CONCORD, NH — A former UNH staffer accused of threatening three presidential candidates before New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary was found dead Wednesday night in a parking garage at Concord Hospital.
Tyler Anderson, 30, of Dover was being tried in U.S. District Court in Concord on three counts of transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure the person of another. He was arrested in December 2023 after being accused of threatening Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, and Chris Christie, all Republicans running for the nomination in the 2024 presidential cycle. Anderson was accused of threatening to “impale” and “disembowel” one candidate and blowing the head off of another while conducting a mass shooting. He was also accused of threatening to “blow” the “brains out” of a third candidate and “kill everyone” at a campaign event. He was indicted on three counts and was in the process of a jury trial this week.
According to court documents, around 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, the jury foreperson told the judge, “We reached a unanimous verdict on one indictment,” but “we are unable to reach consensus.”
On Wednesday, the jury was informed that “something” had required the court to “postpone today’s deliberations.” Anderson reportedly had not appeared in court. The jury was asked to return Thursday at noon for further instructions.
“I remind you that you must not talk to anyone about this case,” the instructions read. “Nor should you do any independent research. Also, please leave your notes and instructions in the deliberation room.”
Around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Concord police were tipped off that Anderson might be in the city in a Nissan Leaf after a “stop-and-hold” request was issued against him and that he might be armed. The reporting agency was the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Anderson was thought to be in the city’s West End neighborhood, specifically, near Walker State Forest on Little Pond Road.
Officers spent about an hour searching neighborhoods, parks, side streets, and parking lots for Anderson and eventually found the Nissan at the Concord Hospital Langley Park garage. A man was inside the vehicle, later identified as Anderson, and appeared to be asleep. The officers could not wake the person and requested Concord fire and rescue teams to the scene. They broke the glass of the vehicle, tested the man for vitals, and he was pronounced dead.
Deputy Chief John Thomas of the Concord Police Department said the incident was still an open investigation but confirmed much of what was reported by Concord NH Patch on Wednesday night. He said the officers “saw some things that they didn’t believe to be normal” inside the Nissan and backed away from the vehicle after they could not wake him. The officers were concerned there appeared to be some chemical agent in the Nissan, he said, and they wanted to be protected from it.
Anderson was not armed, and there was no bomb or explosives found inside the vehicle, Thomas said.
After Patch posted its story about the vehicle and body found in the parking garage, News 603 posted a video of a hazmat team arriving and working the scene.
U.S. Attorney Jane Young filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on Thursday due to the defendant being deceased, according to a filing.
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