Former Franklin man charged in Hooksett stabbing death

Dillon Sleeper (Hooksett Police photo)

HOOKSETT - A former Franklin resident has been arrest in the weekend stabbing death of a 45-year-old Hooksett man.

Dillon Sleeper, 26, has been arrested and charged with one count of second-degree murder for recklessly causing the death of Jason Wirtz under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life, by stabbing him with a knife, according to a statement from the Attorney Generals Office sent on Sunday.

Hooksett Police got involved around just after midnight on Sunday after receiving a 911 call for a person laying partially in the roadway in the area of 66 Main Street in Hooksett.

Upon arriving officers found Wirtz laying partially in the roadway, unresponsive, and bleeding from his neck. He was transported to Elliot Hospital in Manchester, where he was pronounced dead.

And autopsy on Sunday determined his death was due to a stab wound to the neck, and the manner of death as homicide.

Sleeper is expected to be arraigned in Merrimack Superior Court in Concord on Monday.

As investigators look into the timeline of events they are asking for the public's assistance. Anyone who observed any individual(s) walking on Main Street in Hooksett between Daniel Webster Highway and College Park Drive during the hours of 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1 a.m. on Sunday, and anyone who drove across the Main Street Bridge in Hooksett during that same time period, is asked to please contact the New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit tip line at (603) 628-8477 or New Hampshire State Police Dispatch at (603) 223-4381.