When Bryant Kennedy was asked to analyze a prescription pill bottle, forest debris and a leaf collected from the scene of a double homicide in Concord last year, he noticed a reddish-brown substance that later tested positive as blood. 

“I performed a screening test for the blood and the results of that were positive,” said Kennedy, a criminalist with the New Hampshire State Forensic Laboratory. “The samples are subjected to chemicals that will provide a color change, bright pink, which would indicate blood. We would use those same agents on a set of positive and negative control samples.”

Inside the prescription bottle were four cigarette butts, one of which tested positive for saliva. Noting the findings in his report, Kennedy then sent the evidence on to his counterpart, Katie Lynn Swango, a forensic biologist, who concluded there was not enough saliva present for a DNA profile. 

Kennedy performed additional screen testing on bullets, pieces of metal, gloves, socks, a t-shirt, a section of fabric, a coffee mug, a Mountain Dew bottle and cartridge casings recovered from the crime scene and secondary sites and a Glock pistol, holster, backpack, black jeans and a leather hat taken from the Logan Clegg when he was arrested last fall. None of the samples tested positive for blood or saliva, Kennedy testified Monday morning in the Concord double murder trial.

Because some of the evidence was exposed to the elements for an extended period of time and some of the evidence was heavily charred or melted, Kennedy was not surprised they did not test positive for the presence of bodily fluids, he said. 

“I analyze evidence all the time but in a case like this, evidence may have been exposed to the elements where it could have been washed away or difficult to recover given the condition it was in,” Kennedy said. “Blood and saliva are things I could find on items that are burned but wouldn’t expect it to present in the same nature that I would see a reddish brown stain on something.”

His testimony did not include any theories about how blood got on specific items, just whether it was found or not. 

The victims, Steve and Wendy Reid, were fatally shot while walking along the Marsh Loop Trail in April 2022. Their bodies were recovered three days later more than 30-yards off the trail in a natural depression, covered by leaves, sticks and other debris. Police spent six months investigating the circumstances of their death before arresting Clegg, 27, who is accused of fleeing to Vermont in the days after the murders. 

Clegg’s defense has maintained his innocence and continues to argue that his elusive behavior before and after the fatal shootings was a result of his previous felony convictions and paranoia to keep his identity hidden from police, not an indication of guilt. 

Clegg is facing four charges of second-degree murders, four charges of falsifying physical evidence and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, felonies. If found guilty, he faces life in prison. He has remained held without bail in the Merrimack County House of Corrections in Boscawen since his arrest in October 2022. 

The victims were known for their years of humanitarian work around the world and had moved back to Concord to retire. They were outdoor enthusiasts who frequently walked at the Broken Ground trails, family and friends said. He was 67 and she was 66 years old.