AG: Woman Found Dead In Derry, NH House Fire Died Of Gunshot Wound

DERRY, N.H. (AP) — A woman found dead following a house fire died of a single gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death is homicide, New Hampshire authorities said Tuesday.

Derry police officers entered the home Sunday night and found an unconscious and injured man on the kitchen floor and dragged him outside. Police officers were unable to go back inside because of the smoke and fire conditions.

The woman, Lynn Marie Viana, 53, and the injured man, her husband, Manoel Viana, 57, were estranged, the attorney general's office said. During a custody exchange of their adult child at Manoel Viana's home on Sunday, he invited her inside. Noises consistent with gunshots were heard from within the home, the attorney general's office said. Shortly thereafter, the home was engulfed in fire.

Manoel Viana is receiving treatment for life-threatening injuries at a Boston hospital, suffering from apparent burns and trauma to his head, the attorney general's office said.

The office said the investigation is ongoing. It added that should Manoel Viana recover, it planned to seek a first-degree murder charge against him.

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