WEARE, New Hampshire (ABC 4 News) - In a bizarre and tragic twist, the woman who led to the political downfall last year of one of the most powerful men in Utah state government, is now dead.
Cheryl Mader was murdered in a small New Hampshire town about 30 miles northwest of Manchester.
The man broke into Cheryl Maher's home in Weare, New Hampshire early Sunday morning. He shot and killed her before turned the gun on himself and committing suicide.
Maher was not the killer's only target. Earlier that same morning, the same man broke into another home about a mile away. Senior assistant to the New Hampshire attorney general, Susan Morrell said, "It appears that the male involved in the murder-suicide was also responsible for that armed home invasion."
During the home invasion, he'd tried to shoot a man, but the gun misfired. It did not misfire when he aimed it at Maher.
Maher was a twice divorced mother of four. Last year she revealed that back in 1985, she stepped naked into a hot tub with Kevin Garn. She was 15 years old at the time. Garn was 28 and married.
In a midnight confession on the last day of the 2010 legislative session, State Representative Garn took to the floor of the house and admitted to the hot tub encounter. Garn told fellow lawmakers, "25 years ago I made a mistake and it has come back to haunt me." He denied there was any sexual contact. He also confessed to paying Maher $150,000 in 2002 to keep her quiet, saying, "Now that this issue has come up again, it is apparent to me that this payment was a mistake."
When the confessions were over, Garn resigned as majority leader of the House.
Not long after Garn's resignation, Maher also revealed that in 2008, she'd sent a 7-page letter about Garn to President Thomas S. Monson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She explained that she'd grown up in the same Ward with him. "This was something that was ongoing for months," Maher said recounting the contents of the letter to a TV reporter. "I've known Kevin for years . He was my Sunday school teacher."
Last year's political drama here in Utah is now just a footnote to the bigger murder mystery in New Hampshire. The A.G. isn't saying anything about the killer or his motive. Morrell won't even say whether he knew Maher, or she was the victim of a random attack.
The scandal may have defined Maher in the eyes of the public, but not in the eyes of her friends. Many have posted condolences on her facebook page. T.J. Jones wrote, "SHOCKING! SAD! TRAGIC! Cheryl, I will miss our chats we had together! A thoughtless, mindless person has taken you selfishly from the world you brought so much light to. I will miss you Cheryl. Rest in peace....."
