By Devon Cormier
Staff Writer

A conclusion to the grisly triple- homicide that left a family torn and a Hooksett neighborhood shocked may be near.

Christopher Bernard is expected to waive indictment for the charges that he murdered his sister and her two small children, all from Hooksett, by stabbing them in his Manchester home on Oct. 4, 2004. It has been six months since Bernard was charged with the murders and an indictment has not yet been made.

Bernard is expected to plead guilty on Friday, April 8, in Hillsborough County Superior Court during a plea hearing. Prosecutors have kept quiet about the case but are now hinting that Bernard will plead guilty to charges that he murdered his sister, Tricia Doyle, 30 and her daughter Gillian, 4 and son James, 2, and skip a trial. A deal worked out between the state and defense would apparently allow Bernard to skip an indictment and a trial and go straight to sentencing.

What charge Bernard will plead to is still not clear. Search warrants issued for Bernard's home and car report that police were seeking evidence for "homicide and/or sexual assault." Court documents reveal that there was evidence of sexual assault on Tricia Doyle and her daughter, Gillian Doyle.

All three were found stabbed in Bernard's upstairs bedroom in his 61 Johnson St. home after Bernard was found in rush-hour traffic on Interstate 93 after an apparent suicide attempt. Bernard was hospitalized when he was struck by a dump truck, then his wife arrived at the hospital. She had forgotten the keys to get into her home before work that morning and upon looking through her husband's back pack, found Tricia Doyle's bloody car keys. Bernard had taken Tricia Doyle's car to a site near the highway before jumping in front of traffic. Bernard's wife asked police to break into her home. It was then they found the bodies of Tricia and her young children.

Bernard's lawyer, Barbara Keshen, had said earlier in the case that Bernard would plead not guilty by reason of insanity.