AG says N.H. wife justified in fatality

CONCORD, N.H. — A woman who fatally stabbed her husband while their children slept inside their Durham home last year won’t face charges after homicide investigators determined she was defending herself against domestic violence perpetrated against her.

Kristin Talcott, 41, was legally justified in using lethal force against her husband, Alexander Talcott, 41, five months ago, on Aug. 26, 2023, Attorney General John M. Formella announced Thursday.

Formella’s office released a 16-page report summarizing the heartbreaking events involving the family of five.

Alexander and Kristin Talcott, who had been married 17 years and were raising three minor children, had been experiencing a heightened level of marital strife due partly to financial hardship, according to the attorney general’s report. Alexander was struggling to find work that paid well, and the couple worried about losing their home on Bennett Road.

He had worked as a corporate lawyer and been an instructor at the University of New Hampshire, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was also a former New Hampshire state leader for the Republican National Lawyers Association, remembered for his “unwavering belief in liberty, free markets, and limited government.”

But behind the scenes, Alexander had been increasingly erratic toward his wife, verbally abusive, and dealing with depression and suicidal ideation, according to the investigation. Kristin reportedly “begged” him to seek therapy and medication to help with his deteriorating mental health.

She also began secretly planning to leave him and take the children with her. She called a domestic violence shelter and legal aid office. She wrote some information she had gathered on a notecard that she kept in her handbag. The night of the fatality, Alexander confronted Kristin about the notecard and tightened his grip around her in their bedroom, suggesting he would not let her and the kids leave, according to the report.

Kristin told investigators Alexander began “gently cutting” her with a kitchen knife, while telling her he loved her. She pepper-sprayed him, grabbed the knife, and stabbed him in the side of the neck. She said he was still alive and conscious and began promising he would change.

The situation intensified again when Kristin told him he was “crazy,” and he “came at” her, jabbing toward her stomach with the knife, according to her account to authorities. She stabbed him again in the neck, and he fell to the floor.

Kristin called 911 at about 2:30 a.m., and police arrived about 10 minutes later. They found she was suffering from several bleeding wounds.

The children were asleep in a separate area of the house and did not see or hear any of the attack, according to the report.

The conclusion that Kristin Talcott acted lawfully was based “largely” on her own account of events, since there were no other eyewitnesses; that said, her account substantively matched what she had immediately reported in her 911 call. None of the evidence investigators observed at the scene contradicted her account, and other witnesses and evidence corroborated information about the broader circumstances that led up to the fatal encounter, according to the report.

Help is available: If you or a loved one is experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, call or text 988, or contact a crisis line. Additionally, the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence offers a helpline, 1-866-644-3574, and makes confidential advocates available 24/7.