Alleged killer no stranger to police
By RODNEY MINOR, The Leader-HeraldGLOVERSVILLE - City police said the man accused of murder on the FJ & G Rail Trail earlier this month has been arrested nine times since 2001.
Police Capt. Jim Lorenzoni said 26-year-old city resident Randy L. Green was arrested on a number of charges in that eight-year span - disorderly conduct (three times), second-degree assault, criminal mischief, second-degree harassment and violating parole.
Green was arrested Aug. 15 and charged with second-degree murder in the death of Raymond W. Pike, 63.
Police found Pike's body earlier in the day on the Rail Trail near Foster Street, dead from multiple stab wounds.
Lorenzoni said this morning the autopsy on Pike's body lists the manner of death as a homicide. The autopsy concluded the immediate cause of death was severe hemorrhaging due to perforations of the heart, lungs and kidneys from multiple stab wounds, he said.
The results of the toxicology tests have not arrived at the Police Department, Lorenzoni said.
Police said Pike and Green had been drinking and arguing before they ventured onto the Rail Trail from Pike's Bleecker Street apartment, headed toward Price Chopper on North Main Street.
While walking on the trail, the two began arguing again.
Lorenzoni said the motive for the murder still is under investigation.
Police said Green, after implicating his involvement in Pike's death, claimed part of the argument was over an alleged stash of child pornography Pike had.
Pike, a registered sex offender, was arrested by Johnstown Police in 1990 and later convicted of second-degree sodomy. He was sentenced to serve two to six years in state prison for the crime, which involved a 13-year-old male victim.
While police have seized materials from Pike's apartment to verify or refute Green's claim, Lorenzoni said police at this time have not determined if the material is child pornography.
Pike also had his run-ins with city police since 2001, being arrested four times. Pike was charged with petit larceny, trespassing, and was arrested twice for failing to notify police when he changed his address, Lorenzoni said.
Lorenzoni said the criminal records Green and Pike have is not uncommon compared to other people the police deal with.
"It is not out of the norm for us," he said.
Fulton County District Attorney Louise Sira said while Pike and Green knew each other, the full-extent of their relationship has not been determined. Sira said investigators do not believe the two had been friends for a long period of time.
Lorenzoni said police do not know how long the two had been friends, but it was not a life-long friendship.
Rodney Minor covers Gloversville. He can be reached at gloversville@leaderherald.com.
