State and local authorities on Monday charged 10 suspects in the spring abduction and death of a homeless man in Upstate New York, predicting even more arrests in the coming weeks.
Officers initiated an investigation into the disappearance of Thomas Rath, 33, after the Ithaca Police Department received a “check the welfare complaint” May 20, according to Ithaca.com. “Rath was forcibly abducted from his encampment in the natural area behind Lowe’s in the city of Ithaca, known as the ‘Jungle,'” state police said, according to NBC News.
Ten Arrested in Kidnapping Murder of Ithaca Resident Thomas Rath https://t.co/B58xSIIRMJ
— The Ithaca Times (@ithacatimes) August 28, 2023
After receiving more information regarding Rath’s possible whereabouts, more than 80 police officers and volunteers conducted over 40 searches for Rath in various places over the course of the next few weeks until they discovered Rath’s remains in a shallow grave on state-owned lands in Candor, Tioga County, state police criminal investigations captain Lucas Anthony said.
While 10 suspects have been arrested so far in connection with Rath’s disappearance and death, “more arrests are coming,” Anthony added, according to NBC. Of the suspects arrested, two have been charged with murder in the second degree, and nine have been charged with kidnapping in the first degree, Ithaca.com reported.
While Anthony was unable to disclose how the suspects and the victim knew each other, he did reveal that all of those allegedly involved in Rath’s death were “familiar with each other,” according to NBC. Officials also refrained from disclosing Rath’s cause of death due to the ongoing investigation. “We don’t want to compromise anything right now,” New York State Police Troop C Commander Major Jeffrey VanAuken said, Ithaca.com reported. (RELATED: REPORT: Homeless Transient Found Dead On LA High School Campus)
VanAuken did reveal, however, that as the investigation into Rath’s disappearance evolved, “it revealed a particularly disturbing and heinous series of events which ultimately revealed the kidnapping and murder of Mr. Rath,” the outlet reported.
Anthony disclosed that while drugs may have been on the “periphery” of the case, they were not a “driving factor” behind Rath’s disappearance and death, according to NBC.