December 11, 2024 - 11:29 AM
GENESEO, N.Y. (AP) — An upstate New York man has been charged with murder after he tried to drop his father's bullet-riddled body off at a sheriff's office, authorities said.
Richard Fluegel Jr., 30, called 911 late Monday to say that he had a body to turn in at the Livingston County Sheriff's Office in Geneseo, said Sheriff Thomas Dougherty.
“As far as the call into dispatch saying that they wanted to turn in a deceased body, that's very abnormal, as you can imagine,” Dougherty said at a news conference Tuesday.
Deputies met Fluegel in the parking lot and found the body of Richard Fluegel Sr., dead from gunshot wounds, in his son's car, Dougherty said.
The elder Fluegel, 60, had been reported missing on Sunday, the sheriff said.
Fluegel Jr. was initially detained on a charge of tampering with evidence and was later charged with murder and criminal use of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment late Tuesday and was being held without bail. He is due back in court on Dec. 16.
The investigation was ongoing and authorities did not immediately provide details of how or when they believe Fluegel killed his father.
No attorney for Fluegel was listed in court papers, and the district attorney's office did not respond to questions about who was representing Fluegel.
Dougherty said he wanted to reassure the public that Livingston County in New York's Finger Lakes region is safe.
“This stuff doesn't happen,” he said. “We don't have people just show up and say they have a dead body with them and they'd like to turn it in. It's not common.”
News from © The Associated Press, 2024