Man Accused of Killing Grandmother in Easton Will Use Insanity Defense

Attorneys representing the Pennsylvania man accused of murdering his grandmother by striking her with a hammer on Sept. 28 in Easton have filed a notice of defense of insanity. On Feb. 21, Joshua Lanchester, 24, of Conestoga Pa., was indicted by a Grafton Superior Court grand jury on a special class felony count of second-degree murder “with force and arms” and “under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life …” He is accused of recklessly killing Cynthia Lanchester, 76, at her North Peak Drive home. Per an agreement between prosecutors with the New Hampshire attorney general’s office and the defense, Joshua Lanchester remains in the Grafton County House of Corrections on preventive detention and without bail. Shortly after 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 28, New Hampshire State Police responded to the home for a medical emergency. There, they found Cynthia Lanchester on the ground and dead from blunt-force trauma wounds. Joshua Lanchester, whom they encountered at the home, was arrested later that day.