Man admits beating dad to death in picturesque town decades ago after bragging to cops about ‘first body’

Douglas Herlihy has pleaded guilty to killing his father, Paul, in Milford, New Hampshire, when he was 17. The case remained unsolved for more than two decades, and the plea brings it to a resolution while highlighting how investigators continued to pursue evidence over time.

Paul Herlihy, 50, was found dead in his home in August 2003, with an autopsy attributing his death to repeated blows to the head. Investigators found blood-stained carpet outside Douglas’s bedroom and other evidence, while he later told police he had “beat my first body” at 17. Now 40, he agreed to a sentence of 12 to 24 years for manslaughter; a separate potential sentence for attempting to falsify evidence was suspended for 20 years.