Investigators have found no evidence that the torture and killing of a transgender man whose remains were found in a field in upstate New York last week was a hate crime, law enforcement officials said.
Law enforcement officials said on Sunday that some or all of the five people charged with murder in connection with the killing were themselves members of L.G.B.T.Q. communities.
The man, Sam Norquist, 24, knew the people suspected in his killing, and at least one had lived with him in a motel, according to a statement released by the New York State Police and James Ritts, the Ontario County district attorney.
“We urge the community not to speculate into the motive behind the murder as we work to find justice for Sam,” the statement said. “At this time, we have no indication that Sam’s murder was a hate crime.”
The announcement last week of Mr. Norquist’s brutal death, which one police officer said at a news conference was “one of the most horrific crimes I have ever investigated,” was followed by a flood of questions about whether he was targeted because he was transgender, Mr. Ritts and the State Police said on Sunday. “We share the community’s shock at such a heinous act of violence and understand the fear circulating among members of the L.G.B.T.Q.+ community,” the statement said. “We remain focused on holding these individuals accountable and will continue to work tirelessly to complete the investigation into Sam’s murder.”
On Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said she had instructed several state agencies, including the Hate and Bias Prevention Unit of the New York State Division of Human Rights, to assist in the investigation.
“All New Yorkers should join together to condemn this horrific act,” she said in a statement.
Mr. Norquist was reported missing by his family on Feb. 9, and three days later the police discovered his remains in a field in Yates County, a sparsely populated area in the state’s Finger Lakes region about 50 miles southeast of Rochester.
They determined that he had been killed in neighboring Ontario County and that his killers had brought his body to Yates County in an effort to cover up the crime. Investigators have not released many further details, including what the motive for the killing may have been and how Mr. Norquist was killed.
Mr. Norquist was originally from Minnesota and came to New York last September, the police said. He was last known to be staying at a motel, Patty’s Lodge, in Hopewell, N.Y., along with at least one of the people charged in his death, Precious Arzuaga, 38. Manny Patel, a manager of the motel, said last week that Mr. Norquist had lived there for several months.
The police said that members of Mr. Norquist’s family were last in touch with him at the end of January. The police began a missing person’s investigation after his family requested that they conduct a wellness check on him on Feb. 9.
Police officers found his remains in a field in Yates County, and determined that he had been “subjected to prolonged physical and psychological abuse” between December and his death earlier this month.
The five people who were arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the case were identified last week as Ms. Arzuaga, of Geneva, N.Y.; Jennifer A. Quijano, 30, also of Geneva; Kyle Sage, 33, of Hopewell, N.Y.; Patrick A. Goodwin, 30, of Rochester, N.Y.; and Emily Motyka, 19, also of Rochester.
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