Arrest warrants executed on city man accused in two fentanyl overdose deaths

From left, Richard Trueman, Kayla Hartford, Keenan Skillin (Trueman/Rochester Police photo; Hartford, Skillin/Courtesy)

ROCHESTER - Rochester Police are on the lookout today for a city man accused of dispensing a pair of fatal fentanyl doses in Rochester and Dover in less than two years.
.Richard Trueman, 40, of 31 Winter St., Rochester, is facing life in prison in both deaths, the most recent of which involved Kayla Hartford, who died in March 2022, as a result of ingesting (fentanyl) given to her by Trueman, according to the indictment handed down by a Strafford County grand jury in June.
According to her obituary, Hartford died on March 4, 2022. She leaves behind a son, who was seven at the time of her death.
In July 2021 Trueman was indicted in the fentanyl overdose death of a Somersworth man in Dover in September 2020.
According to the 2021 indictment, Keenan Skillin, 38, died as a result of ingesting fentanyl, which was "knowing dispensed" to him by Trueman on Sept. 29, 2020. According to social media posts, Skillin, who grew up in Farmington, died the next day.
According to Skillin's Facebook page, he was married and had worked as a machine operator at Rand-Whitney.
Trueman was allowed bail in his first dispensing fentanyl death resulting case on Aug. 5, 2021.
Strafford County Attorney Tom Velardi, who is prosecuting both cases, told The Rochester Voice on Monday that once the grand jury returned an indictment in the second fentanyl overdose death case, they filed a motion to review his bail status.
"It was our intention to have his bail revoked," Velardi said. "When he failed to appear at the July 7 hearing on that motion, the court granted our request for warrants in both cases."
Velardi urged anyone having knowledge of Trueman's whereabouts to call Dover or Rochester police.

The office has been prosecuting Mr. Trueman for a death resulting in Dover. We then received a second case alleging a death resulting in Rochester. Once the Grand Jury returned a true bill on the second case we filed a motion to review Mr. Trueman's bail status with the intention of having his bail revoked. When he failed to appear at the July 7, 2023 hearing on that motion, the court granted our request for warrants in both cases. Anyone having knowledge of Richard Trueman's whereabouts is encouraged to call the Dover or Rochester police.