Claremont packing herbs at New England Herb, while Lynn Estep worked for U.S. Cellular in West Lebanon.
“This crushed us,” Estep said. “No one will ever understand what we have gone through.”
Following the fire, the sisters went to live with their grandparents in Webster, N.H. Their older sister Christina, then 19, was staying elsewhere in Claremont at the time of the fire.
The Estep family moved to Claremont about five years prior to the incident; they had moved around the Newport-Goshen area in years prior.
Prior to the fire in Claremont, Carignan faced charges in Manchester in connection with a fire at his parents’ home in that city earlier in 2004.
According to an updated summary in that case, he had a hearing on an insanity defense in 2006, and now the Manchester case is tracking alongside the Claremont case.
The road forward for Emily Estep, who lives in Concord and is the lead dog trainer at a pet store, has been a long and at times bumpy one. Though it’s been 12 years since the fire, the emotional scars remain.
“I know I have family around me that love and support me, but you just have your days where you want your parents, where you want to be safe and feel their warmth,” Estep said. “But I can’t.”
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.