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Police Investigating Hampton, NH Homicide

HAMPTON, N.H. (CBS) — Police are investigating the suspicious death of a man found at a home in Hampton, New Hampshire.

Nicole Belanger, a next-door neighbor, along with her boyfriend who was one of the victim's roommates, discovered the lifeless body around midnight.

At first they thought he was asleep until they realized he had not moved for a long time.

"To walk into this, to find your friend dead on the couch with a bullet shot in the head, there's no words to describe it," said Belanger. "I noticed that he was pale and there was a shirt on his face, and lifted it up, it was supposed to be a white shirt, but it was red, it was covered in blood."

The man has been identified as 56-year-old Robert Roderick. The cause of his death was "multiple blunt impact injuries to his head." His death has been ruled a homicide.

Friends and neighbors near Hampton Beach who knew him are terribly saddened by the death that has shaken up M street.

"Gentle giant," said Maggie Gauron of the man who was found dead.

The close-knit group of friends says another roommate is being questioned.

Investigators with the New Hampshire Attorney General's office have not verified the cause of death nor said whether anyone is being questioned or in custody.

They did acknowledge there is no threat to the wider community.

Maggie Gauron saw both men Thursday and says there was no indication anything violent might happen.

Gauron says she drove the victim to Dracut to cash a check and later brought him food from KFC. After that she says she had Chinese food with the roommate.

"If I had one word to say," said Gauron. "It's 'insanity'."

At the nearby Westport Motel, a police officer guarded room 8.

The motel manager says police wanted to search the room in connection with the death, telling WBZ-TV the roommate had rented the room last night.

Hampton Police referred all calls to the Attorney General.

Investigators could be seen combing for clues at the home and in the neighborhood.

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