Inset: Drew Botsford (Sullivan County DA's Office). Background: The area in New York where Botsford killed his father (Google Maps).
A 49-year-old man in New York may spend up to the rest of his life behind bars for executing his father, shooting the elderly man in the head while he was sitting on a love seat watching a football game.
Sullivan County Court Judge James R. Farrell on Friday ordered Drew Botsford to serve 25 years to life in a state correctional facility following his March conviction for second-degree murder in the slaying of 71-year-old Lloyd Botsford, authorities announced.
Farrell handed down the sentence following a five-day jury trial detailing the Oct. 8, 2023, attack that took place at a residence on Bradley Road in the town of Neversink.
Prosecutors explained that the evening began with a verbal altercation between the father and son.
"Immediately after the argument with his father, the defendant grabbed a .22 rifle from his father's bedroom closet, loaded one .22 caliber round in the chamber that he had located in his father's top drawer, walked down the hallway in the residence, squatted down by the bathroom door, aimed and pulled the trigger," the release states. "The defendant fired one shot striking his father Lloyd Botsford directly in the head. Lloyd was seated on the love seat in the living room while watching football at the time that the defendant shot him."
Family members later discovered the victim lying on the couch unresponsive and called 911, but attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
Following the fatal shooting, the unemployed defendant stole approximately $1,668 in cash and fled the home, prosecutors said.
In a bizarre series of escape attempts, Botsford loaded his mother's groceries into the back of his aunt's vehicle, which was parked out of view of the arriving police presence. After his uncle refused to hand over the keys to the car, Botsford chose to hide in the back hatch area of the vehicle. While hiding from law enforcement and emergency services, he "unwittingly locked himself inside unbeknownst to anyone else at the scene."
The next morning, at approximately 7:30 a.m., Botsford used a tire jack to shatter the rear window of the vehicle to escape. He then entered his aunt's home, prompting a call to the New York State Police, who responded to the scene and placed him in custody.
During a subsequent interrogation at the state police barracks, Botsford confessed to arguing with his father and shooting him in the head.
Investigators executing a search warrant recovered a spent .22 caliber shell casing outside the bedroom door, precisely where Botsford admitted he stood when he pulled the trigger. The rifle was found resting against the victim's bedroom dresser.
A forensic analysis showed the defendant's DNA was on the forearm, stock, bolt, and trigger areas of the rifle, matching the physical position of a shooter. The victim's DNA was completely excluded from those sections of the firearm.
Sullivan County District Attorney Brian P. Conaty released a statement emphasizing that the strict penalty ensures the community is protected from the defendant, who officials previously noted was heavily influenced by substance abuse and addiction.
"This was a shocking and deeply disturbing act of violence in which a son intentionally took the life of the man who raised him," he said. "No parent should ever have to fear harm at the hands of their own child, and no family should have to endure this kind of unimaginable tragedy. Today's sentence ensures that this defendant will spend the remainder of his life paying the price for this senseless and irreversible act."
Botsford's attorney, Tim Havas, told the Times Herald-Record that they plan on appealing the jury's verdict.
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