Officials in upstate New York said 10 people were arrested in relation to the alleged kidnapping and murder of a homeless man who was living at an encampment in Ithaca.
On May 20, 33-year-old Thomas Rath was forcibly abducted from an encampment called “the Jungle” located in a rustic area behind a Lowe’s home improvement store, according to investigators.
About a hundred days later, his remains were discovered in a shallow grave on state land in the village of Candor in Tioga County, police said.
Ithaca city police and New York State Police were alerted on May 26 about the suspicious circumstances surrounding Rath’s disappearance.
After serving more than 40 search warrants in several locations as a part of the investigation, officials announced that nine of the 10 suspects were being charged with first-degree kidnapping while two suspects were being charged with second-degree murder.
Officials also said more arrests were expected in the coming weeks.
“[A]s this missing person case evolved, it revealed a particularly disturbing and heinous series of events which ultimately revealed the kidnapping and murder of Mr. Rath,” said New York State Police Troop C Commander Major Jeffery VanAuken at a media briefing Monday.
Investigators were unwilling to reveal the victim’s cause of death in order to protect the ongoing investigation, but they did reveal that the victim had been “familiar” with the suspects and that it was not a random act of violence.
“Some of these details will have to wait for court, unfortunately,” said investigator Captain Lucas Anthony. “It is an ongoing investigation, more arrests are coming. So some of that information is limited as to what we can release at this time.”
Residents of Ithaca had been complaining about crime and drug abuse by homeless people who had camped at the Jungle.
Here’s a local news report about the arrests:
10 people arrested in kidnapping and murder of Thomas Rath of Ithacawww.youtube.com
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