Nearly 100 days after a multi-agency police investigation spanned two counties and two states, New York state and local law enforcement this week announced the arrest of 10 people in connection to the "disturbing" slaying and kidnapping of a homeless man.
On May 20, 33-year-old Thomas P. Rath was reported missing from a homeless encampment in the city of Ithaca, New York State Police and the Ithaca Police Department said during a joint press conference Monday.
An investigation that began in May as a missing person's case unearthed "a particularly disturbing and a heinous series of events which ultimately revealed the kidnapping and murder of Mr. Rath," State Police Commander Major Jeffrey VanAuke told reporters.
Rath was "forcibly abducted from his encampment" on May 20, State Police Capt. Lucas Anthony said. The camp, known to locals as "the Jungle," is behind a Lowes in the city, some 60 miles south of Syracuse near the Pennsylvania state line.
On Aug. 3, officials said, Rath's remains were found buried in a shallow grave on state land in nearby Tioga County.
As of Tuesday, authorities had not released a motive in the case or said how they believe the man died.
Rath was a a father, a brother and a son, Anthony said. He joined Ithaca's acting police Chief, Lt. Ted Schwartz, in expressing condolences to Rath's family during the press conference.
"The people who most often rely on the police are the most vulnerable," Schwartz told reporters.
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Police said they arrested 10 people from age 27 to 52 between Aug. 16 and Aug. 24 and more arrests in the case are pending.
Those charged as of Monday were:
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The following is a timeline of the case according to Anthony:
May 20: The investigation began after local police received a request to conduct a welfare check the day Rath disappeared. Little came from the check.
May 26: Ithaca police investigators received information and found Rath’s disappearance was a result of suspicious circumstances, and alerted state police.
May 31: Officials learned Rath had been at a home in the town of Newfield, and a search warrant was conducted there that same day. (Newfield is located just under 7 miles southeast of where Rath was reportedly taken.)
June 2: Police staged a large-scale search of the home and surrounding area, with more than 80 police officers and volunteers from Tompkins County and Tioga County assisting.
Aug. 3: On the heels of some 40 search warrants being executed "in various locations" Rath’s remains were found in a grave on state lands in the town Candor. (The small community of Candor is in neighboring Tioga County about 20 miles southeast of where police said Rath was kidnapped.)
Anthony said police believe Rath died within about 24 hours from the time he was kidnapped.
His alleged killers, he said, "were all familiar with each other" and all live in the Ithaca area. It was not known whether any of them lived in the encampment where Rath was last seen.
Drugs may have played a role in the case, police said, but were not a driving factor.
Anyone with information about the ongoing investigation is asked to contact New York State Police.
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