Family seeks answers in slaying of woman Berwick resident wants suspect charged

DOVER, N.H. – Friday was a bad day for Cindy Allard and her family, and it had nothing to do with its being Friday the 13th.

Eleven years ago on Friday, the beaten and strangled body of Allard’s sister, Sheila Holmes, was found near some railroad tracks. Allard, of Berwick, Maine, hopes it will be the last anniversary without any charges in her sister’s death.

This time of year is “horrible to say the least,” Allard told Foster’s Daily Democrat.

“That’s why I want it to end this year. I don’t want to do this any more.”

The family is posting fliers throughout the area asking people to call the police if they have any information about the crime. But Allard said she knows who killed her sister: Edward B. Pehowic, a Somersworth man who is serving life without parole for the 1996 murder of a Carol Caswell of Portsmouth.

Pehowic, 34, confessed to murdering Holmes, a 31-year-old mother of five, during an April 1998 interview with police, according to a transcript.

Caswell, 36, was missing for nearly two years before her body was discovered in northern Maine in 1998. A companion of Pehowic’s pleaded guilty to helping to hide Caswell’s body. The companion later testified that Pehowic beat and drowned Caswell in Somersworth.

Dover Police Chief William Fenniman said his department has continued to work on the Holmes case and has been meeting with the Attorney General’s Office.

The Attorney General’s Office has said before that Pehowic is the only suspect in Holmes’ murder. Senior Assistant Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said that still is true.

“I know that the Dover Police Department has put a tremendous amount of resources into the case,” she said.

Her office would decide whether to charge Pehowic, and Ayotte declined to comment on whether she believes that eventually will happen.

Even though Pehowic is serving life without parole in the Caswell case, Allard said he should be charged with her sister’s murder.

“He has admitted his guilt more than once. He was never charged for it at all and we really don’t understand why not.”

“She died a very violent death. We need to find resolution,” Allard said.

The family posts fliers on the anniversary of Holmes’ death and on Christmas.

“I always believe Christmas brings out the best in everybody,” Allard said. “I know there are people who do know something about it.”