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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Middletown man, 54, found shot to death

The comments by officials in the second article are unbelievable, they do not focus on this mans' death, instead on where he lived before being murdered.
2-7-2012 New York:

MIDDLETOWN — A Cottage Street man was shot to death outside his residence Sunday night.

The shooting was reported at 8:21 p.m.

City police arrived at Cottage near the corner of Wickham Avenue and found 54-year-old Arthur J. Twyman dead from an apparent gunshot wound.

Twyman lived alone and previously worked as a driver.

Police believe Twyman knew his killer, said Mayor Joe DeStefano. He said police had questioned a "person of interest," but that nobody was in custody as of Monday evening.

State records show the Arthur Twyman at that Cottage Street address had lived a hard life.

According to records from the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, he served two terms in prison — one in 1989 for attempted burglary. He also served 14½ years for first-degree rape, sodomy and sexual abuse, and was released in September 2007.

According to the state sex offender registry, Twyman was a level three sex offender, designated as a sexually violent offender. The registry notes that his rape conviction in 1992 was from the Village of Ossining, and the victim was a 17-year-old girl.

Police have not commented on whether they think Twyman's past had any bearing on his death.

Police said in a news release that they have interviewed "numerous subjects," and ask anyone who may have any information on the shooting, or who saw someone or something that could be related to the case, to contact them at 343-3151. ..Source.. by Nathan Brown

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Middletown homicide was not random act, officials say

2-8-2012 New York:

MIDDLETOWN – The shooting death of Arthur Twyman, 54, on Cottage Street Sunday night appears not to have been a random act, Mayor Joseph DeStefano said Tuesday.

The mayor said Police Chief Raymond Bethencourt believes Twyman, a level three sex offender, may have been targeted when he was shot dead near St. Joseph’s Church and School, not far from where he lived.

DeStefano shares the concerns of city residents.

“I have received from the public outraged that a level three sex offender was living next door to a church and religious school as of last year, a school,” he said.

The mayor he will contact the state Division of Parole and state legislators to find an answer to the question, “how did this happen?”

DeStefano said the police department has a person of interest in mind in connection with the homicide, the first one in Middletown this year. ..Source.. by MidHudsonNews.com

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Police: Person of interest identified in Middletown murder

(02/07/12) MIDDLETOWN - Officials say they have identified a person of interest in the murder of 54-year-old Arthur Twyman.

Authorities say Twyman was gunned down Sunday on Cottage Street in Middletown.

Twyman was registered as a sex offender following his conviction for the 1992 rape of a 17-year-old girl in Ossining.

Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano says police do not believe that Twyman's status as a sex offender was a motivation for the murder.

Police have declined to identify their person of interest in the case at this time. ..Source.. by News12.com

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Police seeking information in Middletown fatal shooting

2-8-2012 New York:

MIDDLETOWN — Police are still investigating the details surrounding the shooting death of a Cottage Street man Sunday night.

Around 8 p.m. Monday evening — about 24 hours after the shooting — police were stopping cars at the intersection of Cottage and Wickham Avenue and questioning drivers. They asked if they had driven through the area the previous night and if they had noticed anything. They may do this again later, said city police Lt. Greg Metakes.

Nobody had been arrested as of early Tuesday afternoon, Metakes said.

Arthur Twyman Sr., 54, was shot to death outside his home about 8:20 p.m. Sunday. He is believed to have known his killer, and police have said they have questioned numerous people in connection with the case.

Twyman had a long criminal history, including serving 14½ years in prison for raping a 17-year-old girl in Westchester County. He was released in 2007.

More recently, Twyman was arrested in February 2011 and charged with two misdemeanors for allegedly threatening someone with a box cutter in the parking lot of the ShopRite in the Town of Wallkill. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor weapons charge in that case, and was ordered to pay a fine.

It was still unpaid when he was killed. ..Source.. by Nathan Brown

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Man arrested in Middletown homicide

3-2-2012 New York:

MIDDLETOWN – Police have arrested a 68-year-old Middletown man and charged him with second-degree murder in connection with the February 5 killing of Arthur Twyman of Cottage Street in Middletown.

It is alleged that Richard Brown of Wickham Avenue shot Twyman several times with a rifle.

Brown was arraigned and remanded to the Orange County Jail without bail.

Twyman was a registered sex offender who had been convicted of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse in connection with a July 1992 incident in Ossining involving a 17-year-old girl.

Police had been called to the scene of the shooting and found Twyman on Cottage Street near Wickham Avenue. At the time of the murder, police said it was not a random act.

State Police, the New York State Forensic Investigation Center and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office assisted in the investigation. ..Source.. by MidHudsonNews.com

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Middletown man indicted in fatal shooting

GOSHEN — An Orange County grand jury has indicted a Middletown man, accused of murdering his neighbor.

Richard Brown, 68, of a Wickham Avenue address, was indicted Thursday on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence, felonies.

Brown is accused of fatally shooting Arthur J. Twyman, 54, of Cottage Street, the night of Feb. 5 near the intersection of Cottage and Wickham. Twyman, who lived alone and worked as a driver, was also a Level 3 registered sex offender who'd had a few minor scrapes with the law in the past couple of years.

Police questioned Brown that night and into Feb. 6; they spoke to him again on Feb. 14, according to court papers.

Middletown police ultimately arrested Brown on March 1, charging him with murder.

Orange County District Attorney Frank Phillips said Brown hid the gun used in the shooting — a .22-caliber Marlin rifle — but that police recovered the weapon.

According to court papers, a witness who had previously named Brown as a suspect in the case also identified him at Orange County Jail as being the person who committed the crime.

Brown was being held at Orange County Jail without bail pending arraignment Friday in Orange County Court. His lawyer, Joseph Brown (no relation), declined to comment at this point in the case. ..Source.. by Heather Yakin

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Defense: Shooting victim had set Rottweiler on suspect

3-17-2012:

GOSHEN — Prosecutors say Richard Brown chased down and fatally shot Arthur Twyman. Brown's lawyer says Twyman had first set a Rottweiler on his 68-year-old neighbor.

The court also ordered a mental health assessment for Brown.

He was in Orange County Court on Friday to be arraigned on charges of second-degree murder; first-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence, felonies; in the Feb. 5 slaying of 54-year-old Twyman near the corner of Wickham Avenue and Cottage Street in Middletown. The two men were neighbors.

Richard Brown's lawyer, Joseph Brown, asked Judge Nicholas De Rosa to order a mental health and competency exam for his client. De Rosa granted the request.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Maryellen Albanese told the court that Richard Brown "chased down and executed his next-door neighbor, Arthur Twyman."

She said Richard Brown fired his rifle eight times, hitting Twyman four times: "the knee, two to the chest, then a head shot," apparently unprovoked. Albanese said there had been some past altercations between the neighbors.

"This individual (Twyman) had a Rottweiler with him," Richard Brown's lawyer, Joseph Brown, told the court. "He sicced the dog, basically, on my client."

After the shooting, Albanese told Judge Nicholas De Rosa, Richard Brown stashed the .22-caliber Marlin in his garage.

When he spoke to police, he handed over another rifle and claimed it was the only one he owned, she said. Police later found the Marlin in his garage, and testing revealed Richard Brown's DNA on the weapon.

She said Richard Brown also "made some statements" to Twyman's brother, Joseph Twyman, who owns the Cottage Street house where Arthur Twyman was staying.

Albanese said that at one point in the investigation, Richard Brown had made a suicidal gesture, tying one end of a phone cord to the ceiling and the other end around his neck.

He spent a week in the psychiatric ward at Orange Regional Medical Center.

She asked the judge to set bail at $250,000 cash and $500,000 bond. De Rosa set bail as prosecutors requested. The case returns to court on April 25. ..Source.. by Heather Yakin

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