The Murder of Joseph Woodside (New Hampshire)

In November of 1979, a man was found beaten to death along a quiet trail in a New Hampshire college town. Within a day, police had a suspect, but the case was hardly open and shut.

The college student convicted of the murder – and the family who stood by him – were prepared to spend a lifetime fighting to prove his innocence. They believed the investigation narrowed too quickly, that key questions went unanswered, and that the truth had yet to fully surface. But before the courts could decide what came next, the Atlantic Ocean wrote the final chapter of this story.

Discovery

Around 1:45 a.m. on November 14, 1979, two students were walking along a familiar trail off Pettee Brook Lane, near the Wilderness Trail Sports Shop on the University of New Hampshire campus. According to reporting in the Concord Monitor, it was a route students used all the time, a shortcut between the dorms and downtown Durham, especially late at night.

As they walked through the chilly fall darkness, they noticed a man lying beneath a burdock bush just off the trail. It was clear he was injured and incapacitated somehow, but at first, they didn’t understand what they were seeing. The students later told reporters Laura Meade and Joel Brown of UNH’s student newspaper, The New Hampshire, that they thought the man was just unconscious. 

One of the students slid a sweatshirt and a bandana beneath the man’s head, trying to make him more comfortable. Then one of the students ran to call for an ambulance.

The stillness of the trail didn’t last long. Headlights cut through the darkness, emergency lights flashing as first responders arrived. Voices carried through the trees as police followed, transforming a well-worn student shortcut into an active crime scene. The man wasn’t simply unconscious. He’d been badly beaten and did not survive his injuries.

A backpack and a pair of crutches were found near the man’s body. The backpack’s contents – cigarettes and clothing – were scattered around him. A wallet presumably belonging to the victim was nearby too, but it was empty. The man had about $4 and some change on him when he was found.

Investigators identified the victim by fingerprints as 35-year-old Joseph Woodside, last known to be living in North Vassalboro, Maine. An autopsy found he’d been struck eight times in the head with a concave blunt object, causing a fatal skull fracture and brain swelling. Police focused on a heavy glass mug found near his body with bloodlike material on it, consistent with his injuries and presumed to be the murder weapon.

New Hampshire State Police Captain Roger Beaudoin made the decision not to call a fingerprint expert to the scene, believing there wasn’t enough evidence to work with. However, investigators did collect hair samples from the area, including one from an ace bandage found near the path that was consistent with a bandage Joseph was wearing on his left hand,(20) and another hair sample from the sweatshirt placed beneath his head. This was a time when hair evidence was still held up as solid science for crime scene identification, so those samples were sent off to the FBI laboratory for analysis.

Beyond the presumed murder weapon, investigators documented several other items and details at the scene. Burrs were found clinging to the shirt Joseph was wearing, consistent with the brush and vegetation in the area where his body was discovered.

As reported by Meg Burton for the Concord Monitor, investigators also recovered a McDonald’s coupon book. Written on the back was a list of twelve names and phone numbers. Nearby, they found a Greyhound bus baggage ticket and a map of the UNH campus with a large X marked in one corner. There was also a pile of trash close to Joseph’s body, but source material indicates it was never inventoried or examined for potential evidence.

By midmorning, word was already spreading across the university campus that something terrible had happened. Students talked in dorm hallways and classrooms about a body found on a trail. As the rumors moved faster than official information, some students began to realize that they may have seen the victim just hours earlier.

A Student

Around 3 p.m. on the day the body was discovered, four University of New Hampshire students walked into the local police station to speak with detectives.

During separate interviews, three of the students told police that the night before, they’d gone out for pizza and beer at Wildcat Pizza in downtown Durham. While they were there, a man with long hair, crutches, and a bandaged arm came in.

According to the group, the man said something to one of them – their friend 18-year-old Barney Siel – and Barney decided to go talk to him. The four students ended up joining the table next to the man and learned his name: Joseph Woodside Joseph offered to chip in cash toward a pitcher of beer, and witnesses said he was carrying a noticeable wad of bills.

As they finished up at the restaurant, the friends said Barney asked them to hang back for a few minutes before leaving. When they suggested walking out together, Barney insisted they wait. According to the group, Barney left the restaurant at the same time as Joseph, without them.

As the three friends walked back toward campus, they said they passed Barney and Joseph urinating in an alleyway. About twenty minutes later, Barney returned to the dorms alone. They said that he had burrs in his hair and was brushing them out in the bathroom, and that when someone asked about them, Barney said he’d taken a shortcut back to campus.

The next day, after learning the man found dead was possibly the same person they’d been drinking with, the friends met to decide whether they should go to police. At least one of the witnesses told investigators that Barney asked them to lie – specifically, to say he’d left the restaurant with them, not with Joseph. He also told them not to mention drinking because his parents wouldn’t approve. The friends said they initially agreed, but backed away from that plan once they were sitting across from officers.

Meanwhile, Barney’s version of events was at odds with what his friends told investigators.

Joseph’s story continues on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.