— Third Charged with Murder in the Thomas Rath Case Heads to Prison —
[By Wendy Post]
“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” That was the conclusion drawn, a summation written on a white cross placed on Ekroos Road in Candor, and at the location where the body of Thomas Rath was discovered in August 2023.
On April 27, Jonathan Glennon, the third individual tried and convicted for the kidnapping, torture, and murder of 34-year old Thomas Rath, was sentenced in the case. Angelo Baez and Joseph Howell were previously tried and found guilty of murder one and kidnapping. Glennon was convicted of second-degree murder versus Murder One, but will nonetheless spend an equivalent amount of time behind bars.
For the second-degree murder charge, the Honorable Judge Adam Schumacher rendered an indeterminate sentence of 25 years to life. For Kidnapping One, Glennon received an indeterminate sentence of 25 years to life; both counts to run concurrently.
The trials have been exhausting for those prosecuting the case, as well as for the family members who have had to endure numerous trials that presented continual depictions of Thomas Rath’s torture and death.
Thomas Rath, July 20, 1989 – May 21, 2023. (File Photo)
On May 21, 2023, a series of events unfolded that resulted in nearly 24-hours of horror for Thomas Rath, and his eventual death on Ekroos Road in Candor.
A young man with a promising career in the construction industry, Rath fell on hard times when the pandemic stalled his work, and then his eventual involvement with Brelynn B. Vorrasi, of Lodi, New York. It was Brelynn, according to testimony during the trials, who had connections to Joseph Howell, the ringleader in the crime and the first to be sentenced for Murder One in the case.
Thomas Rath, somehow, ended up in what is referred to as “The Jungle” in Ithaca, and it is there that he would fall into a toxic trap that would lead to his kidnapping, torture, and eventually murder on a back road in Tioga County. In fact, where the body was eventually found, the county line runs through the center of the road.
The events began with Thomas Rath being kidnapped from the jungle and taken to a home where Joseph Howell and Colleen Dillon were residing in Newfield, NY. There, he was tortured for hours in a garage. Per testimony, Robert Hines, Angelo Baez, and Jonathan Glennon eventually placed Thomas Rath, who was badly injured at that time, into a vehicle and drove him down Ekroos Road.
Robert Hines, the driver, testified under a cooperation agreement with the prosecution about the sequence of events that occurred on Ekroos Road, and about how he went back and moved Rath’s body closer to a tree and away from the road.
Hines, however, has since violated his cooperation agreement and will be back on trial at a later date on his original charges of kidnapping in the first degree, a crime that carries a heavy sentence.
A total of 13 were originally arrested in connection with this case; some were offered cooperation agreements for a lesser charge; others have already been tried and convicted. Glennon now joins that number.
Pictured is a bracelet worn by the elder Thomas Rath. Inside the silver ring are the ashes of his son, Thomas Rath. The elder Rath wore the bracelet on the final day of the trial, when Glennon was found guilty of murder and kidnapping. It took years for Thomas’s ashes to return as they were being held during the duration of the trials as evidence. According to Rath, the district attorneys worked to get the ashes returned to the family. (Photo by Wendy Post)
But it was on Monday that the Rath family could begin to feel a bit of relief. Held at the Tioga County Courthouse in Owego, Jonathan Glennon’s sentencing marked this closure.
Thomas Rath’s father, also named Thomas, was scheduled to give a victim impact statement but was unable to do so. Instead, Alicia Rath offered a statement at her son’s sentencing and addressed Defense Attorney Luke Fenchel, Jonathan Glennon, and the judge in this case.
Opening with remarks from Tioga County’s District Attorney, Kirk Martin, who prosecuted this case along with Lillian Reardon, he emphasized that Glennon should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. He kept things short, however, noting that what Alicia Rath had to say was more important.
He did address the court, stating, “What happened to [Thomas] Rath was horrible,” and added that Glennon blamed the victim and continually victimized Thomas Rath.
“It’s emblematic of the defendant trying to escape responsibility,” said District Attorney Martin of Glennon’s failure to take ownership for what happened.
Thomas Rath had a big heart
Alicia Rath, during her victim impact statement, described her son as amazing and with a big heart. She mentioned his involvement with Brelynn as being the reason for his murder.
With a bit of anger, Alicia expressed this to the defense attorney and criticized the video he showed during the trial of her son being restrained and punched.
“I had to watch the video four times,” said Alicia, adding, “What you did to me was cruel.”
She also expressed her anger at having to wait two years, three months, and eight days to bring their son home.
“We had to have a funeral service without him,” Alicia addressed the court.
To Jonathan Glennon, Alicia addressed, “It’s been 1,073 days since you tortured our son,” and questioned, “How could you follow Howell.”
And then she rendered the question on everyone’s mind, even our readership, when she stated, “You didn’t have to kill him; you could have taken him to the hospital, or back to the jungle. I hope what you did haunts you for the rest of your life.”
To the judge, Alicia stated that Angelo Baez and Jonathan Glennon shot her son.
“Hines moved him, and I believe he [Glennon] fired the shot that blew his head off.”
This testimony was difficult for Alicia, who noted to the court that she was standing across from someone who had killed their son. “I’m doing this for Tommy,” she added.
Glennon testifies
As sentencing was winding down on Monday, Jonathan Glennon was also offered to make a statement, which he did, stating, “I’m truly sorry to the Rath family.”
He added, with minimal emotion, “My feelings can’t be put into words; I feel bad for Thomas, and I’m really sorry.”
In an earlier court discussion, the defense attorney hoped to receive, for Glennon, an earlier offer from a cooperation agreement. The district attorney was quick to note that one of the stipulations of that agreement was that Glennon had to admit to his actions; something that Martin said he never did.
Following Glennon’s testimony, the judge rendered a sentence of 25 to life on both counts.
Justice Served
Following the sentencing, the family, who gathered in the courtroom, showed a sign of relief.
“He got the maximum on this one, and justice” said Thomas Rath, the victim’s father, who added that now they have the trial for Robert Hines, due to his violating the cooperation agreement, and another trial for David C. Maycumber of Newfield. The trial dates are forthcoming.
Jonathan Glennon was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs following sentencing, laying to rest the third murder charge to be tried, and offering a bit of closure for the family, although the road to recovery is a long one.
Alicia Rath explained that they now have to explain to Thomas Rath’s nine-year-old daughter what happened to her father.
“We haven’t told her yet,” said Alicia, who noted that the daughter asks questions such as “Did you visit him in the hospital,” and “What happened,” questions that are too difficult, at this juncture, to formulate an answer.
Investigators assisted Thomas Rath, Thomas Rath’s father, with the same name, with placing the cross along Ekroos Road in Candor, and at the location where his son’s body was discovered in August 2023. The cross serves as a remembrance, a reminder, and a memorial for a young man whose life was taken too soon by a senseless and horrific crime. (Photo by Wendy Post)
Up on Ekroos Road, investigators, along with Rath family members, drove to the site where Thomas Rath’s remains were discovered in August 2023. A large white cross, sturdily attached to a metal post, was placed by the family near the roadside at the site.
A seasonal use only road; close to a dozen vehicles took the long solemn drive where the cross was then unloaded and carried further down the road by Thomas Rath’s father, who initially took it off the road and down an incline to the tree where the remains were found.
However, the family decided to move the cross closer to the road to make it visible for all to see; to serve as a reminder that the world is a dangerous place not only because of evil, but because of those who do nothing.
Written on the cross by prosecutor Lillian Reardon, the saying is one that has left so many questioning the reasoning of those who were there that day, and why not one person did anything to save the life of a young Thomas Rath.
And without the assistance of Hines, the father admitted that his son’s body may never have been found. “It makes you wonder what else is up here,” said the elder Thomas Rath as he looked around at the expansive forest surrounding him.
Thomas Rath’s father addresses investigators on Monday afternoon following the sentencing of Jonathan Glennon, the third person sent to prison for his son’s murder. The family gathered with the district attorneys and investigators that handled the case following the hearing at the site on Ekroos Road in Candor, where the remains of Thomas Rath were discovered in August 2023. A cross serves as a memorial and a reminder that in Tioga County, justice is served. (Photo by Wendy Post)
There was a silence in the air, however, as the cross was pounded into the ground and the elder Rath addressed those that accompanied him, stating, “None of this could have happened without you.”
He praised the investigators for their hard work and remains grateful that those put away will not be able to hurt anyone anymore, as they did his son.
The healing journey for the Rath family will be long and difficult, but Monday’s sentencing and the placement of the cross at the site where Thomas Rath perished offer a bit of hope that the pain of their loss, and the exposure to the horrors that Thomas endured in May 2023 will ease over time.
Rest in peace, Thomas Rath.
So sorry for your loss 🙏🏻