Woman who filed stalking order against murder-suicide suspect shares story
By Alanna Flood
Click here for updates on this story
BERLIN, New Hampshire (WMUR) — A woman who filed a stalking order against a man suspected of killing his wife before killing himself in Berlin said in an exclusive interview with News 9 that she wants to share her experience in the hope that it helps others.
News 9 Investigates is protecting the woman’s identity because she is an alleged victim of sexual assault.
In court paperwork, she alleged that Michael Gleason Jr. was a family friend who sexually assaulted her several times starting in February.
“It became a a continuous thing. Constantly he would do it,” she said.
Gleason is suspected of shooting and killing his wife, Marisol Fuentes, and then himself on July 6 at a Mexican restaurant in Berlin.
He was facing charges of sexual assault, kidnapping, domestic violence and theft related to an incident Fuentes reported to police in April, but he was released on $5,000 cash bail.
The woman who spoke to News 9 said she took out a stalking order against Gleason four days before the murder-suicide. She recalled the moment she heard about the murder-suicide when her boyfriend’s stepfather called and told her what happened.
“He said, ‘Lock your doors,'” she said. “They thought he was going to come for me next, especially since I had just made my report a couple days beforehand. So, my mom was freaking out. It was a very, very difficult morning for everybody.”
The woman said she has sought help from the Child Advocacy Center of Coos County. She also explained why she wanted to share her story.
“I wouldn’t want that to happen to anybody else, but to know I wasn’t alone definitely helped,” she said. “A lot was coming forward about it. And, Marisol, we agreed to help each other with each other’s cases. And I made a promise to her that we were going to get justice. And I think that’s what I’m mostly focused on, is fulfilling that promise to her.”
She said she believes more could have been done to prevent what happened.
“They definitely failed Marisol,” she said. “I feel like Mike should have been either on house arrest or surveillance 24/7. Or a cop should have been with Marisol. Knowing what Mike was capable of, they should have known that he was going to do something.”
In the wake of the tragedy, she hopes to see changes in the judicial system and justice for Marisol.
“I guess knowing that Marisol can’t do it herself, that kind of pushes me to do everything I can to help her out and also myself. So I think justice is definitely a big part in this for her and for me,” she said.
On Monday, New Hampshire’s judicial branch announced it is conducting a review and examining the decisions that led to Gleason’s release.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
