An upstate New York man has been arrested for murder after he attempted to drop off his father’s dead body at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, authorities announced Wednesday.
Richard Fluegel Jr., 30, of Rochester, is accused of fatally shooting his 60-year-old father, who was reported missing earlier this week.
Richard Fluegel Sr. failed to arrive home on Sunday and missed a flight early Monday morning, Sheriff Thomas Dougherty said at a press conference. An investigation into his whereabouts was launched around 11:30 a.m. after his vehicle was found parked in the Village of Dansville.
Approximately 12 hours later, a person called 911 “advising that a male was in the sheriff’s office parking lot and wanted to turn in a deceased body,” Dougherty said. That person was later identified as the younger Fluegel’s defense attorney, who pulled up to the sheriff’s office in a separate car.
After a search warrant was obtained for Fluegel Jr.’s vehicle, investigators found his father’s bullet-riddled body.
The 30-year-old was initially detained on a charge of tampering with evidence and later charged with second-degree murder and criminal use of a firearm.
While Dougherty didn’t provide many details about the investigation, he said authorities executed a search warrant at a location on Bonner Road, in the Town of Ossian, which they “believe to be the actual scene of the homicide” — a conclusion reached by investigators after “a lot of forensics, a lot of technicians, a lot of specialty teams,” he told reporters.
Fluegel Jr. pleaded not guilty to all three charges at his arraignment on Tuesday. He was remanded back to the Livingston County Jail, where he’s being held without bail. He’s expected to appear back in court on Dec. 16.
