Boonville News

A Boonville man has been charged after authorities say he forged his pistol permit to try and make it pertain to a gun he illegally brought into the state.

HERKIMER — Jennifer Riesel and Francis Nelson met in a farmer’s field sometime last year to plan his death. Riesel admitted Wednesday in Herkimer County Court to meeting the 74-year-old Nelson in a vacant field and that he and she had “picked the spot.” Then, the 29-year-old Little Falls woman also admitted to running over him with a car twice Sept. 27, and that her reasoning for committing the murder was because of Nelson’s terminal illness. Riesel pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted second-degree murder. She is expected to be sentenced to 16 years in prison and five years probation when she returns to Herkimer County Court March 7. She will serve the sentence on top of her current sentence on an unrelated grand larceny charge. Herkimer County Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Carpenter said Nelson’s family was in court and agreed with the final disposition. He also said Nelson had several life insurance policies but nothing in the amount Riesel claimed and none listed her as the beneficiary. When Nelson was tied up, run over and killed in a farmer’s field in September in Little Falls, Riesel said that is exactly how the man wanted to die. Riesel told police that Nelson first approached her earlier in 2011 about wanting to end his own life, Riesel’s attorney, Ed Kaminski, said at the time. Police said Nelson asked Riesel to kill him, and in return she would be paid $180,000. Police said they also talked to several people who told them that Nelson made similar requests to others telling them he was terminally ill. Kaminski said Riesel had known Nelson for at least four years, and he persisted in asking her about the desperate plan in the days leading up to the night of his death. Riesel said Nelson wanted his death to look like a robbery, Kaminski said in September. It was Nelson who chose the way his death would play out, Riesel told police. Riesel said Nelson picked the location in the farmer’s field along Eatonville Road in advance, then he drove his vehicle to the scene while Riesel followed in her car. He brought the rope that was used to tie his hands and feet without a struggle, before lying on the ground to be run over, Kaminski said. Nelson’s body was found with his hands and feet bound near his abandoned vehicle at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 27.

Multiple fire crews were kept busy Monday afternoon after fire broke out around Noon at a home at 44 Valley View Road in Boonville.

Saturday launched the first year that the East Coast Snocross Series was here in Central New York.

A Vernon man has been charged after authorities say he was found in possession of numerous drugs following a traffic stop in the Village of Boonville.