Can you keep a secret?

New Hampshire Police had an extraordinary request.  They asked Sandy Tewksbury, “Can you keep a secret?”

She was eager to hear from them any news of her missing 25-year-old granddaughter and legal child, Trish Haynes.  They said that she may not like what she hears, and that they could only tell her if she would agree to keep it to herself. She agreed. She would have agreed to anything.

“Your child is dead. She was murdered. We discovered her body, dismembered., and we believe she has been dead for months.” They explained.

Sandy was devastated. And she needed to grieve, to know more, to find the killers, to tell the world how unfair it was for her baby girl to have been taken so soon.

“Why must I keep this a secret?” she wondered.  The police explained that if she told anyone that Trish’s body had been found, it could jeopardize the investigation.

She pleaded with them to allow her to at least tell her sister-in-law, Valorie Alvorez, who had been involved with the search and was a close member of the family. They agreed. But that was it.

The search for Trish had turned Val and Sandy’s lives upside down. It was a topic of daily – hourly – conversation with friends and family. After they learned the truth, it became a daily ritual of lies.  They had to keep false hopes alive, telling people that Trish had not been found – that they were still searching. They mourned her loss in secret. This thing, this central part of their lives, was a sham.

Even what was left of the body was evidence.  It couldn’t be laid to rest, commemorated, remembered.

As days became weeks, became months, a new thought began to haunt them. What if this were to become their future – living this double life for years or decades hoping for permission from law enforcement to reveal the truth. To Val and her faith, it was intolerable.

The boiling rage within them screaming for justice was bottled up – expressed only to each other and to the police. Someone had killed their ‘Trishie’, dismembered her, and hid her body. And yet they were free. The hope of assisting in finding the killers is what sustained their lies as they persevered in a weird limbo.

Doubts about the intentions of the police began to enter their minds. What if what they really wanted to do was keep another murder off the books – let it linger as a missing person until they were ready with charges so it could be immediately reclassified as a solved murder and skip entirely that bothersome status of unsolved homicide.

Relationship with Chris Hughes

Trish Danielle Haynes dated Chris Hughes in her early twenties.  They lived together in a tourist town in the White Mountains of New Hampshire called North Woodstock.

Chris and Trish had a rocky relationship; it was violent at times. Trish’s Aunt, Valorie, said that the restaurant owners could tell that the relationship was abusive.  She would sport cuts and bruises to work. One time Chris even forced Trish to shave her head.

Between 2014 and 2017 they dated on and off for three years. Eventually the abuse was more than she could bear and she went to the police to file a complaint against Chris. The police took it seriously and initiated domestic assault charges against Chris. When Chris learned how serious the consequences were, he apologized and begged Trish to drop them.  Trish acquiesced, and over the pleas from her detective to testify in court against him, she recanted her account. Shortly afterwards, they stopped living together and Chris began dating someone new.

Charges filed against Trish

North Woodstock police didn’t take kindly to her withdrawing her statement and pursued a misdemeanor criminal charge against her for filing a false police report. Trish had meanwhile returned to Florida to be with family. Her grandmother and legal guardian, Sandy Tewksbury, and her husband, Stephen, lived in Stuart, Florida, a coastal city about two hours north of Miami, and Trish wanted to be with them. She had a summons in North Woodstock to appear in court, and if convicted, potentially a short jail term. She decided to go and face the charges. She was scheduled to be in court in January of 2018.

Trish returns to New Hampshire

The region of New Hampshire that we’re talking about is in the foothills of the White Mountains, near Cardigan Mountain State Park.  Rumney is a remote area with dramatic landscapes, hiking trails, and trees… beautiful in the warmer months, and harsh in the winter.

Trish did not have a job nor did she have a car in New Hampshire, and for the time being was making due on her regular social security checks from the government (for long term disability). Her host, Becky, worked full time away from home and her house was out in the sticks, so Trish was on her own during the day, without transportation or cell reception.  Trish lived on her phone – regularly posting to social media and chatting with friends, and after a month of isolation, she was getting bored and restless and wanted to make a change.

Trish had reconnected with an old schoolmate from New Hampshire, Ashley Smith, and explained her predicament. Ashley offered her a place to stay in Grafton, NH, with cell reception, and after learning that her court case had been postponed to April, and that she would be staying the rest of the winter in New Hampshire, she decided to move.

Trish connects with an old friend

On Sunday, January 28th, 2018, Becky gave Trish a ride to the Citgo Gas Station/Evan’s Express Mart in Canaan, NH, where she was picked up by Ashley and Doug Smith in a red minivan.

Doug and Ashley took Trish to their home in Grafton, NH, a short drive from Canaan.  Grafton is in the same region as Becky’s home, and is still remote —an hour drive away from the nearest major city, Concord, New Hampshire.  Doug and Ashley were renting a house from an out-of-state owner that sits on a large acreage. It is a sprawling property set back from the road (225 Main Street, Grafton, NH).

Shortly after moving in with Ashley, Trish’s cell phone went on the fritz.  It was either not functional or not in service. Trish’s regular contact with Sandy dwindled and when it did happen, it was on Ashley’s phone and it was brief. Not only was Sandy not able to get in touch with her by phone, she didn’t have a physical address for Trish either. In the months that followed – February, March and April – Trish fell off the map. Sandy had very limited contact, but was hopeful that this phase would end after she went to her court hearing and returned to Florida.

Trish falls out of touch, Ashley strings her family along…

On Wednesday, May 16th, weeks after her grandmother and guardian, Sandy, had a major heart attack, Trish had her final call with her. Sandy could tell that Ashley was pressuring Trish to get off the phone, and she didn’t have time to ask her about the court case or her plans to return to Florida. Little did Sandy know, this would be the last time that she spoke to her child.

After that, the only contact that Sandy had with Trish was via text message on Ashley’s phone, or through her discussions with Ashley, who served as an intermediary between Sandy and Trish.  Ashley told Sandy that Trish didn’t want to speak with her – that she was angry with her and wanted nothing to do with her, which was extremely out of character for Trish. Sandy said that she wanted to hear that from Trish directly, but Ashley said that Trish wasn’t around – that she was dating a new guy and that she had moved to Vermont with him.

Val decides to find out for herself

Her great aunt, Valorie, lives seasonally in New Hampshire. She lived in Florida over the winter, and in mid-May, she returned to her home near Concord, NH, and tried to track her down.

The entire purpose of Trish returning to New Hampshire was to address her legal trouble, and Val learned that she had no appeared in April at her court hearing. This was a huge red flag.

Val went to the town that she had heard that Ashley lived in, went to some stores and asked around if anyone knew her.  Nobody recognized her name, and Val wasn’t sure what to do to track her down.

Val thought to herself that perhaps Trish was embarrassed to admit to her family that she had gotten back together with her ex-boyfriend, Chris, so she contacted him, and he picked up. Unfortunately, he hadn’t heard from her either.

Final straw with Ashley

Through the rest of May and all of June, Ashley strung Sandy along, telling her that Trish didn’t want to talk to her or that she wasn’t in or that she had moved or she had run off with a new man. Ashley had checked herself into a psychiatric ward in Concord, New Hampshire in June, and when she got out, she had one final chat with Sandy.

Ashley said in the call “if you file a missing persons report, you’ll never see your granddaughter again.” Sandy was confused—nothing to this point had been so confrontational with Ashley—so she pressed via text message, “Ashley is what you said coming from you or from Trish?” Ashley dropped the conversation and simply said “I can’t handle this – I just got out of a psychiatric ward.” Sandy saw her comment as a not-so-veiled threat to Trish’s well-being and immediately contacted police, and on or about Friday, July 6th, 2018, Sandy called North Woodstock police and reported Trish as a missing person, and the search for Trish began.

Family cuts off Trish’s social security benefits

In July and August of 2018, Trish’s family and the police were working on finding her. One of the first things that Val and Sandy did was to contact the Social Security Administration to stop the disability checks. When she didn’t emerge after her money was cut off, the family couldn’t help but think the worst.

Police conduct search

On August 29th, 2018, the first public announcement was made about her disappearance.  It was covered by the local news both in print and in video.  A representative for the state’s attorney general’s office, Jeff Strelzin, asked for the public’s help, hoping that someone would know something about where she was. He was joined by representatives from the Woodstock police and the State Police.

With the involvement of the New Hampshire State Police, it suggested to the public that this wasn’t simply a missing person, but a disappearance with the odor of foul play.  The day prior, on Tuesday, August 28th, they used K-9’s and helicopters to search several spots in Grafton—all associated with Ashley Smith and her husband Doug. One of those locations was 225 Main St, the house where Trish lived with Ashley and was last known to be alive. The forensics team for the police were wearing blue booties, and the property was roped off with caution tape, suggesting to the public that it was a crime scene. In addition to that home, a small cottage on Wild Meadow Rd (house #608) was searched, and so was a camper located at 91 French Hill Road.

After that initial search, Strelzin said, “Based on investigation today, we are not aware of any particular threat to the public.” Which is confusing.  Because if someone had hurt or kidnapped Trish, weren’t they still out there?

Right as this search was happening, Ashley Smith, who was still living at 225 Main St, was interviewed by WMUR 9, and she said that Trish had been “gone for awhile, at least July, maybe June?” which was vague. She also said that Trish had “stayed with her but didn’t live with her” which sound almost synonymous but perhaps the distinction was drawn to create some distancing language.

Ashley also said that she had been “best friends with Trish since childhood,” and that she was “worried sick about her.” She made a plea to Trish, “Hopefully Trish will see this and come out and show the public that she’s fine”.

Trish’s remains discovered

A week later, reports surfaced that the state police, as part of their search, had pulled some crates out of Grant’s Pond, a small body of water just off Wild Meadow Road, also in Grafton, NH on either Sat, 9/1 or Sun, 9/2, but Strelzin would not confirm whether or not what they had discovered was related to Trish.

After that, in September of 2018, Sandy was asked for a sample of her DNA, which she provided, and three months later in January of 2019, the police gave her some devastating news. What they had pulled out of Grant’s Pond was a combo washer/dryer unit, and what they had discovered inside of it were human remains, dismembered, and they belonged to her child, Trish Haynes.  Trish had been killed.

Silence

For 6 months, Val and Sandy kept their silent vigil. But why did the police tell them at all? If they wanted to keep this secret, they could keep it themselves. How could it further the investigation? It was documented by the news media that large crates had been removed from Grant’s Pond. The killers knew where they had stashed Trish’s body and they had to know that the police had found her remains.

Val breaks the silence

On July 10th, 2019, a year after they had reported Trish missing, and 6 months after they had been told to keep her death a secret, Val and Sandy had had enough waiting. Val called local New Hampshire media and told them she wanted to give an interview on Trish’s disappearance.

That same day, the attorney general confirmed that the remains discovered nearly a year prior did in fact belong to Trish Haynes, and they provided an estimated date of death of May 18, 2018, a month and a half before she had been reported missing, and just days after she had last spoken with Sandy.

Val and Sandy didn’t know much about these ‘friends’ of Trish, Doug and Ashley, but through their investigation they learned a lot about these two criminals.

Who are Ashley Ruff Smith and Doug Smith?

Ashley is now 28, and she has been convicted of multiple theft charges, multiple charges of falsifying legal documents, and a charge of ‘filing a false report’ after she claimed that the chief of police assaulted her, stole her gun, and took her money. But if all the stories I’ve heard about Ashley are true, her cruelty seems to be far worse than her criminal history.

She’s had 6 children since graduating high school, 2 of which are with Doug. 5 of the children have been removed by the state and placed into foster care.

Doug Smith’s documented criminal history is alarming. He is 32-years-old and he is no stranger to the law… more like a career criminal. He is a registered sex offender after he was convicted of a felony sexual assault in 2009 at 21-years old. But if stories line up, this might not be his first sexual assault.

Over the next decade Doug racked up other charges including criminal threatening, burglary, assault, harassment, violation of restraining orders, violation of probation and bail conditions, possession of a weapon as a convicted felon, and duty to inform (or not disclosing a weapon in the presence of law enforcement), among other things. At least one woman has a permanent restraining order against him, and his license was also suspended after several driving violations.

In March of 2018 both Doug and Ashley were arrested for theft by deception and receiving stolen property during an incident at the Circle K.

And this is where consequences started to get serious for Doug. In August of 2019, Doug allegedly fired a handgun at a moving vehicle, which was both extremely dangerous and a crime in and of itself, but also a serious violation of the rules of him being a felon.

Warrants for his arrest were obtained in August, but police couldn’t find him, and he remained at large, avoiding arrest, until he turned himself in September 5th, 2019, a couple of months after the AG had announced that Trish’s remains were found, and that she was murdered. He was arraigned on felony charges of reckless conduct, possessing a weapon as a felon, and several misdemeanors of criminal threatening, mischief and theft. His bail was set at $10,000, and apparently somebody paid it and thought it was funny. There are Facebook comments of him responding to an article that was shared of his arrest saying “haha funny shit right there I’m out and free lmao”.

In December of 2019, Doug was charged with ‘tampering with public records’ and ‘voter fraud‘ after he registered and voted in both Grafton and Danbury.

He also failed to register as a sex offender. Twice.

While he was out on bail, in January 2020, he violently raped a woman in Croydon. And following that he became a fugitive—once again on the run from his growing pile of felony and misdemeanor charges which now included an aggravated felony sexual assault.

The US Marshalls and the NH Fugitive Task Force then got involved, assisting the NH State Police who were seeking Doug on outstanding arrest warrants from multiple jurisdictions. He was even featured on A&E’s crime show, “Live PD” as the ‘fugitive of the week’ in March with a $2,500 reward. He was considered armed and dangerous.

After months of bad tips, national publicity, and searching, Doug was finally arrested on June 9th in West Charleston, Vermont where he’d been staying with friends under the false name of Robert. He initially complied with police, pretending to be Robert, until he realized he was being arrested. He resisted and once again tried to flee. Police subdued Doug with a taser, and the task force finally got him in handcuffs. He was in the company of a woman who he claimed was his sister and her baby, but was very clearly Ashley and their newborn.

For obvious reasons Doug wasn’t given the option for bail by the judge.

In December of 2020 he was convicted of 5-10 years in jail as part of plea deal, which included his confession to multiple charges from 2018 (including voter fraud), the 2019 rape, and his felony weapons charges. He is currently is serving concurrent sentences for all, and his latest possible release is in 2030.

Trish’s final days living with Doug & Ashley

Trish had no idea who she was getting involved with when she chose to live with Doug and Ashley.

Ashley was pregnant at the time with her 6th child and was living with her five other children, so Trish was sharing a small house with 5 kids and 2 other adults, and from what I’ve heard, Ashley demanded that Trish help take care of the kids. It was a terrible environment for Trish, and no doubt for the kids as well. There are rumors that Trish may have suffered from abuse at the hands of Doug and Ashley while she lived there. Multiple people claimed to have seen instances of varying abuse of Trish that spring.

A woman named Kayla Fife filed a report after Trish was reported missing about witnessing her being abused by Ashley and Doug.

Another woman named Faith Partridge spoke with WMUR after Trish’s remains had been found. She said she met her the year before at Doug and Ashley’s, and remembered Trish as disheveled and said she avoided making any eye contact by looking at the floor. She also reported to the police that her husband had witnessed Doug backhanding Trish in his presence. And Ashley’s restraining order? Faith was the one who had petitioned for it that after being threatened by Ashley and her family on multiple occasions.

A third woman named Beverly claimed that Ashley and Doug had manipulated and taken control over Trish, beating her and forcing her to clean and take care of the kids. They apparently used her social security money and “pimped her out” to their friends to “earn her keep”, which I assume means that Doug and Ashley’s friends paid them to have sex with Trish. It’s also possible that Trish may have gotten into drugs which could have played a role in her needing to earn things from Doug, who was rumored to be a dealer.

It was also claimed by witnesses that Ashley was the one who was more abusive towards Trish. Ashley would accuse Trish of trying to steal Doug, and claimed that Trish had slept with both Doug and Travis and as a result would physically lash out at her, which brings us to the rumored cause of Trish’s death.

Trish was claustrophobic, and as a joke, Ashley would allegedly make her get into a non-working freezer chest in the basement to scare her and control her, and lock her in. It was one of those large freezers that had a padlock on it. One time the joke went too far... Doug and Ashley went out for the day, and when they came back and went downstairs to check the freezer, they found Trish dead. She had suffocated inside.

One of Ashley’s friends, who would like to remain anonymous, (I’ll call her ‘Angela’), remembered seeing Trish at the house regularly, but all of a sudden, she was gone. Angela figured that she’d moved.

One day Angela came over to help Ashley, who wanted to ‘renovate the basement into a play area for the kids’ – an odd thing to do in a house that you’re just renting. The area included a working washer-dryer set, and a non-working freezer that Ashley wanted to get of. Sometime later, Angela came back to help Ashley clean it out. She found dark hair in the freezer, and asked Ashley who it belonged to. Ashley said it was from Doug’s deer carcasses from hunting.

The freezer has since disappeared and has never been recovered.

“Mysterious” car fires

In October of 2019, the investigation took yet another frustrating turn when a strong message was sent to those were cooperating with authorities and speaking out against Doug and Ashley. In the same night, two different cars were deliberately set on fire. Who did the cars belong to? Angela, and Kayla. Both of whom were former friends of Ashley who had spoken with police and came forward with information about Trish.

The fires were determined to be arson by the fire Marshall. Both cars were a total loss, burned down to the frame. They’re still under investigation. Nobody has been charged with the crime.

Getting Justice

Chloe and Valorie have created a community online. A community that advocates for Trish, and spreads the word about her case. A community that grows stronger and larger every day.

I encourage you to join, no matter where you’re from. All of the links for the group, information about the rally, and the petition are listed below.

As much as I want this story to just be about Trish, it’s not. And the family and community know it’s not. It’s also about the people who walk free from justice. The people who taunt justice with a nasty message printed on the back of their shirts.

And this is where their lives intersect. The victim and the antagonizer.

An unfortunate meeting of old acquaintances who were far from best friends, and a tragic outcome forever tied up in the cycle of “what if”.

What if Trish dumped Chris before it got to the point of police reports? What if Trish hadn’t messaged Ashley? What if Trish had gone back to Florida? What if Ashley’s children speak up about what they witnessed in that home?

“What if” won’t bring Trish back. Neither will getting her justice. But at the very least, justice will take a violent criminal off the street, and Trish’s family can bring her home and lay her to rest in peace. This is the only option her family has left. To continue to fight, and to ask people to fight with them.

Take Action

If you are holding onto any information about the murder of Trish Haynes, I urge you to please call the NH State Police at 603-223-4381.

Connect with the “Justice for Trish” Facebook page.

Sign the petition

Connect on instagram @MurderSheToldPodcast

Click here to support Murder, She Told.

Sources For This Episode

Newspaper Articles

Various articles, from the Associated Press State Wire, the Boston Globe, the Concord Monitor, the New Hampshire Sunday News, the New Hampshire Union Leader, TCA Regional News, and the Valley News, written by Damien Fisher, John Koziol, Jordan Cuddemi, Kevin Landrigan, Paul Freely, and Sofia Saric.

Full listing here.

Online Written Sources

'More charges for Warner father…' (Sun Journal), 8/31/2005, by AP

'Couple raised kids in garbage, animal feces, pornography' (Make Stupidity History), 1/11/2006, no author credited

'Warner couple convicted for filthy home' (Free Republic), 1/13/2006, no author credited

'N.H. home cleaned up after being condemned…' (Sun Journal), 7/31/2006, by AP

'Friend of missing woman says she hasn't seen her…' (WMUR 9 (Manchester, NH)), 8/30/2018, by Jennifer Crompton

'Body Found In Grafton ID'd As Missing Florida Woman' (Patch), 7/11/2019, by Tony Schinella

'Relative of long-missing woman says...' (Valley News (West Lebanon, NH)), 7/11/2019, by Jordan Cuddemi

'Trish Danielle Haynes - obituary' (Legacy), 7/25/2019, no author credited

'Man who once lived with murder victim' (Concord Monitor (Concord, NH)), 9/9/2019, by Alyssa Dandrea

'Woman who accused police chief of stealing gun…' (Union Leader (Manchester, NH)), 11/26/2019, by Damien Fisher

'Armed And Dangerous Felon Accused Of Rape' (Patch), 3/4/2020, by Tony Schinella

'Man taken into custody after nationwide search…' (WMUR 9 (Manchester, NH)), 6/17/2020, by Ray Brewer

'Warner Man Pleads Guilty To Rape, Firearm…' (Patch), 12/2/2020, by Tony Schinella

'Family of murdered woman fights…' (CBS 6 WTVR-TV (Richmond, VA)), 8/27/2021, by Alexa Liacko

Video sources

'Episode 11: The Hidden Bodies' (ID), 8/4/2020

Interviews

Chloe French, Valorie Haynes Alvorez, and Tarrah Taylor

Podcast Sources

‘Trish Haynes /// Part 1 /// 507’ True Crime Garage, 7/27/2021

‘Trish Haynes /// Part 2 /// 508’ True Crime Garage, 7/28/2021

Photo Sources

Photos of Trish growing up from Valerie Haynes Alvorez and edited by Byron Willis.

Additional and misc. photos from online written sources and stills from video footage.

Credits

Created, researched, written, told, and edited by Kristen Seavey

Research, writing, photo editing support by Byron Willis