New Hampshire

Court: Stepdad Incompetent to Stand Trial in Stepdaughter's Murder

Wendell Noyes is not competent to stand trial and his competency can't be restored, according to the New Hampshire court

Charges have been dropped against a New Hampshire man accused of killing his 11-year-old stepdaughter five years ago.

A court in Lancaster, New Hampshire, ruled Monday that fifty-two-year-old Wendell Noyes was not competent to stand trial and that his competency can't be restored. According to one evaluator, his mental illness creates a potentially serious likelihood of danger to others.

Noyes is accused of killing Celina Cass by submerging her body in the Connecticut River, where she was found six days after she was reported missing in July 2011. Her disappearance led to a search by federal, state and local law enforcement in the town of Stewartstown, a mile from the Canadian border.

Noyes was arrested in June at the state psychiatric hospital, where he had been hospitalized for about six months.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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