Autopsy results released Sunday night confirm the cause of death of a mother and daughter killed in Franklin on Saturday afternoon. 

Officials say Jamie Bell, 42, shot and killed Nicole Hughes, 35, and their 1 ½-year-old daughter Ariella Bell in Hughes’ home at 124 Elkins Street. Jamie Bell also wounded Hughes’ five-year-old daughter, who survived. The child was treated for non-life threatening injuries at a Massachusetts hospital and was released Sunday, according to an update from the Franklin School District Superintendent Dan Legallo.

Jamie Bell was found dead on the banks of the Merrimack River near River Street Saturday evening following an intense search.

The autopsy confirms that both mother and daughter died of multiple gunshot wounds in a double homicide. Jamie Bell died of a single, self-inflicted incised wound of the neck in a suicide. 

Bell had a history of criminal behavior. In January 2019 he was convicted of reckless conduct with a deadly weapon and possession of a dangerous weapon. In 2017 he was convicted of criminal threatening. 

Officials with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office say the investigation is ongoing, but they suspect that Bell killed Hughes and their child before fleeing and taking his own life.

There will be a candlelight vigil for Hughes and Bell at 8 p.m. Tuesday on the Bessie Rowell Baseball Field in Franklin. 

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