A New Hampshire son who once bragged about beating his first body at 17 has finally admitted killing his father in a 2003 cold case.
Fox News reported that Douglas Herlihy pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the beating death of his father, Paul Herlihy, at the family home in Milford, New Hampshire.
Herlihy, now 40, was 17 at the time of the killing. Under a plea deal he faces 12 to 24 years in the New Hampshire State Prison, with a sentencing hearing set for early 2027.
He had been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and falsifying physical evidence before the manslaughter plea. A separate potential term of 3½ to 7 years for attempting to falsify evidence was suspended for 20 years.
Paul Herlihy, 50, was found dead on August 27, 2003, after a relative asked officers to check on him. Police entered the Milford home through a window.
Court records described hundreds of flies and a strong odor of decomposition. The body lay on the kitchen floor, wrapped in carpet and covered with a blue tarp.
Blood spatters marked the kitchen cabinets, refrigerator, walls, and ceiling. Outside Douglas Herlihy’s bedroom window, officers found carpet and padding stained with blood that DNA testing suggested could belong to Paul Herlihy. Investigators concluded the material had been pushed out the open window.
An autopsy ruled the death a homicide caused by blunt-force trauma within the prior four days. Paul Herlihy had injuries to his nose and jaw, skull fractures, and damage to his voice box. Investigators said the killer struck him repeatedly in the head.
In a bedroom closet, a towel covered the door. When it was removed, large handwriting read: “I WILL SEE YOU IN H***.”
The father-son relationship had been turbulent, with prior violence and law-enforcement contact. After the killing, Douglas Herlihy repeatedly denied involvement to family members. He also had further brushes with the law, including cases involving drugs and a stolen vehicle.
In 2010, investigators approached him about his father’s death. He referred them to his attorney.
The break came years later. After a 2020 arrest, Herlihy spoke to an officer in terms captured in the arrest affidavit.
The affidavit recorded him saying:
"That's what I do. I beat cases. I beat my first body when I was 17!"
The officer stated:
"I assumed he was implying that he had killed people in the past,"
That statement helped keep the case alive. An arrest warrant issued in June 2025. Officers quickly took Herlihy into custody in Saugus, Massachusetts, and extradited him to New Hampshire.
New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella credited the state’s Cold Case Unit and partner agencies for refusing to shelve the file.
Formella said:
"This case is a reminder that the pursuit of justice does not end with the passage of time,"
He added:
"The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit and our law enforcement partners remain committed to pursuing answers and accountability, even decades after a crime. That work takes persistence, patience and a determination to follow the evidence wherever it leads. I commend the investigators and prosecutors whose continued efforts brought this case to an important resolution."
The New Hampshire Department of Justice said Douglas Herlihy admitted he killed his father as a 17-year-old. The family asked to keep its privacy and declined to speak with the media. Herlihy’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
More than two decades passed between the kitchen-floor discovery and the guilty plea. The evidence at the scene never went away. Neither did the work of investigators who treated an old homicide as unfinished business.
A man who told police he beat cases and beat his first body at 17 is now facing years in state prison for that crime. Time did not erase the evidence, and it did not erase the debt.
