On July 4, 2015, hikers found the body of 39-year-old Edward Brooks of West Haven in a wooded area of West Rock Ridge State Park in Hamden after witnesses reported an explosion around 11:00 a.m. Brooks’s body was wrapped in plastic garbage bags, bound with rope, and had three gunshot wounds. Investigators believe a pipe bomb had been detonated beneath the body in an attempt to destroy evidence.

Police traced the crime to a residence at 59 Front Avenue in West Haven where Brooks had been living with several housemates. The inquiry tied the killing to narcotics activity at that address. Authorities say Brooks was shot three times with a silenced firearm in the home’s basement in the early hours of July 4. Christopher Miller was identified as the shooter; Maurice Wearing helped move and dispose of the body at the state park.

Searches of the Front Avenue home turned up pipe bomb-making materials, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, and DVR footage from eight cameras. Several residents were arrested on federal and state charges related to the murder, explosives, and drug trafficking.