Two brothers have been arrested and charged in connection with the death of a missing elderly man from upstate New York.
Jack Carter, 21, and Nick Carter, 26, both stand accused of murder in the second degree over the killing of 74-year-old Mark Eckert, who hails from Glen Spey, N.Y., some two hours northwest of New York City.
Details in the case are presently scarce.
A missing persons report was filed on the alleged victim with the New York State Police barracks in Liberty, N.Y. on Jan. 15, 2022. At present, it is unknown whether the date of the filing was the last time Eckert was seen alive or if that was simply the date the report was finally filed. Authorities did not reveal who filed that initial report.
Following a four-day investigation, Eckert was found “located deceased on his property in Glen Spey,” according to a NYSP press release issued by Troop F Commander Major Paul M. DeQuarto.
Troop F has jurisdiction over Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and Greene counties.
Later that same day, police say, the Carter brothers were located at an undisclosed location in nearby New Jersey and arrested on murder charges over Eckert’s death. The duo are currently detained in the Garden State and awaiting extradition to the Empire State.
It is unknown why the brothers were in New Jersey, or what they were doing, at the time of their arrest.
No motive has been released for the alleged slaying. Police also did not say how they identified the Carters as suspects.
The alleged victim’s cause and manner of death have also not been made public knowledge as of this writing.
According to the NYSP, the investigation into Eckert’s disappearance and death and the concomitant search for the Carters was aided by the help of the New Jersey State Police, the Rockaway Township Police and the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office.
According to the Times Herald-Record, a daily newspaper published in Middleton, N.Y., the NYSP are currently looking into “what, if any, relationship existed between the Carters and Eckert.”
There is, however, one reported real property connection.
“While the police have not yet released information on the link between the Carter brothers and Eckert, a tax bill for the property 152 Kalin Weber Road lists Nick Carter and Mark Eckert as co-owners,” according to Narrowsburg, N.Y.-based weekly newspaper The River Reporter.
Law&Crime reached out to the NYSP for additional comment on this story. A spokesperson said that further details are not being provided at this time because the investigation is ongoing.
Both defendants and the victim are residents of the Glen Spey hamlet, which is located in the town of Lumberland in Sullivan County, N.Y.
Law&Crime reached out to the Sullivan County Courthouse for any documents on file related to the charges against the Carter brothers, but that request was still pending by press time.
A broad array of crimes can lead to second degree murder charges in New York State, including intentional murder, depraved indifference and reckless conduct that causes the death of another, and the commission of certain enumerated felonies either alone or in concert with someone else that inadvertently causes the death of another.
The NYSP stopped releasing mugshots of criminal defendants in early 2019.
[image via New York State Police]
