A reported social media threat involving the University of Maine and a New Hampshire man is no longer active, and police in New Hampshire said they are now conducting a missing person investigation in connection with the case.
Over the weekend, the University of Maine canceled a baseball doubleheader against the University of Hartford following a social media post made by another person that said a Manchester, New Hampshire, man, Afshin Zarechian, was a threat and asked for the public’s help in locating him.
“The UMaine police department in cooperation with state and federal law enforcement agencies has conducted a thorough investigation and after a careful analysis has concluded that there is no active threat to the university community,” UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said Monday.
Zarechian, 20, has no known connection to UMaine, Ferrini-Mundy said. In an email Monday, university spokeswoman Margaret Nagle said the threat “was a social media veiled threat, not by Afshin Zarechian but about him,” and indicated he was coming to UMaine to “start some trouble.”
Local, state and federal law enforcement were involved in the search for Zarechian over the weekend, according to the university. On Monday, the Manchester Police Department in New Hampshire posted on Facebook asking for the public’s help in locating Zarechian. The department said it has been working with law enforcement in Maine and New Hampshire “in regards to social media rumors associated with Zarechian.”
“To this point, the investigation has not identified any criminal conduct committed by Zarechian,” the post said. “At this time, the case is being treated as a missing person.”
A phone call to a Manchester police spokeswoman and an email to the agency were not returned Monday. Shannon Moss, a spokeswoman for the Maine State Police, said the agency was not leading the investigation and thus was unable to comment.
Zarechian is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds, with dark hair, dark eyes and a dark complexion. He was last seen driving an older model green BMW with New Hampshire license plate number RICCH. He did not respond to a social media message Monday.
According to the Manchester police Facebook post, Zarechian may have been in North Conway, New Hampshire, and possibly Naples, Maine, over the weekend. Anyone with information is asked to contact Manchester police at 603-668-8711 and reference case number 21-005141.
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