LV man faces possible death penalty

CONCORD, N.H. -- The state's top prosecutor said Friday she will seek the death penalty against a former New Hampshire business owner charged with orchestrating the slaying of a Derry man in 2005.

Attorney General Kelly Ayotte announced a capital murder indictment against John Brooks, 54, founder and former owner of PolyVac Inc. She said Brooks of Las Vegas suspected that trash hauler Jack Reid Sr. was stealing personal items from him and offered to pay three other men to interrogate and kill him on a horse farm in Deerfield. Brooks' son Jesse is charged with conspiring in the plot.

The father also is accused of participating in Reid's murder by striking him in the chest with a hammer.

A Rockingham County grand jury concluded that John Brooks arranged and took part in Reid's slaying "in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse," according to documents released Friday.

Police found Reid's plastic- and duct tape-wrapped body in the bed of his dump truck in a Saugus, Mass., parking lot a week after his family reported him missing in June 2005.

Ayotte said Reid had done odd jobs for Brooks, such as trash hauling.

PolyVac is medical supply company in Manchester. Brooks sold it before moving to Las Vegas during the investigation. He was arrested in Las Vegas in November.

The grand jury indicted Brooks on two alternate counts of capital murder, alleging he arranged the murder for hire or killed Reid during a kidnapping. Brooks also is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit capital murder.

Robin Knight, 56, of North Hampton is charged with conspiracy to commit capital murder and accomplice to first-degree murder, according to the documents.

Michael Benton of Manchester, Joseph Vrooman of Las Vegas and Jesse Brooks are charged with conspiracy to commit murder.