Douglas Herlihy pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2003 beating death of his father.

The plea is what the Cold Case Unit announced. It is not a sentence. The attorney general's office and the Union Leader say 12 to 24 years is the recommendation, and that a judge still has to accept the deal in early 2027. WMUR reported he is facing that range and did not report the falsification count, the suspended term, or that acceptance is still ahead. The office says Paul Herlihy died between Aug. 23 and Aug. 24, 2003. The Union Leader says he died sometime between Aug. 23 and Aug. 27 and was found Aug. 27.

The New Hampshire Department of Justice said Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, that Douglas Herlihy, 40, pleaded guilty that day in Hillsborough County Superior Court, Southern District, to one count of manslaughter and one count of attempted falsification of physical evidence in the beating death of his father, Paul Herlihy, 50, in Milford. The release says the death was between Aug. 23 and Aug. 24, 2003, and that Douglas Herlihy was 17 at the time. The Union Leader reported he entered the pleas Wednesday before Judge Jacki A. Smith in Nashua. WMUR reported he pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Nashua courtroom, in an orange jumpsuit, to a lesser charge of manslaughter after he had been charged with second-degree murder. WMUR did not report the falsification count.

The Department of Justice said the pleas were entered under a fully negotiated agreement that is subject to the court's acceptance, and that a sentencing hearing will be set in early 2027. On manslaughter, the agreement calls for a stand-committed sentence of 12 to 24 years in the New Hampshire State Prison, with a one-year cut to the minimum if he completes the Focus program while in custody. On attempted falsification of physical evidence, it calls for three and a half to seven years, fully suspended for 20 years. The remaining indicted counts, including the alternative counts of second-degree murder, will be dismissed under the agreement. The Union Leader reported those same terms, named Judge Smith, and reported that a second-degree murder conviction can bring up to life in prison. WMUR reported he is facing 12 to 24 years. It did not report that the agreement is still subject to acceptance, the suspended term, or the 2027 hearing. A recommended range is what the papers describe. A judge has not imposed it.

The date of death and the room are not the same in each account. The Department of Justice said the beating death in Milford was between Aug. 23 and Aug. 24, 2003. The Union Leader reported Paul Herlihy died sometime between Aug. 23 and Aug. 27, 2003, and that police found his badly decomposed body on the kitchen floor of his house at 425 Nashua St. on Aug. 27. The paper reported the body was wrapped in carpeting and covered with a blue tarp, with a fan blowing toward it, that blood spatter was on the kitchen cabinets, ceiling, refrigerator and walls, and that the autopsy showed blunt force trauma. It reported a police affidavit said Douglas Herlihy's bloody palm print was on the refrigerator. WMUR reported court records showed investigators first found a large object in the living room, wrapped in carpeting and a blue tarp, with a large floor fan blowing toward it, and that he later dug a grave near the house. WMUR reported Christopher Knowles, chief of the Cold Case Unit, told the court, "He said that he then grabbed a baseball bat the family kept behind the front door and struck his father with it, causing his death." The Union Leader and the Department of Justice release did not include that quotation. A statement described in court, and an affidavit, are what those outlets published.

The Union Leader reported Knowles said investigators described a "tumultuous" relationship that at times brought police to the house, and that a court document said Douglas Herlihy told acquaintances, in the weeks before the killing, that his father was "abusive and the next time it happened (he) would kill him." The paper reported court documents said he also alluded to evading arrest while detained in New York and Massachusetts. WMUR reported prosecutors said the relationship was difficult and that the fatal encounter followed a physical tussle. The Department of Justice said the case was investigated by the Cold Case Unit, the Milford Police Department and the New Hampshire State Police, and prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Rachel C. Harrington and Cold Case Unit Chief R. Christopher Knowles. Attorney General John M. Formella said, "This case is a reminder that the pursuit of justice does not end with the passage of time," and that the unit and its partners "remain committed to pursuing answers and accountability, even decades after a crime." The Union Leader reported several of the investigators sat in the back two rows of the courtroom Wednesday. The pleas are what he entered Wednesday. Sentencing is the hearing that has not happened. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.