A 24-year-old transgender man from Minnesota who had been missing since December was subjected to violence and torture before his body was found this week in a field in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, the authorities said.
Five people were arrested in connection with his death and charged with murder, the New York State Police said on Friday. At least one of them was said to have been staying with the victim at a motel.
The victim, identified as Sam Nordquist, had been subjected to “repeated acts of violence and torture” between December of last year and this month, according to Capt. Kelly Swift of the State Police’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
“In my 20-year law enforcement career, this is one of the most horrific crimes I have ever investigated,” Captain Swift said at a news conference on Friday.
“The facts and the circumstances of this crime are beyond depraved,” added James Ritts, the district attorney of Ontario County, N.Y.
The five people arrested have been charged with second-degree murder. They were identified as Precious Arzuaga, 38; Jennifer A. Quijano, 30; Kyle Sage, 33; Patrick A. Goodwin, 30; and Emily Motyka, 19. The police said that Precious Arzuaga had been staying at the motel with Mr. Nordquist and others who have not been identified. Mr. Goodwin is listed as a registered sex offender in the state for a case from 2015. The state lists his address as the motel.
The State Police began investigating Mr. Nordquist’s disappearance on Feb. 9 after receiving a request for a welfare check from his family, who told the authorities that they had lost contact with him at the end of January.
According to law enforcement, Mr. Nordquist traveled from Minnesota to New York last September. He was staying at the Patty’s Lodge motel in Hopewell, N.Y., in Ontario County, where the State Police executed a search warrant on Thursday. His body was found that day in a field south of the motel in the town of Benton, about 15 miles southeast in Yates County, N.Y.
Mr. Nordquist had been subjected to “prolonged physical and psychological abuse” before his remains were left in the neighboring county, the state police said.
His mother, Linda Nordquist, told the local television station WROC on Friday that her son had been a kind person who was loved by his family.
“He would give you the shirt off his back,” Ms. Nordquist said. “Very kind, loved his family, loved his nieces and nephew, very outgoing, worked hard.”
Ms. Nordquist told the television station that the last time she had spoken to her son was on Jan. 1. She described the call with him as “real short.”
“Said ‘I love you. I’ll call you tomorrow’ and I have not talked to Sam since,” Ms. Nordquist added. “It’s heartbreaking. I’m devastated, I’ve cried so much.”
Asked whether Mr. Nordquist’s death was a hate crime, Captain Swift said that such a determination had not been ruled out; nor had the possibility of more arrests. Mr. Ritts said that the defendants were arraigned Friday morning and were being held at the Ontario County jail without bail.
The police, citing the ongoing investigation, declined to comment about how the assailants had been led to Patty’s Lodge, or about the connection between them and Mr. Nordquist.
“We understand that the details of this case are deeply unsettling, and we want to assure the public that we are committed to seeking justice for Sam and his family,” Captain Swift said.
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