Authorities announced on Monday that ten people were charged with the kidnapping and death of a homeless New York man who was reported missing earlier this spring.
Thomas Rath (33), a homeless man, was reported as missing on May 20 from an encampment. On August 3, his remains were discovered in a shallow burial on state property in Tioga County. Lucas Anthony said.
State police stated that “Rath had been forcibly taken from his encampment behind Lowe’s, in the city Ithaca known as the ‘Jungle’.”
Anthony expressed his condolences at the Monday news conference. It has been 100 days since Rath was reported missing. “Mr. Rath is the victim. To his family, however, he was more than a father. He was also a brother and a son.
State police released a statement that said Angelo Baez (48), and Jonathan Glennon (31) face the most serious charges — second-degree homicide.
State police reported that Glennon is in the Androscoggin county jail in Auburn, Maine. According to state police, the other suspects, aged 27 to 52, face charges of kidnapping in the first degree.
Uncertainty remained as to whether the suspects had retained legal counsel. The public defender’s office did respond immediately to a comment request.
Anthony stated that the suspects, as well as the victim, all lived in Ithaca. However, it was not clear if all, or some, of the accused also resided at the encampment.
Anthony stated that “more arrests will be made in the future.”
Officials were reluctant to discuss a motive or how Rath was killed. They are reluctant to reveal any evidence.
Anthony claimed that Rath had been abducted in less than 24 hours, and that the alleged perpetrators “all knew each other.”
He said that “Motive will be something we address more in court proceedings.”
Authorities said that the investigation involved a search in early June of a house Rath visited as well as locating remains. The search ended on August 3 with the discovery. Authorities said that investigators conducted more than 400 search warrants and hundreds of interviews.
Anthony said that drugs may have played a peripheral role in the case but were not “the driving factor.”
He said that the case would be prosecuted by Tioga County, because Rath’s remains had been found there.
At a news conference held on Monday, Ithaca’s interim police chief, Lieutenant Ted Schwartz, spoke about the victims’ plight, saying that “the people who most frequently rely upon the police are the ones most vulnerable.”
