First named suspect in Chemung County torture murder case sentenced

ELMIRA, N.Y. ( WETM ) – The first man accused in the torture-murder case in Chemung County has been sentenced to serve 12 years in prison.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, Thomas Bovaird will serve a 12-year sentence after being convicted of manslaughter in the first degree and kidnapping in the second degree for the kidnapping and murder of Juan Jose Gotay in January of 2021. He was sentenced to 12 years for each count, which will run concurrently. He is also sentenced to two and a half years of post-release supervision.

Bovaird was one of four to be charged in the case along with Eddie Marte, Malik Weems and Kavon Sanders.

Bovaird pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder charge on June 8, 2023, in the Chemung County Court. He was the second person in the case to plead guilty to murdering Gotay, after Weems, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the torture case, as well as kidnapping someone in Geneva.

Marte, the leader of the case, was sentenced to serve life in prison on Aug. 2. According to reports from this date, Sanders is the last person to be convicted, as he has yet to be seen in court for his involvement in the case.

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