William Colao, a 67-year-old White man of Canaan, New Hampshire, was found dead inside his Sawyer Hill Road home during a welfare check around 6:15 p.m. on Sunday, August 17, 2025. The New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit took over the scene; authorities later said an autopsy showed multiple stab wounds and a gunshot wound to the head, with the cause of death ruled a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death homicide.

Early reporting described a heavy law enforcement presence at the secluded property and officers photographing outbuildings and combing the grounds. Attention in the first days of the probe extended across the Connecticut River into Vermont after reports that Joel Gouin, 39, a transient from the Rutland area arrested the same night in West Rutland on an armed robbery charge, was also a suspect. Colao’s pickup truck was later located in Rutland County. Vermont prosecutors held Gouin without bail on the robbery charge; New Hampshire officials had not announced charges in the homicide as the investigation remained ongoing.

If anyone knew William Colao, his routines, visitors to the Sawyer Hill Road property, or saw his pickup truck in late August, please come forward with information.