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Tompkins County Sheriff Peter Meskill held a press conference Thursday afternoon to announce that a $1,000 reward is being offered to people who come forward with information that leads to the procecution of the person who murdered Enfield resident Deborah Rumsey.  Rumsey (49), was found in her home in the Sandy Creek Trailer Park Saturday when the Sheriff's Office, emergency medical personnel, and Enfield Fire and Rescue were called to the residence.

"We have ruled out at least five persons of interest who were known to be acquaintances of Deborah, but we have many more leads we are still looking for additional information from the public," Meskill said.  "I can't emphasize enough how important that is to us and the family and all the residents of this county to make that happen."

Meskill was joined by Rumsey's sister Jill Tilton, Senior Investigator William Standinger from the New York State Police Criminal Bureau of Investigation, and Sheriff's Captain Derek Osborne.  He said that at one point upwards of two dozen investigators were working on the case, and no less than 12 to 15 have been on it at any given time.  The case is being investigated by the Sheriff's Office, and New York State and Ithaca City Police.


"We did the forensics work in the house, not knowing at the time whether we had a homicide or some other sort of death," Meskill said.  "An autopsy was performed on Saturday afternoon by Dr. James Terzion from Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton.  It was ruled a homicide in the late afternoon, early evening on Saturday.  At that time we assembled a team of law enforcement officials from the New York State Police, the Ithaca Police Department, and the Sheriff's Office and began an extensive investigation into her death.  We have kept that investigation going since that point in time."

Meskill said that the autopsy revealed the cause of Rumsey's death, but he is not at liberty to reveal it at this point in the investigation.  Investigators say that Rumsey was killed some time between Tuesday, February 3 and Friday the 6th, when her body was discovered.

Tilton said that the Sheriff's Office and police are doing the best they can, but need more information from the public.  "We're all in a fog," she said.  "It's hard.  It's very hard, but we're taking it one moment at a time and one day at a time."

Meskill asked anyone with information to call either the Sheriff's Office at (607) 257-1345 or the anonymous tip line at (607) 266-5420.  "We're putting all of our effort, energy, and resources into this with the hope of coming to a good conclusion," he said.  "We are looking for your help to find some information.  We know the information's out there."

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