A western New York man has been charged with murder after he brought his father’s body — and a defense attorney — to the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office earlier this week.
Richard Fluegel Jr., 30, also faces weapons and evidence tampering charges in the death of his 60-year-old father, Richard Fluegel Sr., on Sunday.
Livingston County Sheriff Thomas Dougherty told WHAM that the senior Fluegel left his home in Irondequoit Sunday afternoon and never came back. His vehicle was found early Monday in a grocery store parking lot in Dansville.
Late Monday, a 911 call in from a man who said he was in the parking lot with a dead body. That man was the younger Fleugel’s lawyer.
“We have the suspect in the car with his deceased father, and in a separate car is his defense attorney, who is Brian DeCarolis,” Dougherty said. “So the call actually was made by the defense attorney to say, ‘We’re out in the parking lot with a deceased body.’”
DeCarolis said he was called just hours earlier by the now defendant, who told him he had a body in his car and needed counsel. The attorney is not under investigation.
Dougherty said investigators believe that the son shot his father twice with a 12-gauge shotgun on property in Ossean where he is starting a legal marijuana business. The sheriff said investigators executed a search warrant there on Tuesday and located a weapon. Court documents say the son wrapped his father’s body in a tarp and put it in his car.
The sheriff’s office said that Fluegel Jr. is a twice-convicted felon and was ordered held without bail after entering a not guilty plea. He’s due back in court on Monday.
