A man suspected of killing his father and setting fire to his home in the Hudson Valley has been captured after spending days on the run. State police say 32-year-old Thomas David Ryan is now in custody, bringing to an end a manhunt that had put the region on edge and left a community grappling with a shocking crime.
According to investigators, the case began last Thursday, when Ryan is accused of intentionally setting fire to his father's home in Greenville. When firefighters responded to the blaze, they discovered the body of 70-year-old Robert Ryan inside, and authorities came to believe the fire had been deliberately set as part of the killing.
In the days that followed, the search for the suspect stretched across a wide area. Video obtained by ABC News appeared to show Ryan running from the scene on Thursday, and investigators said his car was later spotted more than 100 miles north of the murder scene, a sign of how far he had travelled as police worked to track him down.
The break in the case came from the public. The manhunt lasted until midnight Sunday, when a community tip led troopers to Ryan's unoccupied car in a parking lot near Albany. Officers then located him nearby and found him injured, and he was taken to a hospital, where he remained as the investigation continued.
For neighbours, the news landed hard. Asked about their initial reaction, one resident spoke of sympathy and heartache for the family caught up in the tragedy, reflecting the shock felt across a community where such a violent crime had struck close to home.
State police are now investigating the death as a homicide, and the case is expected to move forward as Ryan recovers from his injuries. With the suspect in custody, the focus shifts to the formal charges and the effort to piece together exactly what happened in the hours around the fire that killed Robert Ryan.