(This story by Nora Doyle-Burr was published by the Valley News on Dec. 21, 2017.)
[N]ORTH HAVERHILL, N.H. — A Grafton County Superior Court grand jury has indicted a Rhode Island man accused of shooting and killing his 70-year-old mother while she was being treated at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center’s intensive care unit.
The indictment charges Travis Frink, 49, of Warwick, with both first- and second-degree murder in the shooting death of his mother, Pamela Ferriere, on Sept. 12.
The first-degree murder charge asserts that Frink “purposely caused” Ferriere’s death, and the second-degree charge asserts that he did so “recklessly, under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life, by shooting her multiple times.”
Frink pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, a charge that carries a life sentence, at a court appearance in September.
Ferriere, of Groton, New Hampshire, was admitted to DHMC a couple of weeks prior to her death after suffering an aneurysm, but she was due to be released Sept. 15, according to an affidavit filed by New Hampshire State Police Sgt. Mary Bonilla.
Frink drove to the hospital from Rhode Island on Sept. 12, signed into the visitor’s desk and went to the fourth-floor intensive care unit, the affidavit said.
Frink’s stepfather, Robert Ferriere, who was present during the shooting, told police that upon arriving at the room, Frink asked for some time alone with his mother.
After Pamela Ferriere agreed to the request and Robert Ferriere began to leave the room, he heard a shout, the affidavit said. Robert Ferriere told police he saw Frink point a gun at Pamela Ferriere and fire several shots.
The judge in the case, Lawrence MacLeod, ordered Frink to be held without bail at the Grafton County jail and have no contact with Robert Ferriere after the September hearing.
Robert Ferriere told The Associated Press in September that Frink has had episodes of violent and erratic behavior in the past and has post-traumatic stress disorder.
